Everyone,

Driving home Friday evening and was rear-ended and pushed into truck in front of me. Tonya suffered little damage but will need new front and rear bumper covers. I was thinking about "upgrading" to the aero kit and was wondering if any others had experience with this. Figure maybe I can pay the difference between OEM and Aero and have the aero kit done for low coinage. Any body have an idea what the cost difference might be?

John

 

Not sure but I know the aero kit is like $1200 before labor. With labor it comes to almost $2000, at least at my MINI dealership! I guess thats not too bad :impatient since they have to paint all 4 sides of the aero kit, take the old bumpers off and the side skirts off, and install the new ones! So you would have to fork over at least $800 plus the cost difference! Sorry to hear about your baby! I cringe when I read these stories and I dont even have my MINI yet!

 

You're best bet would be to call your dealer to get the parts price difference. Then call the place where you are having the car repaired.

When my car was hit and the front bumper was wrecked, the repair facility was more than willing to let me do the swap and pay the difference (parts & paint). If you are going to do it, now is the time as the paint and parts differences are very small vs. buying the whole thing outright.

The difference for just the front bumper in my situation (paint & parts) was something like $300.

 

It depends on the color aero kit you want. I got mine factory pre-painted in indi blue for $900 shipped from Classic Mini in Ohio (they were/are(?) running a special on the color). I installed them myself. I know there may be work behind the bumpers to be done to make sure everything lines up and fits after the accident but, depending on the color, you might be able to get the aero kit AND pocket some money. Check around you might find a deal on the kit in your color. My .02.

Matt

 

I got the Aero when someone hit my front bumper. We just bought the kit ourselves and took the check from the guy's insurance. Not sure what the price difference was, but the body shop painted the whole kit for me for free. Pretty good deal.

 

did you do the install yourself - Trying to figure out if I should just order the aero kit and associated pieces and have it painted and put in on myself.

 

it's a piece of cake to install. I'll even come and help you do it

 

Doesn't get much better than that... And yes, it is not very complicated just make sure the attachment points were not bent in the accident otherwise you may have fitment issues.

Matt

 

matt-how was the fitment on the aero kit when you installed it?

i read that there's some work to be done to make it fit perfectly. not a
plug&play fitment (?).

 

Of course I might have been lucky but my fitment was pretty good out of the box. The gap between the front bumper and the hood/grill was the only body seam that had to be adjusted. At first we thought we should move the hood latches down a bit but after a few minutes we realized that the adjustments were with the bumper. It took about 5 minutes to get a satisfactory gap between the hood and bumper. It seems like a tough job but it is really pretty simple if you take your time.

 

Well, Yesterday I took Tonya down to Import Paint and body -

Results - replace front and rear bumpers, and trim on front bumper for about 1200 dollars. This estimate took about 15 minutes to do.

Then I took to Wilburn, the "recommended" and approved shop by the other insurance. A guy went out looked at it and wrote on his paper - replace bumper covers, replace trim. then he realized it was "liberty mutual" (other guys insurance) and had to get someone else to look at it. Gave me 2 estimates and wanted to "repair" my plastic bumper covers.

Has anyone ever heard of repairing bumper covers - the rear was pushed in and has creases from hitting the support under, and the front has scratches and an indentation from the hitch on the guy in front of me. To me this seems fishy. Plus they had no idea about my car.

So, has anyone had any experience "repairing" damaged bumper covers???

 

I would never have them repaired. There not that expensive and very easy to fit.

 

My wife's MCS was hit in the front and needed a front bumper cover replacement and 1 sidesill so we opted for the aero kit. Paid $1200 to classic for a primered aero kit and the shop painted and installed it in place of the cost of buying/painting/installing only the front bumper.

 

thanks for the info.