If you GP owners can avoid driving them in the snow, I'd really try to do so... The front air dam on my Cooper was somewhere around 3.5" off the ground (it's been raised up a bit since I added camber plates) and that would get bashed by clumps of snow regularly. I cannot imagine anything lower lasting long. And with that extra paneling on the underside of the car, there's more to break. It just doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
Oh yeah, those extra "flaps" on the sides of the front shin spoiler look awfully familiar to this Cooper owner.
They're not identical to the Cooper bits, but close.
