Nice!
Were you able to find a good price on those new headlights?

 

For the Mini I got both for $228.00 total and they came with new bulbs. www.carparts.com
I stopped to fill up at the gas station this morning and the new headlights were so shiny and reflective under the canopy lights. I just came in from adjusting them, both were low and made for an interesting drive to work. Lucky that I can drive with the bright's on most of the way.

 

Those look great!
That seems like a really good price compared to what I've found in the past 2wo years or so. I've been thinking about replacing mine (R53 washers), as well.
Is your R50 equipped with self leveling/adjusting headlights mechanism?
Thanks.

 

Mine are just plain old halogen with no washer or self-leveling. One reason they weren't all that bad in price.
I want to replace the rear tail lights on the Cabrio soon.

 

The straight chrome piece on the bumper cover has been messed up since I got the car. They cracked it and the chrome was wrinkled up. The replacement was delivered today.

Here is the new piece installed, hard to see but looks super good!

 

I changed out the engine mount on the Cabrio this morning, it was toast. That made a huge difference and eliminated all of the interior rattles.

 

My wife's car had so much interior noise with the bad upper mount that I couldn't even hear the supercharger over it! Nice to see some folks still rocking chrome on their cars. Know others do, I don't care for the blacked out look.

 

I don't care for the blacked-out look either, the car is already black and I love the factory chrome on it. Just enough to accent the car and not look over chromed.

 

I’m with you. My JCW is black with chrome and I thought about going with the black out bits MINI sells. But the more I look at it, I realize that the chrome brings a certain elegance to the car. And with the Indi Blue on our R50, I think the chrome helps to bring out the sparkle of the metallic in the paint. Interestingly, I seem to recall seeing that the facelift version of the current generation of MINIs comes from the factory all blacked out. I’m going to stick with what I have...

 

I have hyper blue on the R52 and I agree that the chrome is a great accent to the metallic paint.
Another load of Mini goodies is supposed to be delivered this afternoon.

 

I have this same speaker. Nice thread you've got going.

 

Thank you, very much kind sir!
It's a labor of love for sure.
Replaced the rear hatch handle today, the old one at the top was looking extremely bad. The chrome was wrinkled and it had a ton of scratches and the lights were rough looking too.



Now that's so much better!!


I had 2 more things come in but I had to change the oil in my daughter's car. The time change has really limited any after-work activities so I hope to get them installed tomorrow but we will see how it goes. Tomorrow is voting day so I may have to skip installing them tomorrow..

 

Drove the car for the first time with the new headlights installed, man what a big difference. I had to make a little minor beam adjustment but they are fantastic.
Ordered a PDR kit last night, figured I would give it a try.

 

Mine is starting to wrinkle on the chrome trunk lid grip also, time for a new one. I am on my second one.

 

I think mine was original to the car. I think everything is/was original to the car.
I installed the missing bonnet open switch.
I also replaced the worn-out door sill plates. The passenger side one had a piece of concrete on it. The driver's side was so scratched that you couldn't hardly see the lettering.

 

I wimped out and took the Benz front bumper to the body shop to get them to paint it. I will work on the rock chips on the hood. I installed the new hood insulation pad and put the tires back on. I put new TPMS sensors in them.

The PDR kit arrived yesterday but the remnants of the Hurricane are supposed to come our way this afternoon and then a cold front. I'm not sure when I can play with it and see if I can get a few of the dents out. I do not like working in the cold. My daughter is getting me a set of the OEM replacement carpeted floor mats with the Mini Logo for Xmas. I think I am going to get a set of the all-weather rubber mats to keep them looking new.

 

That’s a great daughter!

If you can find them, the OEM MINI rubber mats are really nice and fit well, just like they were made for the car...

 

I have a set of factory rubber mats in the Cabrio that I got off of Amazon, wish I had bought 2 sets now. I might borrow them for a little while for the hatch. I have some new hood stripes and a few other things I want to do to the Cabrio.

 

Maybe:
https://www.minimania.com/part/NMI76...m-Gen1-R50-r53

 

Better deal from MINI of Alexandria's eBay store. My buddy and I bought "S" logo version mats @ $45/set shipped (+ tax) a few months ago but the "Wings" version is $5 cheaper. S-logo not currently shown but if preferred, use "Contact Seller" utility on listing page and see if they have more available. I already had a set of the "S" mats from circa 2006 but price compelled me buy another of same. These being OEM accessories, seems might go NLA for 1st gen models with just aftermarket choices thereafter.

OEM Mini Cooper R53 R52 R50 Black Rubber Floor Mats

 

The S version is not in stock, I'm good with the wing version so I bought it, said it was the last one. The page now says no longer in stock for either.
Thanks for the tip!!
Next year I need to see if I can find a good set of Cordoba carpeted mats. The Cabrio didn't have any mats in it when I bought it.

 

^^^ Cool beans! When I bought (2) sets S-mats, showed no stock so I contacted them and got a prompt response "YES!" (considering time zone difference), after which they listed more sets which reflected shipping cost vs free so I contacted them again. Oops! Sorry, they said, with that listing having defaulted to extra cost shipping. They promptly corrected that and I ordered, which was fulfilled and shipped a few hours later.

Happy you scored the "Wings" version (identical mats 'cept logo). Anybody else interested, use the Contact Seller feature and see if they have more. Seems they bought a bunch based on 490 sets sold as shown in the listing. Price is tough to beat...

 

I installed rubber mats and I should have ordered some for the R50 sooner. I ordered a rubber mat for the truck, I have cardboard in there now to protect the carpet. The new rear trunk handle must have stopped a little water intrusion I was having in the back. The inside of the windows would fog up for a day or two after a rain storm. I thought it was coming in from the taillights but since I replaced the hatch handle, no more random musty smell or windows fogging inside the car!!

 

I got the rear rubber mat installed and removed the cardboard that I had protecting the cargo area carpet; it looks so much better.

My interior fan motor has been taking longer and longer to come on in the mornings. It seems the colder it's gotten outside the longer it takes to come on. At first it was 2 or 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, the other day it was about 10 minutes. I went ahead and ordered a new blower motor and resistor assembly from ECS tuning. Interior heat is very important to my old bones.

She has been running and driving like a dream, I just love this car!! I got a great deal on some new Continental tires. I am going to fix the curb rash on the stock rims, then mount the new tires and refinished rims back on the car for now. Then I can try and see about doing something about the nasty chrome on the R98 rims.

 

The rubber trims protecting that hatch get dry and crack and leak. Mine were dry and gross when I replaced them. A bit of insurance and they are not that expensive for new ones if you haven't replaced them already. Seattle Mini parts dept. has them for the best price I was able to find. In fact, they generally have pretty fair prices on everything. When I was looking to buy a new OEM hood, the stealership in Minneapolis quoted me $1600. Seattle could get it of a smidge under 800. But shipping would have killed me on that.

The boot rubber mat is a great addition - really makes the back look nice an tidy.