Does the stock spoiler still work? Can you your friend

 

James-

I just saw this on another site. Looks fantastic! Any chance of getting your friend to provide build specs? Things like springs, etc.. Thanks




-Steven

 

Here's Betty with her "butt lift". All in all, I'm pretty pleased (rear visibility is better); I think it finishes the rear very nicely...black wing, BRG towers and base.

 

Wow.........nice


-Steven

 

wow, sweeeeet!!!

 

Thanks! Kind of nice being even more unique, as if Coupes aren't unique enough.

LOL! Did get a good deal on the install labor. When I picked Betty up, my SA said "Yeah, the shop guys said 'Man, this was pain to prep and install', so you got a really good deal on labor. Sometimes it pays to be first I guess, because we've never installed one of these before, so we weren't entirely sure how much work it would be."

BTW, for anyone in San Diego, DeAna at Mini of Escondido, was an absolute joy to work with on this. Very easy to talk to, and kept good communication throughout the process.

 

Could you tell us what the labor was for it? If not too bad I would

consider it for my black JCW.

 

The labor was for the painting (two tone, Black wing, BRG towers and base), and the removal of the active spoiler (self-contained unit, now in my garage). Also had to have the ECU flashed, so it wouldn't throw errors, expecting an active spoiler to be there. The JCW Spoiler comes primered, so requires painting and installation. For me, it was $1395 + tax, out the door. I don't think that will happen again (Spoiler was $859 alone).

 

Let me thinks about that some more!

 

My dealer her in Iowa told that they could do this for either a coupe or roadster for mere $2000. Kind of steep I think. Though it does look great, and could improve rear visibility, I think.

 

Our Coupe is in production right now, and our MA is working with a MINIUSA accessory sales manager, who is hoping to have the fixed spoiler added at the port. Here is the info from him:

51 62 2 218 750 JCW Rear Spoiler

It's just under $1000 without painting and installation labor. He says that having it installed at the port MIGHT save some labor. That remains to be seen, but we're giving it a try. :-)

 

Decided to spend the money and have it installed. Glad I did, it has made

a big difference to the back of the car, doesn't look so much like a Geo

Storm any more. All said and done, $1500 out the door. My Xmas

present to myself!

 

Geo Storm? Mmkay!

 

I'm waiting for my coupe to come in the mail and have been contemplating this spoiler. How is it that it can improve rear visibility? Does the active spoiler lift higher than the jcw spoiler sits? Also, how does the car know not to lift the spoiler with the new one attached?

 

The JCW spoiler is aligned more horizontally, with the shape causing the down pressure (versus the active one that is angled to create drag/downforce). This is what improves visibility; you only have a line through your rear view. When it is installed, the dealer will re-flash your ECU to let it know there is no active spoiler.

 

I'd love to see factual numbers on both stock and JCW spoilers concerning the amount of applied downforce they create. Not because one is particularly better than the other but it'd just be nice to know if either is truly improving performance.

 

Hey, let's face it guys, if you like the appearance of the JCW spoiler, then get it, if you like the stock spoiler, stay with that. The down force difference is going to make you go faster or stick more on the street. Quite frankly, even on the track you probably wouldn't notice all that much difference. Just my opinion. As for me and this JCW spoiler, yes I like it, but is it worth $2,000? I don't think so. Lots of other options could be gotten with that same $2,000.

 

We don't have the quote for ours, but we fully expect it to be less than $1,400. And it could probably be done for even less, if someone orders it and wraps it or paints it themselves. Installation should be pretty straightforward, then just the ECU recoding. So it might be do-able for under $1000. It's all a matter of what you like.

 

Oh, pictures PLEASE!

 

A grand sounds a lot better than my dealer quoted me for the spoiler deal complete. Something that I would think about, as the coupe needs something on the rear. Also, I can see where the visibility out the back should be much better. As now, when the spoiler spools up, it does block vision some. Still livable, but it is nice to see in your rear. Love the Pepper White with the Red roof and spoiler though.

 

I don't see it being done for less than a grand....sorry. I bought mine through Outmotoring, painted it black and installed it myself. The retro programming alone cost me $288.00. It takes a minimum of 2 hours to retro program the Coupe. Good luck! The Coupe looks great with the fixed wing, IMO it is worth the cost.

 

We've sold a few of these and they look great. FYI for anyone close enough to come to our shop or MINI event we can do the coding for you.

 

Way, that's great information especially the retro programming! Thanks!

 

About the down force thing...I forget where I saw the numbers, and don't know what data backed up those numbers.

Interesting thing though....

Yesterday morning we had a heavy dew. I was in a hurry to leave to get some errands completed, so I didn't wipe down Betty before leaving (just squee-geed the rear window).

In the review mirror, I was looking at the spoiler thinking about all the comments about down force. For yucks, I accelerated gradually but consistently. The dew remained untouched by the wind...until I hit 50mph. Then the dew sheeted off like rain. I guess that (in a non-scientific way) establishes why 50mph is when the active spoiler deploys; must be when there is enough force/velocity to push air through the primary spoiler (roof spoiler) on to the secondary.

Just my observations and thoughts...

 

Pretty cool observation scientific or not. I love stuff like that!

Great news on the ECU reprogramming as well Way. Good to know that option is available especially for those that'd rather not have MINI poking around their ECU.