ok... so i decided im going to probably mess up my stripes because its to cold out and i dont have a garage and ill be super pissed off if i did so im trying to find a place to have them installed because i cant wait to put them on! one mini quoted me 390 and another 270... then some sign shop quoted me 400... anyone have any input on this? you guys think any of these are average? i just want a quality job and if i cant do it right now i want someone that knows what they are doing....

 

My guess is that the dealers will be overcharging you.

I have a clear bra and tint on my car, and the tech there told me that I could buy graphics and bring them to him for installation. He quoted me only $25 for roof graphics because he said that roof graphics were an easy job for him. My guy specializes in clear bras and vinyl wraps for high end exotic cars like Lamborghini, Ferrari, etc. If you have a clear bra, I would check with the guy you went to for a quote. If you don't have clear bra, I would check for an installer who works on high end exotic cars. If the tech works regularly on those types of cars, he would probably be pretty reliable. Good luck!

 

Where are you located? If NC isn't too far, we have a couple guys in our local club that do good work. And much cheaper than the dealership!

 

A few people in the NY area are trying to bring Lyle from Lyle's Vinyl Style out here to do some work. We need at least 10 people who want work done. But this won't be until early Spring. If you want to wait, he does an amazing job. He did my stripes. You can pm me if you like for more info.

 

i might be in on the lyles thing... i just posted on that thread... but i think im going to have the stripes installed by a local sign shop... we'll see ill definitely post pictures when im done

 

There's a thread? I'll have to find it. Sure, just post pics!

 

My Challenge stripes were finally put on correctly the 4th go round by Sam at Sam's Window tinting in Nanuet, NY. He is a few minutes over the TZ or a few minutes from where the Garden State Pkwy ends in NY. He also tinted my windows. Great guy. Highly recommended.

Or have Lyle do them when he comes out in March.

 

Help me out. I have 5 people interested so far.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...of-2011-a.html

 

Ya nanuet is a little far for me to drive. It's about an hour from me on long island, but ya never know if this place can't do it that I'm going to check out I may check out SAMs shop

 

That is a bit far. I am sure there are many tint shops or places that do vinyl graphics near you that will do a great job. I paid about $250 to have the side stripes installed. Your should be about the same or a bit more since there is a bit more work involved.

 

Ya mini quoted me at 270... But this vinyl place I called said they will do stripes for 150 and up so I'm going to show them what I want and see what they say...

 

By the way your mini is siiiick!

 

what is the sizing there, vinyl width and width of the gap between?

 

they painted the roof? or is it vinyl?

 

I have a shop quoting me $695 for the vinyl and labor... seems like alot. Thinking about doing myself, but I want the stripes to go from the bottom of the rear bumper across the roof, to the bottom of the front bumper including the wing... it does seem like a lot of work...

 

ya i want the same thing and got quoted something ridiculous like that as welll... i watched someone do it and wet application seems pretty doable... just take time... i think im going to finally tackle it myself when i have more time and the weather stays nice and sunny out... i will probably just to the bonnet and boot then do the roof and the bumpers later on....

 

i ordered from houseofgrafx.com through ebay. with the stripes pre spaced for 54$. that was just the car body. it will require trimming and fitting but as opposed to 230$ for the body or 450$ for the body and roof i'm going to try it myself. i think if you want body and roof from houseofgrafx it's like 65$. they use a high-mid grade vinyl rated at 5 years so it's probably just fine. mine is shipping today and i'll make notes on here and perhaps a video and/or photos. the thing is, with the body at least, the largest single piece is 23" and the whole thing is somewhere around 65", it can't be that hard to do!

 

Did my stripes on Sat. Took 5 hours from the time I pulled in the garage to pulling out. Took some time to measure and remove plates and stuff. I was going to pull the hood scoop and do it alone but ended up leaving it on. It's not perfect. The lower I got on the car i realized I was off by about 7mm. not very noticable and for the price I'm happy enough. There are a handful of small bubbles, no sweat. On the hood though, I may redo it as when I pulled the paper for the stripes it was a little wet from the wet install and some paper broke down and stuck to the vinyl. So I've got 2 little patches where there is still paper under the vinyl. Fortunatly I have some extra so I might pull that and replace it. All in all, a fun little project for a weekend. All that said, if I did it again, stripped off whats on there right now I could probably do it in 2 hours perfectly since I now have some experience and could just use existing spacing +7mm to one side at the bottom of the car!

So, unless you're really afraid, take an afternoon, take your time and you'll be good. Let me know if you have questions, a few pointers may give you some needed confidence etc.

 

 

You may have already figured this tip out. When I watched the guys installing my stripes, they used painter's masking tape to make sure they were all straight. I have twin stripes, so he just used tape that was the size of the gap I wanted in the middle and then installed the stripes along the sides so that they stayed straight. He also took the plastic backing (guess yours was paper) off before applying the stripes. He just cut it a little longer than the area, peeled it off, and sprayed both sides with a spray bottle before laying it on the hood... then squeegeed the water out with a little rubber tool and a sponge-like tool made of some thick fibrous material.

 

Oh, and if you haven't already... since you left the scoop on, make sure to take a razor blade and cut the area between the hood and the scoop. Same goes for the bit where the bumper has two parts if that is covered. Otherwise it could tear later, especially if you have it washed with a pressurized wand. My installer took the scoop off, but for the bumper we just split the two pieces with a small box cutter. You can't even tell it is cut on the bumper really.

 

yep. i did each division seperatly. then wrapped the corners with a 3m squeegy and hair dryer. on the bumper in front (i'm guessing which you were refering to) i just slapped it on and got it flat since i have the front plate it doesn't matter. with the back plate i was going to do one piece from the handle down but when trying to take off the plate mount i found the plastic rivet thing the screw goes into was not attached to the car so no way to remove the screw and thus the plate bracket. not real happy about that but again, who cares, you can't see it

 

Yup, I meant the one in front, sorry. I am trying to recall where the split is, I think it is above the lower grille. The installer realized it was a separate piece after laying the stripes over it, so I am not sure if it is just a 2011 thing or if the older MINIs are like that too. He just slid the blade across it, problem solved.

Our MCS got boot stripes the same day my MCCS was striped. They took off all of that stuff, so I know there is a way. I am just not sure how because I didn't watch closely while they were removing things. So look into it if you want to redo it.

 

i THINK i'm content. unless you really look at it, it's great! especially in the rain haha

 

Installing stripes doesn't sound too bad overall, but I haven't read anything about REMOVING OLD ONES. I didn't want to start a new thread just for that, but does anyone have experience with it?
Thanks.