I have an 06. It has the painted front grille pieces. Will any of the aftermarket front upper and lower grilles work for me? I'd love to have a black grill.. Is there one that does not require cutting and grinding??

My Warranty lasts until the beginning of July. It has 34k miles and runs very well. Is there any advice you might have as far as items to take care of before my warranty expires??


I currently have 17" wheels w/ Runflats. Please explain the benefits to 16" wheels or 18" wheels? Less weight? If I keep the 17" with Runflats for winter driving, what is a good set up for daily driving 16 17 or 18?? I'd like to have something wider for better traction?

Is there a good place to get a "one ball" or is that still something that is beneficial? I'm familiar with what it is, just haven't read anything recent.

Obviously, serious newb questions but please do your best to assist, I don't know anyone with any MINI knowledge.

Thanks to anyone with any help!

Here is the car...

 

I'll touch #1 only

the most common way to get black grills is to fit the Aero kit grills. The top piece simply bolts in place of the stock grill. A 5 minute job unless you drop one of the nuts. The lower piece takes some cutting as the lower piece of the Aero kit is much thicker then the stock one so you need to cut away some of the back side. There's a good set of DIY instructions kicking around or PM me as I have it in pdf format.

http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...rsion_kit.html

There are other grills out there but this is the one I've done for several folks.
found the diy http://www.motoringfile.com/howto/MI...ll_install.pdf

 

Thank you! I'll look into the DIY thread!!

 

One of the best and easiest "one ball" conversion has come and gone - it was made by Pete at Minspeed, and it was a custom-bent pipe that you simply put in place after cutting the extra "ball" off. I believe Helix will do a welded and mandrel pipe very professionally, if you live near Philadelphia. Otherwise, you can head to a Meineke and show them this - they should be able to get it done, just make sure to nag them about getting the position of the tips right.


As for the wheels, I had the same setup as you - S-lites with runflats - and found that a great, light set of wheels (O.Z. Ultraleggeras in my case) and good, non runflat tires (Yokohama S.Drive, Hankook Ventus V12 Evo, Bridgestone GS-D3 to name a few of the faves) will get you a long way in more grip, less weight, and more comfort.

 

I have a 06 MCS that came with 17 " flame spokes and 205/45 z17 run flats, the original owner replaced the run flats with hankook 215/45/z17 and claimed the ride was much better, I recently put a pair of Michelin Pilot sports on in the same size as the Hankooks and have a full size spare where the back seat used to be as a more realistic plan in case of a puncture away from the city/ tire store. I live in Maryland where the roads are more suited to an SUV, so I'm happy I did not pursue an 18" wheel as the ride is a bit brutal on a bad road. I'm surprised the 17's ride as well as they do, if I were any furhter north, I'd opt for a 16" wheel, as least in the winter. Good luck with your car. Looks great

 

On my old '04 MCS (Indi Blue with Black roof), I bought a set of black painted grille bars on eBay and swapped them in place of the factory Indi Blue bars. No cutting required.

 

Another OZ Ultra fan here, and any tire that you use to replace the runflats will be a HUGE improvement. Personally, I like 16" wheels on the car as I think they look proportionally 'correct'. If you get a lot of snow in the winter, you may want to go with dedicated snow tires on 15" steelies. Welcome aboard and happy motoring.

 

Check out the M7 grilles, they come in black and alot of people like them.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/m7-ultimate-grilles.html

As for the exhaust you can do the one ball mod, it will save some weight and give you some sound. But personally I'd save your money and put it toward an exhaust.

 

If you really wanted to go the "cheap route" you could actually do the Plastic Dip (spray version) for the grill. Ive tested it out on a piece for about 6 months now and it still is in tact and looks brand new.
It obviously will not have the "mesh look" but will be black and offset the white.
It works over the factory painted and chrome grill pieces. No sanding required.

Again, this is just a cheaper and different look than the aftermarket and aero grills, just depends what style you like.

 

Thanks everyone! Wife just told me she is preggers so all deals are going to be off for the near future. Hopefully that is just a minor "setback" lol.

 

I went with "cheap" mods for my 04, consisting of doing vinyl on the factory grills for about $5, one ball exhaust for $40 at a local muffler shop, honeycombed the factory airbox (free), and a set of used wheels that didn't cost any more than what I sold my factory ones for... I'm very happy with the value and results I achieved:




Also, my reasons for getting rid of the S Lite 17" wheels were to go with something lighter (better handling, acceleration, and braking), different look, and cheaper tires when it's time for replacements (especially if you ditch the runflats).

 

Thanks Dan!! I do like the look of your grill. Is that a spray on product?

Also, what does honeycombing the airbox mean exactly? do you have a pic? does it help airflow? sounds like a dumb question

Another newb comment, I thought only the o6 model had that painted grill what years have it?

 

This is what I did to my stock airbox to get some more cool air, along with more induction sound (I can hear the supercharger whine more clearly now) :
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ck-airbox.html

Putting vinyl "tape" on the grill:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...one-vinyl.html
Another with other pics and instructions:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...dont-know.html
I've had it on there for 2.5 years now, and aside from a few rock chips, it's held up well. I didn't have to remove anything, just trimmed it to fit.

I think most 1st gen Coopers have the painted body color grill, although some have chrome as an option. In any case, I like the look of the black grill, whether it's an insert/replacement, or just changing the color of the OEM slats.

And remember, just because your budget is low doesn't mean that you can't have some fun with value-conscious mods.

 

Great! Thank you. I really like the look of the taped/plastidip grill! I'll look into it and see if i can complete it and take a pic!