[gronk]

Hi all, our first post on this most active of forums.....

Picked up my wifes Mini One last weekend, suffice to say she loves it and is light years ahead of her previous VW POlo. We got the car as a 6 month old ex dealer demo anyway between ordering and picking up I wanted to surprise Gil, so asked the dealer to fit the Viper stripes as shown in the roof decal brochure.

As you can imagine she was surprised to see the stripes when she picked up the car and the stripes so make it look different from any other Chill Red 'One' we've seen to date. But there is one thing annoying me...the stripes have a matt finish.....it doesn't seem right somehow, I imagined they would be glossy like the paint finish and I'm sure that the boonet stripes etc are all 'glossy'. Alas, I've not seen any other Min's around with Vipors or any other stripes for that to have a close look at. I saw another thread with explained thatthe dealers got a local sign writer in to put the decals on and I'm worried I got 1/2 a job done.

I expected the authentic BMW part to be fitted and am no thinking they got some guy in with a roll of electrical tape, can anyone out there advise on whether this is the corrrect finish or not?

[Paul]

I don't really know how to describe the finish of the dealer fit stripes/decals, but I wouldn't call it matt. It's "shiny plasticy" I suppose. Have you seen a MINI with bonnet stripes? Do they have one at the dealers? That should help. It sounds like they "may" have installed/had them installed the wrong way up.

[Paul]

Welcome to MINI2 by the way!!

[gronk]

Thanks for the welcome, I personally drive BMW 3 series and although there are some good forums out there, I'm amazed by the enthusiasm Mini owners have....

'shiny plasticy' seems like a good description to me, well 'plasticy' anyway, my wife commented that they seem to match the finish of the exterior plastic on the car!

It didn't occur to me at the time we picked the car up to thik anything was wrong and I've not seen another car with Vipers either BMW or aftermarket to check. We don't live that close to the dealer to pull up and check on the forecourt and I've not noticed any other Mini's parked up to have a close look at...

Intrigued by your thought that they may have been applied the wrong way around! Can anyone explain the application process. I imagined they were glued on somehow.

[Paul]

One side is the sticky (stickier) side, which does have a matt finish, the other side is the shiny side that should be on show.

They're fitted using water/detergent and a squeegee to allow movement/ensure they stay put. The "sticky" side doesn't really feel very sticky at all.

[Paul]

To be honest, the white stripes do look more "glossy" than anything else, so it doesn't sound right, but it's so hard to tell using words alone. You could maybe post a digital photo tomorrow (if it's not raining) and we could try from that.

I'll see if I can find a good photo of what they should look like.

[gronk]

Will do......

[gronk]

Forgotto say the stripes are black.....

[Paul]

http://www.mini2.com/images/news/italianjob4.jpg

www.mini2.com/images/works_n_stripes.jpg

[gronk]

They are nowhere near as shiny/glossy as those in the pics posted above. But do look very professional, applied really stright and must have been cut to a template as the cut around the scuttle grills and high leve brake with an even gap and they fit the panel edges perfectly. Not the sort of thing you could do round the bacl of a garage with a sharpe knife

What I should also mention is that I was only charged £100, the brochure lists them @ £95 + fitting...I just thought they'd charged me parts only and hadn't woken up to the labour charge, until i came across this site I had no idea that there was a chance the main dealer would use a 3rd party to supply & fit.....

I will get that photo tomorrow, although I'm not sure how clearly the effect will show......

[gronk]

Right here are the photos i promised, not to good a morning here but you can see the the fit looks pretty good, but the finish is far from 'gloss' or even shiny for that matter...

[Paul]

To be honest, they look wrong to me, but I could be wrong myself.

I can only find bonnet stripes, but I'm sure the Vipers are much the same finish:







Click little piccys for bigger ones...

Hopefully someone with black vipers will chime in with the final answer, but they don't look right to me.

But are you happy with them?

[Rich_IX]

They look about right to me gronk....
just my 2p

[Rich_IX]

Check my profile I have many pics of my car with vipers that was fitted by the dealer.

[gronk]

Thanks Rich, yours look 'matt ' from the photos' would you agree with that description? Ca nyou confirm they look ok after you've applied polish?

it looks like they are supposed to be matt but I can't help but think they would look much better in a high gloss finish...

[andyupnorth]

I've got the dealer fitted silver Vipers and they are a matt finish. I know they are authentic BMW because I saw the kit before fitting, although they used an external signwriter to apply them. Looking at yours they look right to me.

[Paul]

Silver (because it's "silver" mettalic) has a different finish in the vinyl to the black and white stripes/vipers.

[Bootsy]

Quote: Originally Posted by gronk

Right here are the photos i promised, not to good a morning here but you can see the the fit looks pretty good, but the finish is far from 'gloss' or even shiny for that matter...

They look a bit like the Rogue Engineering shadow stripes to me. They also have a matt/semigloss finish. Don't wax em, BTW.

[andyupnorth]

Quote: Originally Posted by Paul Mullett

Silver (because it's "silver" mettalic) has a different finish in the vinyl to the black and white stripes/vipers.

Yeah you're right - I just nipped out for a look and my silver ones are somewhere between matt and glossy...I guess what they'd call in the Dulux paint range as "silk".

[gronk]

Now I'm getting really confused.....are they aren't they.....I'm now getting really worried about polishing the car now too....

Can't fault the fit, but now I've got that horrible nagging doubt at the back of my mind that keeps telling me its wrong........I'm gonna mail the dealer, find out what they have done.....