My S should be delivered to the dealer within two weeks. I ordered it with black bonnet stripes over Dark Silver. I noticed after ordering the vinyl stripes sit very high on top of the hood and kinda look like a cheap add on. I was thinking of maybe removing the vinyl and having a professional spray on and pinstripe identical stripes then clear coating the whole bonnet. Has anyone here tried something similar?

 

hi wot if u get fedup with ur stripes

 

Now thats not The Queens English your typing there is it?

If I ever get "fedup" with the stripes I'll sell the car and get something fresh. Thanks for the advice anyway.

 

The stripes are part of the MINI look. You should do whatever pleases you most, but I love 'em.

 

Didn't quite understand my question, did ya?

 

cancel the MINI stripes and have custom stripes made that go beyond the edge of the hood.

 

I was thinking about changing out the stripes for actual painted ones as well. I LOVE bonnet stripes but the vinyl does look kind of cheap. Plus, they stain kinda easy too... (like bird droppings, cosmolen...GRRR...etc.). I'm wondering how much it would cost..?

 

Now theres something constructive!

But the car is enroute already so they'll have to be removed first. I guess I'll live with them a while then decide.

 

You can have it done no problem.....I have a shop but I am going to do the exact same thing. Going to paint the stripes on and do something a little diffrent.

 

call your dealer and cancel them before it lands at the port. *sometimes* the bonnet stripes are applied at the VDC or at the dealership and not at the oxford factory.

 

Post up pics when done. I'd love to see it.

 

We will...you should be seeing our stuff on here soon enough. We have some really cool plans for our car. Already have a ton of parts waiting to go on.

 

ditto on that one please!! and perhaps a breakdown in cost...

 

only sports stripes. If you order regular stripes they are put on at the factory.

 

I would never paint stripes on the car. It costs what, $200 to buy new vinyl stripes? How much does it cost to sell the car and replace it?

 

I understood your question. "You betcha." I'll try to be more clear... I find the vinyl stripes to be part of the MINI look. Again, to each his own.

 

Get the car with the vinyl stripes and see how it looks, once you feel pretty certain you like the look, remove the vinyl stripes and have them permanently painted.

 

I think painted stripes would look great, but another option to consider is that several of the companies that do aftermarket graphics use vinyl that's much higher quality than the OEM stripes, and much thinner as well. I like the vinyl that Aesthetic Creations used for my graphics much more than any of the factory stripes I've seen.

Of course, any vinyl will still be above the surface of the paint, as opposed to painting the stripes on and burying the colour transition beneath new clearcoat, but it's another option.

 

I painted mine on, did the hood and the front bumper. Scuffed the whole shebang down, layed the gold down first, masked that off, then sprayed the white, masked that off, then sprayed the entire rest BRG again, then clearcoated everything again. Came out great and the gold matches the same gold I painted the lips of my wheels ...also painted any chrome trim graphite grey pearl...

 

+1!!

 

Very nice ColinMC! Thats exactly what I was talking about. I'll have to find a quality paint shop on Long Island to give me a price. Thanks for the pics.

 

Hay hay hay - take it easy on the rest of the kids now...NAM is a huge community, English isn't everyone'se first language, and not everyone is a modder or a gear head...

I understand what you mean by "cheap" but it's really not that bad; I think most of us keep the decal-stripes in case we change our minds later. Now, if the stripes are definitely the look you want to keep forever, by all means, do the custom paint -- and I reallllllly like colinmc's where it goes all the way down. Please post pics when you actually get it done!! (Price too, if you don't mind.)

 

I would get bored with stripes, I would get it plain then add them later

 

ColinMc, that looks amazing. Way to go with the BRG & gold, I love it.

 

Good job ColinMC