So I finally pulled the trigger . After owning a 2003 MCS and 99 Rover Mini ,I purchased a Clubman. I was going to wait for the countryman as I need the extra backseat space for little ones. I was not going to purchase a Clubman due to the really high price for the features I want and getting a used one is so close in price to new one, why bother. So I found a used 2009 Clubman(5k miles) at a great price it has almost eveything in the long list of "must haves " for me . Here is what it has

Premium
Sport
Convienience
Cold
Limited Slip
Nav
HiFI(not super exited about this feature)
Leather(wish it has the fake stuff)
Satellite radio
HD radio
Anthracite headliner
100k warranty

So I really wanted the comfort bluetooth and the roof rails

I knw the rood rail subject has been covered before but do you know anyone who retro'd the roof rails

A dealer close by said they would sell them to me $386 and their body shop could install them , I just want to hear if anyone has done this what it should cost in labor.

The next thing is the armrest , has anyone put the comfort armrest in?
I realise there would be some wiring and a antenna that needs to be routed somewhere but I would really like the armrest feature.
Could some one take some pics of the comfort armrest? I wonder how much it differs from the one dealers are selling as the OEM one.

Last I wish the car had piano black interior vs brushed Aluminum , I was thinking of covering the aluminum with clear window decals that can be peeled off so it does not scratch , has anyone else tried this?

All in all I am very happy with the purchase , just wanted to see what my options are.

 

Euro Arm rest off Ebay is an option. What's the comfort arm rest ?"

Roof rails......... gaaah. Not sure. I have an '08 Clubman S and havge contemplated this but........ just not liking the idea of puncturing the metal. If I was giving the car back to the stealership then I'd do it in a heart beat.

 

comform is the armrest that comes with comfort bluetooth , it has connections for a smartphone in it. As I understand it the other Ebay armrest has no connections for the phone.

 

Adding factory roof rails will likely cost you more than if you just bought a car new with them installed. In other words, your good deal may be lost after adding factory roof rails. The labor on that is gonna be VERY steep and that's assuming they do it the right way and don't mess it up. It's not a run of the mill install they do frequently, if ever at some dealerships. My guess is labor would run you close to a few grand easy but I could be wrong. Schatzy would be the one to PM on this. He has discussed what is specifically involved in this option. It isn't as simple as one would think. Good luck and congrats!

 

veg1515,

If the car does not have bluetooth installed now you may have more problems than you think to upgrade.

If the car was made before 3/2009 and it does have bluetooth you may still have more problems with the upgrade than you think.

The bluetooth ULF module comes in a few different varieties. Only one can be used with the Comfort Bluetooth/Smart Phone option. And as you car did not come with that option then if there is a bluetooth module it will may have to be replaced. They are not cheap. From 3/2009 all cars have the same bluetooth module. This module is $420 or so if you need to purchase one. Then you also have wiring missing and the arm rest missing. Adding the arm rest is not just the armrest it also means replacing parts of the center console i.e. the rear center cup holder. It will be a lot of parts to be ordered.

As for the roof rails you may be looking at 15+ hours of work to get them installed if the dealer will even do it. They have to remove the head liner and all the side curtain air bags as well as all the trim from the belt line up to get the headliner out and back in. Most dealers do not want to deal with these sort of items as they can only do it on an hourly charge basis and really can not give a real estimate of time. Also I am not sure if the parts can actually be ordered as there was a time when the parts could not be ordered. I know I checked. This may have changed in the past 6 months but even if they are listed in the parts diagram and have a price does not mean that the dealer can order them. There are parts that dealers "can not order".

Good luck with your new purchase and let us know how it all goes with the upgrades.

 

veg1515, why not just get a Garmin GPS with bluetooth, would be way simpler and cheaper.

 

Thanks for the info

The roof rail part numbers are

left - 51137174117
right- 51137174117

I am not saying you are wrong about the labor charge , but do you think its is really 15+ hours in labor to drop a headliner ? I called a body shop used by Mini and they quoted around $100 based on there time needed to get the headliner out. I think it might end up a tad more . I will let everyone know and I sure hope schatzy62 is wrong

About the car can you tell when it was made by the Vin?

The warranty started 5-15-09 if that helps

 

zug4zip

I have nav and bluetooth (just not comfort bluetooth)in my car, I just want to be able to store my phone in the armrest.

Plus I cant stand the way "add-ons " look in cars not my cup of tea

 

Back last summer there were some cars that were built incorrectly at the factory and had gray headliners not the anthracite. It took dealers about 4 hours to remove and replace the headliner alone. That does not include the removal of air bags or drilling of the roof for the rails. So add another 2+ hours for the air bags thery are rather difficult to remove and replace now add probably another 4+ hours minimum for the drilling and rail attachment and we are over 10 hours so I would say that 15 hours in not out of wack for something that the dealer has never done before.

Of course if they have two people working on it it could be done in one shift but they will still bill you for the total man hours of two people. So say it took the two people 7 hours from start to finish you would still be charge for 14 hours of time.

