[zogbogbean]

My pure silver s is has arrived and sitting in the driveway =) The black mesh aero kit upper and lower grills are sitting on the kitchen table.

Q: Is there a way to get the lower gill out of the stock bumper without taking the whole bumper off? I've messed with it and can't seem to find a way to get it out. The upper grill is an easy swap... but the lower is giving me headaches just because I can't get the damn thing out!

Can anyone who knows or has done this swap point me in the right direction.

Thanks,
Greg B

[suprchrgdmini]

I am having the same dilema you are having. From what the dealer in ny has told me you have to pull the bumper off to get the grille out. They also told me the bumper is pretty easy to take off but i havent tried yet.If you hear anything different let me know.

[eltel]

The bumper should be easy to take off, because I think that MINI take it off to service your car.

I'm keen to purchase the black grille bits, so good luck ,and let's see the finished results.

Regards, ElTel

[Damo]

Quote:

Originally posted by zogbogbean
My pure silver s is has arrived and sitting in the driveway =) The black mesh aero kit upper and lower grills are sitting on the kitchen table.

Q: Is there a way to get the lower gill out of the stock bumper without taking the whole bumper off? I've messed with it and can't seem to find a way to get it out. The upper grill is an easy swap... but the lower is giving me headaches just because I can't get the damn thing out!

Can anyone who knows or has done this swap point me in the right direction.

Thanks,
Greg B

Ahhhhh THAT GRILL! THought you ment the bottom grill from your PM. I'm not changing that one, I changing the lower one.

You'll definitly have to take bumber off to get to the bottom section of the top grill, you using it on a ONE or a cooper, as the Cooper has a Silver bottom grill so it may look daft having a black mesh Top Grill and a silver bottom grill.

[zogbogbean]

Here's an update of the progress I've made this weekend.

The upper aero grill went on in about 10 minutes. It was a snap with the cordless drill with the hex head on the end to spin the bolts off the plastic while tweaking them a bit with a flat head screwdriver to give them some reverse bite. What I mean is - the plastic from the stock grill is stripped when the mounting nuts are screwed over them. You have to push a flat head in there between the plastic washer and the metal nut. This creates a way for you to "re-thread" the plastic in the reverse direction and spin them off. Otherwise your next option would be to break the plastic nubs right off.

Lower aero grill. The bumper is going to have to come off for me to get this right. In addition the Aero Grill WILL NOT fit the stock cooper bumper with out modification. About 1/4 inch will have to be trimmed from about the bottom 1 o'clock to 11 o'clock position for this to slide into place. In addition the cooper bumper will have to have several small holes drilled and connected to create new mounting slots, as the aero grill has different slot locations than the stock cooper bumper. I will post pics soon.

-Greg

(and to prove that it can be done and is worth it, click the camera to see a high resolution picture of someone who has already had success and sent me these tips)

[eltel]

I think I can see three slat in the upper grille.

Sure that's not a photoshop picture?

[zogbogbean]

No, that is 100% real. The top part you think is photoshopped is the absolute easiest part to swap out. Also, if you look at the image in negative, reversing the colors and lights and darks, the mesh pattern of the aero grill is visable.

(just turn on 'magnify' with windows and select 'reverse' and you will see what I mean)

[johnlummis]

I am having the complete opposite dilemma.My dealer has been trying to fix the chrome bumper part of the grill to the Aero Kit bumper for me and it will not go on without as they put it,"substancial bogging",because the fixings on the back of the chrome grill do not match the Aero Kit grill fixings.I have spoken on the phone to the technical man at the John Cooper Works garage and said they had to modify the chrome grill to attatch it to the Aero Kit bumper.The modified part would not be available other than with one of their cars,just in case anyone is interested.If anyone knows of a company that could chrome the black Aero Kit bottom part of the bumper,especially in the north of England, I would appreciate that,Thanks.

[zogbogbean]

Hi there. I too wanted the Aero grills on my S. Here's my story.

I bought the two grills. The bonnet grill and the upper grill for the
bumper. On the S the lower bumper grill is already black, not silver like
the cooper, so I left that stock. My goal is to eliminate all chrome trims
except for the indicator light area and head light surround and door
handles.

The bonnet grill was in place with only 10 minutes work. The hardest part
was just getting the original one off. I managed to get the bolts that were
on the plastic posts of the grill off by wedging a small flathead screw
driver between the bolt and the plastic washer. While wedged, I applied
pressure and used my 10mm hex head to run the 'bolts' (they are cheap as
hell self tapping bolts) off in a new 'self tapped' thread... as when they
are put on they strip the plastic so they can't go off in the same thread.
You'll figure it out... this way you can re-use them to put the aero on.

Yay! It's on - woo hoo... now on to the bottom portion.

Ug. I've researched this for about 4 weeks now. What I posted on the
roadfly forum I hadn't pulled the bumper yet... but I had several emails
(like this one) that told me how to do it and what to expect.

Anyway - last night I finally pulled the bumper off my S. Here is the deal
under there. I absolutely wasn't expecting this. The chrome strip... is
it's own piece and comes off first by simply releasing the clips from the
back of the bumper. That slat you see at the top of this area.... guess
what... it's glued with some kind of craziness! When you remove this chrome
strip, pretty much everything else is solid bumper because that slat piece
is glued/bonded in. I held the aero grill up to this area and realized that
I would have to cut away and create a hole where this goes in the bumper. I
would also have to cut the aero grill on the back to have it mount flush.
I have a problem with all this because if I mess up the bumper is ruined and
I'm out 600 bucks to replace it... why didn't I just go out and get the aero
skirt and save the hassle? Once you start this project, there is no turning
back. Either the aero grill gets bodged in there or you buy a new bumper.
Unless you're an expert at bodywork and geometry or have some bucks to burn,
I think installing the aero bumper grill in a stock S bumper isn't viable.
I'm sure I could get it in there... but the probability of it's looking
good, correct and seamless would be low.

So, here is what I've deemed personally viable to get the same look. I plan
to order a new chrome piece from the parts department, get a can of matte
black spray paint and paint the chrome strip. I could paint my current
silver trim, but I want to make sure that I have a replacement in case the
painted grill looks like crap.