I don't own a mini yet but I would be interested in getting one where I could paint the oval door trim and dash inserts to match the outside color of the car like this. Most of the mini's seem to have some sort of standard textured oval trim instead of something like the piano black which would lend itself to being painted. I found these on outmotoring but was wondering if anyone sells them as just plastic for cheaper, since I have no need for them to be carbon fiber since I would be painting them anyway.

 

None of them could be called "textured". The factory ovals are all the same plastic pieces, just painted in different finishes. Just paint the pieces that come with your car.

 

If you look at this picture you can see what I mean by textured.

 

Gen1 cars had, as an option, those parts painted to match the exterior.... That might be what you are seeing...owners who repainted them...they are smooth on gen1 cars...

 

Just an FYI. Just recently I replaced my trim (was checkered) with the piano black.

From the factory, the trim pieces are heat staked on (plastic that's melted to form a rivet), so you basically have to break these to take them off. In doing this it makes them hard to fasten back on. When installing the new ones, I used push on type nut and epoxy.

 

On the gen 2 minis there is the option of having piano black ovals and dash trim. That's what I'm talking about.

 

Cool, I didn't know that they make piano black for the circle pieces around the speakers, etc. I only did the ellipses.

 

You can buy the pieces in various finishes from a dealer or vendor:

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...77&hg=51&fg=50 (items 7 and 8)



For example, Piano Black at ECS:
http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Site...098/ES2139000/
http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Site...100/ES2139002/

 

I can honestly say, I have never ever seen a textured ring. I do a lot of 'browsing' on Cars.com and Autotrader and have never seen this before. Wild.

 

Really? Most of the mini's I see when looking online have this.

 

Yeah they seem quite pricey for just a plastic piece, I was hoping to find some source that would be cheaper. I found a post where someone just painted the standard textured ovals. Probably would attempt to go that route.

 

You can find the whole assembly on eBay for a reasonable price but as I said removing some of the plastic pieces from the main door assembly is problematic.