 

BTW for each roof rail the roof has to be drilled 5 times. so there are 10 total holes to drill in the roof to attach both rails.

And the cost at pelican parts is 189.00 for each or $378 for both. MINI may give you a price of $178.13 each but that would also mean you have to return the old one as the MINI price is +CORE

 

How could they justy a core charge on a regular part?

Where did you get that info from?

So 10 holes drilled = 4 hrs?

I think if it took 1 hr hour the dealership would charge for 14 hrs if they could get away with it.

So did you have a shop quote you 14hrs?
Is there anything underneath that gives the screws more surface area? Or is it just a washer or something to that effect?

 

isnt there an OEM roofrack that is removable and does not involve ripping the car apart and drilling holes in it ? if i were you, that is the route i would take.

also, as far as the armrest goes, the majority of people that have one think it is a total POS and wish it wasnt there. there are about 50 other places you can store your phone that dont involve ruining your good deal, eliminating access to the rear cup holder, or drilling more holes in your clubman.

either way, enjoy your new clubbie!

 

I used rivnuts to install a roof rack on a Honda. I owned it several years and never leaked or came loose. No head liner removal with rivnuts but a special tool is needed but not expensive. Rack came with rivnuts for installation.

 

amusingdream , I really like the way the rood rails look and I get to use my Yakima system with them. It might be a different story if the factory rack was black , it looks horrible on a Mini in silver.
The factory rack is only going on my car if I cant get the rails on

I would just like to have a usb plug in the center console , maybe I can just get aftermarket console and install a usb plug. I do think the roof rack is more important to me than this option ,so maybe I will only try to tackle one of the two challanges

Daveinmn
That would be great if it was that easy

thanks for the help

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-armrest.html

I think this DYI will come in handy for the OP with what you are trying to accomplish with the armrest.

 

First of all it IS NOT a regular part. As far as my dealer knows these are still on the "Do Not Install" list for dealers I.E. they can only be replaced if damaged on a car that came with them from the factory. I spoke with my SA on Saturday when I was there. As for being a +core part this came from both the dealer parts department and realoem.com




Alignment is so crucial here that if it is off my even 1mm then the sunroof may not work or the rail will not fit the curve up to the dune properly causing the rail to stress the roof skin and possibly cause a rip in the metal.

No. I know what it takes for alignment time to do this properly as I have put many a roof rack on a car that did not have them from the manufacturer, including a custom set up on a '99 Dodge Pickup that rails were never made for. Those rails were originally from a dodge caravan and needed to be shortened and bent to match the roof line properly. That job took about 5 hours to get them right and I did not have to take the headliner out.

On a normal roof with out the dunes as this car has it would take about 1-1/2 hours and the head liner normally does not have to come out. BUT on the clubman there are a number of problems.

1. Holes CAN NOT be drilled from above until after all the interior parts (headliner and airbags) are removed as they fall right where the side curtain airbags are located. These air bags touch the underside of the roof skin so any hole drilled without taking them out will cause a hole in the air bag.

2. Also the holes are along a curved part of the roof so that makes it more difficult to align and drill them. That alone would add probably and hour to the normal install time.

The only time I have seen the underside of the roof of a clubman with rails on it, I did not take a look at the mounting hardware for the rails so I am not sure what the exact hardware looks like. But knowing that the hex nut specified for mounting listed looks like a regular nut, I suspect the roof rail has studs sticking out of the bottom that mount thru roof skin.



So if the rail has studs sticking out of it then there is now way to put the rail on the roof for alignment purposes and marking of the roof.

If I was doing one on a toyota or some other vehicle where there were no studs sticking out of the rail then you take the rails lay them on the roof with their gaskets, align them by measuring from specific points on the roof and tape them in place. Then you mark the roof with removeable marker and then remove the rails and tape the gaskets back in place where they were marked and use them as a drilling template.

Unfortunately is is not that easily done with the Roof Rails for a clubman.

When these are done at the factory the holes are punched as the roof is being formed so the hole are always in the correct place. Drilling after the roof is on the car is so much more difficult on this specific car.


DaveInMm - this car does not use rivnuts to mount the rails. That would make this hole process much easier.

 

Do you think you can paint or powdercoat the roof rack to make it all black?

 

Which one. The OEM Roof Rack (removable cross bars not intended for use with rails) or the Rails and Cross Bars.

If you are talking about the OEM Roof Rack the silver cross bar is anodized aluminum so what ever you can do to that will work to make it black. The side panels are black plastic with a dark gray center witch could be painted easily.

The Rails are black and the cross bars are also black if i remember correctly.

 

I was talking about the OEM roof rack

Thanks for the info!

 

I found out my car was built on 3-09 , so does this mean I have the newer bluetooth module?

 

It looks like 3 (march)-2009 was a change over month so you may have either the old or the new.

If you can Get the VIN you should be able to call the dealer and find out what part number it has in it. This might be the easiest to figure out exactly which module is in the car.

Then they should also be able to tell you if it will work for the cars with the Smart Phone Option Package