I just got my MINI on the 16th of April and immediately noticed missing parts from the chrome line interior that I had ordered.

Total of 5 "rings" are missing. I quote rings because it's actually the complete housing that would be replaced. The missing sections are from the door speakers and the rear cup holder. I have the piano black interior and that's how these sections are finished.



Anyone else have this discrepancy?

My dealer tells me all his current 2008's with this option are coming in this way.

I priced the parts from minimania and it totals $179.75.

 

You got the armrest, so for whatever reason you don't get a chrome line cup holder. I guess they didn't want to make two different armrest assemblies.

You should have, however more than likely gotten the speaker rings in chrome. Does the '08 book still list out exactly what's supposed to be chromed? If so, use that to back up your argument. Also, check out some of the other cars on the lot.

I ended up noticing that I hadn't gotten chrome speaker rings about a week after I took delivery (mine is an '07 though), and I got them replaced as a warranty repair (after showing a picture of another NAMer's car w/ the exact same interior options and all of the chrome).

 

I could be wrong but I believe I read that if you ordered the piano black interior along with the chrome line, then the chrome line was deleted and all was black. I think this was the only interior choice that affected the chrome line option.
Confirm this with MiniUSA or your MA.

 

My Clubman came the same way, no trim rings on the front speakers. There are different opinions on why this is, but it appears to be related to the upgraded hi-fi package, which you have. I've seen other Clubmans that are also "missing" the trim rings, and my salesman checked all of the Clubmans on the lot, and none had chrome trim on the front speakers. Sounds like MINI has done some cost-cutting, and not updated the build site photos. The build site description for the chrome line trim for the Clubman does not mention the trim rings for the speakers, but the photo still shows them. As you pointed out, it's a pain to get them installed, as they're not just trim you "pop-on". Instead, the door assemblies have to be removed and replaced. I didn't get anywhere with my dealer on this one, so I've learned to live with it.

 

That's possible, but kind of silly. There seem to be a number of various factors that effect the amount of chrome line your interior gets (seating material, dash options, etc).

A quick check of the configurator shows no mention of speakers in the (tiny) description, however, it changes the speaker rings to chrome in the picture if you click on them.

If your dealer's playing hardball about swapping them out for you under warranty, the only ways I can think to apply some pressure is to either use the printed brochure (not sure if it's changed for '08 or not), or find someone on NAM w/ a similarly equipped '08 that has chrome speakers.

You paid the money with the expectation that you'd be getting a certain product, so they should provide said product.

 

On the miniusa site if you select pacific blue/black cloth/leather upholstry, piano black interior surface and pacific blue color line and chrome line interior you see the view of the interior change and the speakers will be chromed.

Also the brochure shows on the bottom of page 67 that the speakers and the rear cup holder as being chromed with this option.

"On the MINI Cooper S, and on all models with an optional interior surface finish or upholstry in leather or cloth/leather, the chrome trim is also applied to the door handles, the speakers set in the door trims, and the front and rear cup holders."

To me this speaks directly to the point I'm making and states specifically that I should have this trim level since I have the "S" model, optional interior surface finish and the cloth/leather upholstry. Seems very clear to me.

The center armrest addressed on page 68 does not mention anything about the chrome line interior.

One place I found chromed that isn't mentioned anywhere is the emergency brake handle.

 

Our Dealer is adding the remainder of the rings at No Charge next Thursday...I made sure to send him an
e-mail before we picked up Molly. She was Delivered (April 19th) without them, but our MA was able to get some kind of approval to have them installed for us. The configurator shows the Speakers with Chrome Rings when you configure your car with the Chrome Line Interior...I was just more persistant than most, I guess, making sure Molly was ordered as described in the Configurator.

 

I'd show this to your MA/SA and explain that you'd either like your chrome, or your money, thankyouverymuch.

The statement that armrest=no chrome came from some detective work I did last year before I placed my order. The whole rear cupholder piece is completely different if you get the armrest, and I guess they just don't make a chromed version of that piece, so it's not like you could even order that part yourself.

 

Oh I see what you're talking about now with the rear cup holder and since one can't use or see that one very well anyways with the arm rest in place, I'm not too concerned with that one.

I apparently didn't do very good searching thru NAM. Thanks for doing all the research. I'll be showing that thread to my MA.

-Norm

 

The NAM search is a bit wonky. You have to trick it into finding the specific thread you're looking for. And if you're just doing a general search? Fuggitaboutit.

 

My MA just called me back and let me know that he was in contact with his factory rep and indeed it was not installed and should have been. He'll be ordering the chrome speaker parts in the morning. Good to see my MA's on top of things.

