[schapman]

I am looking into the possibility of having my black trim body colour coded, can anyone advise how to remove all of the trim. Are there any pitfalls, damage possible. Does one need to remove the sills to colour code.
Basically how do I go about it. Thanks peeps' in anticipation.

[Bartacus]

Hi

I'm going to do the same when my Cooper S arrives in Jan.

I remember seeing some comments on this subject in the exteriors forum when I was researching. The view was you are better of removing the trim for spraying as it will be easier (and cheaper?) for the garage to spray and they will do a better job.

I think it is fairly easy to remove the trim but the retaining clips break easily so they recommend buying extra clips from your dealer beforehand to replace any that break.

Are you getting all the arches and sills done? I'm still debating whether to leave the front bumper sill.

Mike

[Babes]

I got my arches done when I added the aero kit, looks much better IMO. Just about all the clips broke when removing the arches, there is a fair bit of preperation to get them to the same sort of finish as the rest of the car, alot of sanding down to make them smooth. Cost me and extra AU$200.

[schapman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bartacus

Hi

I'm going to do the same when my Cooper S arrives in Jan.

I remember seeing some comments on this subject in the exteriors forum when I was researching. The view was you are better of removing the trim for spraying as it will be easier (and cheaper?) for the garage to spray and they will do a better job.

I think it is fairly easy to remove the trim but the retaining clips break easily so they recommend buying extra clips from your dealer beforehand to replace any that break.

Are you getting all the arches and sills done? I'm still debating whether to leave the front bumper sill.

Mike

It's only a thought at the moment - to get it done on my cabrio' due March. I am thinking of doing all the black trim - arches, sills, front and rear lower bumper pieces ! My son-in-law will do the spray work (he has just gone self-employed with a car body shop business) but he has not had to remove trim from a mini yet. I am gathering information so as we can do it successfully.

Stu

[Hank195]

I am think about doing the same myself but it's too cold to paint here until spring. The following post on NAM provides a good description and photos of the removal process. How to remove fender lips

Good luck

[wendle]

The NAM write-up is spot on. Just remember that the skirt clips vertually always break and they normally take a few days for the MINI dealer to get in. Its just the clips that break - not the skirts.
The items must be removed to be painted. When we pre-paint the trims it normally takes around 2 hours to remove and re-fit the whole set. Its not difficult and looks fabulous when done - why MINI don't do it themself I don't know.

[nylo]

When i mentioned this in passing to my dealer, he told me it wasnt a particularly good idea, because when you take the arches off, you dont get as good a fit when you put them back on again. Anyone have anything to say about this? Would the paint chip badly? (With the bad roads at the minute, when I was washing mine the other day, I saw that there are some scratches, (obviously form passing stones) on the rear arches, and can't help thinking then, that the paint wouldn't stand up to this very well)

Something which just occured to me as I was reading that how to in nam, you could theoretically buy (or acquire, perhaps) a new set of arches and get those done by the bodyshop, rather than having your car off the road for ages? Would they be expensive to buy from bmw?

[Pobsey]

I have just had my moms cooper colour coded, I aquired a set of S bumpers and skirts, then bought a set of new arch trim, the trim was about £50 for the whole set of 6 pieces.
I had all of the parts painted off the car and fitted it myself, last friday night. all the clips broke off when removing the skirts and arches, to refit them was easy just a matter of pushing the trim back onto the metal studs, looks the business (all black cooper, with S bumpers and aero grille),

[wendle]

The fitting back on question is probably the reason that BMW do not colour code them to start with.
They fit as well when you put them back on as they did to start with (if you do it properly). The reason they "appear" not to fit so well is the fact that they did not fit all that well in the first place. Because they are satin black to start with and the shadow that shows the gaps is also black -it does not show!!! If you look closely on any MINI you can see this which really shows on the arches - particularly the rears.
Because of this we always make a point of showing people the gaps before we pull off the old trims so they know it is a MINI fault and nothing to do with the colour coding.
Buying the parts in advance is well worth while - we do it all the time - I am not sure of the total cost for all 14 pieces but it is less than £200 inc vat.
The rear arches don't chip that badly if done properly, but if you drive agressively it does throw stones onto the rear arches!!
They should last a few years. If you still have the car just do them again.

[nylo]

hmmm...sounds like this is the way forward then, rather than having to strip the car and either have it off the road or drive round with only half the car in place... i feel a new project coming on, just in time for summer

[schapman]

Thank you every one who has taken the time and trouble to respond to my request.
It has certainly helped me, I may very well be doing this next Summer on the cabrio.
I imagine this has helped others as well. It seems that it isn't such a big and complicated job as I first thought.
Thanks again.

Stu

[nylo]

welcome. i'm not pleased though- filling my head with ideas...

[Pobsey]

I got round to fitting the arches, skirts, bumpers and grille to my moms cooper last week, I think that the car looks alot better for it espectially witht he car being black,

[JpMcC]

that looks great Pobsey

btw, on the first picture the lower grill below the number plate is that just the standard Cooper S bumper Grill or have you put the lower aero grill on??

[Pobsey]

Thanks,
The lower grille (the one in the bumper) is the standard grille that comes with the cooper S bumper,

[nylo]

yeh mate, that does look well. doesnt sound too hard to do if you did it in an evening? i think getting new arches etc is the way forward, think that sounds like a better plan than stripping the whole car. doesnt cost too much either, even better. any ideas about the lips underneath the front skirt and round the trim of the rear skirt ( I've got the bodykit)- don't think they could be left undone...

[Pobsey]

It wasn't that difficult, just got to be firm when removing the old bits, I put two complete new bumpers on aswell, so I replaced every bit of trim on the arches, bumpers and skirts.The only trim that was carried over was the 3 rear bumper bits as they are different to the S trim, all I did was remove this trim, put the bumper back on without it whilst it was painted.

[nylo]

now theres a thought...hadnt occured to me to take the trim off then refit the bumpers...doh! juts had visions of me trailing round with half the car missing

[m1les]

I've done this as well, it took two of us about 2 hours. It wasn't difficult, just sweat inducing ripping your car to bits

I bought my painted trim from cool new, they supplied all the new clips required because you will break most of them. Start with the bonnet and front of the car to give yourself an idea of whats going to happen.

You will break just one clip that probably won't be supplied, its a small square plastic spacer on the trim section that fits between door and bonnet. Take care with this section and you will have no problems. You will only break one because when you do the other side you know what to look for If you do break it, a nut, bolt and a few washers seems to do the trick. Now thats been said it will probably fall off tomorrow.

You will also need new sill plates, mine were wrecked taking them off.

I would recommend checking to confirm you have all the pieces before you start.

Quote:

The rear arches don't chip that badly if done properly, but if you drive agressively it does throw stones onto the rear arches!!

The rear arches don't seem to have chipped at all, its the sills that have chipped and I have the mud guards fitted.

[Pobsey]

Quote: Originally Posted by nylo

now theres a thought...hadnt occured to me to take the trim off then refit the bumpers...doh! juts had visions of me trailing round with half the car missing

It looks abit weird but its only far a week or so, I think the front bumper trim also holds the bumper to the car! But the back is fine as long as you dont drive like you stole it!