I spec'ing a new cabrio. I'm leaning towards getting an aerokit (for purly aesthic reasons). Does it have any really effect on the perfomance of the car? What does it do to ground clearance?

Thanks,
Tony

 

No change to ground clearance, and it does have an under belly part, which may or may not actually have an effect on performance.

 

Which one are you thinking about getting: The all painted one or the jcw one that has the black arches?

 

I have the painted one on a pepper white S. I think it makes a much more finished look in that color. No impact on clearance and none that I can tell on performance.

 

The painted one.

 

Definately has no effect on ground clearance. Yes there are giant plastic underbody panels... they probably wouldnt make too much difference less you were going like 100. Also it has a different grille on the front, which makes the bottom grille trim slightly different...so, if you ever want to change it you cannot (got mine vinyl wrapped).

Only other downside would be having painted rocker panels where lots of debris gets thrown up... have one small chip in mine after 27K miles...

 

Painted looks much more upscale than the standard black arches IMHO. If I had ordered I definitely would have it. It is a little less of a problem with my Midnight Black car, but I still would prefer the paint, even in black.

 

I agree with you TRL. At the time of my order, I had maxed out our budget for the car. So I have to wait till the next set of "soft funds" is available. I even toyed around with the idea of painting the plastic arches with a paint and body shop that did some AC Schnitzer cars for the dealership where I bought my MINI. I did a photoshop draft just to see how they would look. The draw back was a few reports of paint chipping or peeling when the plastic is painted over...even if done correctly and professionally. But it would have been almost 40% cheaper going that route than buying the dealer sold ones. Here is the example of the Aftermarket mock setup, if your curious.