badgeless on the rear looks pretty good, clean...i think i may go that route

 

Really, really nice ride there - love the way it looks.

I can't help but wonder if it'd look good to do the projector shrouds in yellow, matching the body color. Either it would look bad, or it'd be an awesome highlight.

 

The rear debadging does look good. Now you need to lose that license plate frame (maybe get a plain black one).

 

I couldnt get mine open I guess because the glue is so old, I have 03. I ordered some vinyl from Vinyl Styles and tinted mine. If you decide to go that route I suggest 3 people to do the job. 2 to stretch the vinyl and 1 to hold the hair dryer.

as for plasti-dip....I love the stuff. I need to remove my door handles and redo them.


P.S. I did get my tail lights open tho and working on them right now

 

That is classic.

 

I talked to a couple of techs at the dealership today, they said that it shouldnt be very hard. The hardest part for me would be to get the car from my wife long enough to work on it!

 

WOW! That looks amazing! I'm totally getting some of that for mine! Great job.

 

Very nice car. It's clean !! I really love the debadged look. I see BMW got smart and stopped putting holes in the body work. You second geners are lucky. If I had the chance to take my badges off as simple as you guys, they'd be gone in a second. If that's any motivation for some of you to debadge your car, then I'm glad I could help. It really looks clean. I do agree with others though, ditch that plate and find a better spot for it.

One more thing to the OP, you still haven't answered some questions in here. Did you spray the plasti dip or brush it on? Your results look amazing. Looking at your headlight rings, they are very well done.

 

I plasti-dipped my frame - worked great!

I did my handles on the car with no problems - easy. Mask around and under the handle with blue tape. Doesn't have to be perfect, because the dry dip will rub right off of where you don't want it. I also used some tape on the inner "button" of the door handle.

The trick is to use an Xactco knife to go around each side of the handle where the chrome meets the rubber gasket after each coat dries for about 10 minutes - while it's still a little soft. This will "score" the cover enough to make it cut cleanly when you remove the masking and peel off the excess dip... plasti-dip is hard to cut cleanly when dry (it stretches and tears) but if you pre-cut it when damp, no worries.

 

Thanks Blimey, I'll give it a try when I get back.

 

Oh yeah... I also used a sheet of paper to mask (I used big kraft paper from a roll I have, but you could use a full sized sheet of newspaper). Just cut about a 2x9" hole in the middle for the handle, then tape it on the door to cover the area around the handle - like a surgical drape... then use tape to finish masking...

 

I did all that the first time. The edges are starting to peel so this time I'm gonna take them off. It can be done. I have a felling it will hold up better if I spray the back side of the handles instead of just the front. Thanks for the suggestion tho

 

I wondered if it would come up on the edges, and it sounds like its does on the parts that you handle? AmI correct?

 

finally internet is back up. looks like i didn't take much pics of the wheels. i only have one closeup. right now its already covered in brake dust so i'll take some pics after i wash the car. the brake dust is now no longer as ugly as before. actually you can't see it much at all.

doing the wheel was easy. i didn't remove the tires. i washed them, inside and out, and let dry. then painted the inside 2x, light coat then heavy coat. for the outside i stuck a bunch of old business cards along the edge of the rim, where it meets the tire. i pull them out immediately after i paint each tire because if the overspray dries, it'll rip off the paint on the rim itself. it was a little tedious to insert and remove the cards each time but it saves a lot of headache i think. i did 3 coats for the front and that was it. the "MINI" logo pops out from the back.

oh yea. there are holes with the badges. but you can't really tell with the vinyl on top. i was going to stick the badges back on but i'm liking it more without the badges. also bought some tape to do the belt line. i have a lot of excess vinyl to attemp to wrap the door handles but i think it'll be tough to do.

i need to find some plain black license plate frames. the mini branded ones are so expensive.

 

Oh, so BMW is up to their old tricks then. Thanks for the tips. I can't see any flaws are indications of runs in your work. Is Plasti dip that easy to work with?

 

Yes, pretty straight forward. Light coats...it goes on easy. You'll need to do 3 or more coats. Check out my gallery for some shots.

I was in a minor accident which marred my rims. I'll plasti-dim them weather permitting.

 

its easy to use. just spray like any other rattle can paint. i usually do 1 light coat, then heavier on the next two. i stop at 3 coat with the last coat the heaviest. it turns to a flat color after it dries. they have other colors besides black to play with

 

Thanks for the information Maximus. Oh, and Smokem, your sig. has got to be the funniest thing I have read in awhile.

 

Sounds pretty easy. So you only cleaned the wheels? no roughing up with sandpaper needed?

 

yes if you dont take them off before you spray them. here is is link to help get them off. I think they would hold up as good as the gas cap if you spray them good. I'll do mine soon. Working on Joey mod tail lights right now



http://www.motoringunderground.com/f...ead.php?t=8000

 

no roughing or sanding. so if you ever want to revert the process, just peel off and its back to OEM.

 

I don't know HOW different the headlight assembly is, but I completely disassembled my 1st gen light (it took days for me to figure out how to take it apart w/o damaging anything) I can dig up my post w/ pics locating all the screws and what-not if you think it would help

 

Very good job. I wish I had the ***** to do my lights like that. The joeymod is HOT. It looks great with all the other mods you have done. I love the yellow.

 

LOL. Very few get my sense of humor. My wife stopped laughing at my jokes long ago. Now its you and the little voice inside my head that laughs . Take care.

 

Please post photos of the Joeymod Tail lights. I would like to see that done. I look forward to blacking mine out when I get it. I would work on our Clubman, but its not getting above 40 much right now. I am not to excited about being cold, so it will wait.