Recently, Aaron at Outmotoring was offering the new red seatbelts that come on the new GP. The website indicated that they were for a few models of the 2nd Gen MINI. I ordered a set last week, received them, and went to have them installed this morning. Well, to make a long story short, they do not fit my 2009 R56. I called Aaron and informed him of the problem. He is making everything right. That is the kind of guy he is. He later found out that the new GP seatbelts will fit some models made November 2012 and later. So, if you were considering adding the new GP seatbelts to your 2nd Gen MINI, this info is for you.

 

Great information.

 

Thanks for the info I wanted these and this changes that,

 

That's actually the production date for the GP2.

The red belt should fit all R56 models mfg from 03/12.....

 

That's extremely disappointing because I was completely set on buying these and installing them to tie my interior together with the red stitching that will be on the steering wheel, handbrake boot, shift boot, and eventually the seats too.

 

Well damn. Was debating whether they'd be too much red with my red color line and red/black seats. Guess that makes up my mind for me.

Realoem.com does show the change in part numbers (old p/n listed as ending 1/2013, new listed as being from 3/2013 - I guess February is a crap shoot?). Wonder what the specific difference is and why they made the change...

 

Describe what the fitting problem was. It might be and easy modification to get them to fit.

 

The problem is that the spooling mechanism on the 2013 GP belt is about 1/3 larger than that on the 2007-2012 R56s. There was no way to fit it unless you did some serious modifications to the B-Pillar structure. Evidently, according to what Aaron found out, there was a structural redesign on those made in November 2012 and later. I was able to see both belts side by side and the difference is like night and day. I wish I would have thought to take pictures. At the time, I was pretty depressed.

 

Seems like a niche for one of our vendors to produce a red seat belt that works in 07-12 R56s lol

 

^ I spoke to Steve from Seatbeltplanet.com. He can do it. I asked him about a GB for primary colors. He can do it. I'm in Peru right now so I can't discuss details until I get back in May. If someone wants to go ahead and take initiative on this it would be most appreciated.

 

Wait it is one bolt. So the most you should have to do is widen the plastic interior piece by getting a new one.

 

Modification of seat belts and/ or their mountings outside of what has been tested and certified is not a good idea. Believe me, I will modify anything and have been in the modification business for 35 years. Seat belts and seat mountings other than tested and certified are a law suit waiting to happen. Order the correct ones or pass on the mod.

 

^ I will take your word for it. In short they said they would use an exact equivalent of OEM. You would send them your belt and they would do the belt replacement so all you have to do is remove the belt with contraption (nothing taken apart), ship, and re-install. They would test the belt when it gets there and when its going to leave to confirm the contraption works exactly as when it came in. His process seemed pretty thorough but I've never done anything like that before so I wouldn't be the best judge.

I'm sure there has to be a relatively easy way to get the GP ones to work. As Porthos said, just changing the cover panel seems easy enough.