Hey Team,

Just got an estimate from a paint shop of $560 to remove, prep, and paint the plastic wheel arches and side skirts.

How does this sound to those of you who have completed this mod? Also, do you recommend painting to the color of the car (pure silver/black roof) or shiny black?

thanks

LL

 

Hey, i am in lodi, I want to do this too. See if the shop will give u a discount of we both go in!

I want dark silver!

wenzor

 

Thats a good price if th ework is good, are they going to remove al the texture before painting ? Or paint them textured, I have seen both ways done and to me it looks much better smoothed out.

 

Most people recommend that you buy a set of new arches rather than paint the ones that came on your car. If they have any silicone products on them the paint wont adhere. They are apparently pretty cheap from the dealer, though I don't have an actual quote.

 

The shop says they will sand smooth and apply 2 coats of primer. I asked about the armour all issue and they claim with their process the paint will adhere? Wenzor, i asked about the group discount and they said 5 bills apiece, assuming that the bumpers do not need to be removed in the process. Can anyone chime in on this issue?

thanks

LL

 

There might have been a similar stream over the weekend and it is perhaps worth checking out. Not about price, but about whether to paint the arches body color or black. That person had a DS car. You might look at photos of others on NAM who have had it done to see if you prefer the appearance of body color wheel arches. It changes one's perception of the car. Only you can decide for sure. The price seems fair in view of the prep and work. It would probably cost twice as much in the Bay Area.

 

You guys are the greatest with ideas, I have owned my Mini for only about 3 weeks, do you have pictures of your Mini with painted fender flares? Does the plastic start lookling bad after a while?

 

When i repainted her, i painted the arches too. Originals work just fine. I had to sand em quite a bit because they have that texture on them, but after sand and primer, they came out great i think. 560 is a bit much though. Im no professional, but the workload is not all that much. You could sand them completely yourself, and I think that should bring the cost WAY down. Honestly sand took a LONG time. Course, I did sand them by hand with 220/320/400. Once they are sanded, they would be super easy to prime paint simply because, theyre small parts and theres only one angle that they need to be sanded from, its not like you need to sand the backside. Like i said, im not pro, but i think you should shop around...maybe ask how much they would drop it to if you sanded it yourself.


*edit* i did not see that you were having side skirts also. That obviously changes it. Still, i think you could bargain that down still, but whatever its worth to ya...

btw, here's what same color looks like

 

I still don't understand why this is not a factory option from BMW/Mini. The flares are great because they keep stones/rocks from chipping the paint, and many people think body colored ones look awesome.

 

Thanks for the input and please keep it coming! I guess I'm looking for minimal work for me and as little down time for the car as possible, although I guess I could drive around without the arches while I'm doing the prep work.

Please let me know if anyone has had their plastic side skirts painted (as opposed to the aero skirts). Still struggling with what color, even thinking of perhaps putting dark silver on pure silver? Pictures please!

Also, if we could get more info on how these painted plastic parts hold up? Any problems out there with painted plastic?

thanks agin

LL

 

Something else to consider: I had some body work done on my car last year after someone hit it in a parking lot. The right rear fender flare, which was temporarily removed, has never looked quite right since, because all of the clips holding it to the car are not working properly, so there are gaps between the body and the flare. I never bothered to figure out whether the body shop was unwilling or unable to fix it. My impression, though, is that the clips are either not reusable or easily breakable. In other words, if you remove the flares, you need to buy a new set of clips to reattach them. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here...

I plan on getting my dealer to fix it at my 25,000 mile service - I'm probably being naive, but I'm not expecting them to charge me very much for it.

 

paint the flares your roof color, it add's a nice contrast.

 

There is a special tool used to remove the clips so they can be properly reinstalled (my Dad is a certified BMW motorcycle tech and luckily has the tool at home). If you use anything else you run the chance of damaging the clip and it will never fit back right.

 

recently i have removed all flares and rockers. Rockers are by far the hardest.

here is how to remove these while keeping most clips

Rockers
3 sets of clips on the rockers
1. under the sill, You WILL need to remove the sil to get them off and back in. Once the sill is off, pop then up 1/8 inch then turn 90 degrees, then pull up the rest of the way.
2. on the bottom, there are the common screw/anchor. they just screw out and the anchors then pull out
3. the clips on the side, these i dont know how to save, and dont know if there even is a way. I just pulled mine and they all broke, doesnt damage the rockers, so...its like a $5 job for all those broken clips.

the most tedious part of doing this is removing the sil. Take your time because its rather thin and will bend if you PULL it off, and theyre like $50 each. A paint scraper would probably be your best bet. Then of course, they need to be re-adhered.

Another thing to keep in mind is wether you are actually painting the entire rocker, even inside the car where the sil is. I dont know if you want to paint that, you will be steping on it an aweful lot.


Front Flares
open the hood, from here, you can see all of the clips and how they are to be removed. there is one nut/screw and several grey actual CLIPS, they ALL come off, just be gentle cause they are brittle. If they do break, dont worry, a quarter each or something.


Rear flares.
just pull these off. The back clips just pop off and pop back on, no loss here

 

Thanks Addamaniac!

Once again the Mini Community shows that it RULES! I'll forward this info to the shop.

LL