 

If you got the HIFI stereo and the chromeline option you will NOT get the chrome speaker rings on the doors.
If you got the armrest and the chromeline option you will NOT get the rear chrome cup holder.

As far as I am aware, the only way to get the cupholder with chrome is to completely remove the armrest.
The speaker chrome can probably be retrofitted. Assuming you have the HIFI stereo I would say your SA is going out of his/her way to correct something
that is already correct. Good luck!

 

Molly will have her Chrome Line Interior Door Speaker Rings installed on Thursday. I don't think this really has to do with which Stereo you ordered, I think it is just a mistake that is either due to the Configurator not being updated or the MINI Factory running out of Chrome Rings, either way I don't think anyone really knows who's fault it is. If you are adament about having the Chrome Rings installed, go to your Dealer and asked that they correct the problem.

 

Yes, I'm not getting the rear cup holder chrome lined. Since I have the armrest, I wouldn't be able to see it anyways. Also as Modnar mentions, they don't make one if you have the armrest.

On the point of having the HIFI or not, while you may be absolutely right, nowhere in their brochure or on-line on their configurator nor even from the salesmen themselves state this. Additionally my MA never said anything to the fact that the factory rep had anything to say to having the HIFI option won't get me the chrome line interior on the door speakers. This is an incongruity between what the factory does and what they state in their sales brochures. What the customer sees and buys they should get if at all possible and since they make these speaker pieces I see no reason to withhold them.

It's great to have this resource to come to and even if I do have trouble with the search feature, members come to help me out. Thanks Modnar.

 

Hey, no problem, and it's great to hear that your MA is taking care of you.

It's probably quite true that the HiFi somehow equates to no chrome speaker rings, but no one outside of the factory build computers seem to know this. Although when I ran into this problem myself the 'proof' I found that my chrome speaker trim was missing (a picture of someone else's car w/ the exact same setup) was from a car w/ the HiFi and full chrome. So who knows. I wonder if there's a specific reason for it (like the chrome rattles more w/ the higher power stereo), or it's just general weirdness on MINI's part.

Honestly they could really stand to rethink how they've got the whole chrome line interior option set up. There is absolutely no reason for it to be this complicated. Either you get it, or you don't. And since it's obvious there's varying degrees of the option coming out of the factory (setups that are in all likelihood technically correct), then why does no one on a dealer level have any knowledge of it?

It's not a big deal, but it's a bit mystifying.

 

My MA is having problems finding the right part numbers. Using the picture from the following location:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...77&hg=51&fg=50




It would appear that these are the correct numbers:


Does this sound right?

Also note this site does not mention which speakers you have behind the loudspeaker cover.

Does someone have a picture comparing the non-HIFI door loudspeaker cover with the HIFI door loudspeaker? If they are of different size or shape I wonder if it would still cover the speakers I have but this site makes no distinction for the covers.

My belief is that though you might get the non-chrome pieces when you upgrade to the HIFI, I think the chrome covers will still work. I think it's an error in the factory assembly process.

 

Those look like the right parts. (Note: I am not an SA.) The covers are the same, regardless of what stereo option you get. The service and/or parts department at the dealer should be able to help out.

The only interior trim difference with the HiFi is that you get different A-pillar pieces that house the tweeters.

 

I have HiFi w/ piano black and chromeline. Car had chrome speaker covers from factory. 4/07 build date. I wonder if MINI just changed the amount of items on the chromeline option just to save some $$.

 

With what they're charging us (and we're gladly paying) for swapping out a few piece of plastic for slightly shinier plastic they've got to be making a freakin' killing off of this option. There is no way that the chrome trim rings cost them $200 more than the regular ones. The number is probably closer to $2.

But they're oh so shiny. How could I resist?

 

Not to belittle your issue, but this is why I'm glad I bought a lot car.

 

Krieg - how does your purchase of a car off the lot relate to missing chrome trim rings? - Just curious.

 

Full refund.

 

he doesn't have to worry about mistakes made in factory. He inspected the car on the lot and paid for what the car had and not for what it didn't have or would not come with. ???

 

r56mini - if you can find the car you want on the lot, that's great. I'd rather put up with a couple of missing trim rings and get a car ordered as I wanted (or, almost as I wanted). The jury is still out on whether this is a factory "mistake", or just a cost-cutting move on the part of MINI. My MA checked all of the Clubmans "on the lot", and none had the chrome trim rings on the speakers, even though they were delivered with chrome line trim. If the factory isn't building them that way, you're not going to get them, either through special order or off the lot.

 

I had to order mine too. Dealer didn't have a MCS with no options. Too bad the Factory didn't add anything extra by mistake.