Shall I Mod my R56 or not?

[hammo18]

<a href="http://s477.photobucket.com/albums/rr137/markhammond3/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_1812.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr137/markhammond3/IMG_1812.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>



Wanting to do a thing or two to my new R56.

Thinking of powder coating the wheels white (after winter) and giving the windows a light tint...what do you think?

Of course if money could grow on trees or I had a spare £1800 an Aero kit wouldn't go a miss too!

Still pretty ****ed how I can't retrofit a bluetooth system in but that's MINI for you!

[EL-COOP]

First off, lovely R56, the colour is fantastic!

End of the day though, only you can decide whether you want to mod it or not, if you're not fully satisfied with it now then obviously you can look into slight changes.

Like you say, the Aero kit is the big one. I would love one for my Cooper (although i'm holding out as I think I may change to an S early into the new year and will look at getting one then)..but again, as you mentioned, the price tag is a real stinger.

If I was you, I would probably save for the Aero kit, have the alloys sprayed (I would go black, but that's purely personal preference as I'm not a massive fan of white alloys, they'll be a b*gger to keep clean. I'd have the roof wrapped black too) and maybe a lowering kit, 25/30mm drop because it just makes the Mini look even meaner. A light tint across your back windows would also transform the look of the car. They would be my first changes, if i was going to make any.

After that it's all about cash you have left over to spend on her and whether you want to look into changing the air filter and exhaust for a more aggressive sound as you put your foot down, carbon bits and bobs such as the bonnet scoop, door handles etc. As I'm sure you're well aware, you could really go to town and the brilliant thing about Mini's is there's so much you can change, some just really simple, subtle changes that really set off the look of the car, but it's all about the purse strings!

[hammo18]

I clean the car weekly hence the decent paintwork, so keeping the wheels clean won't be a problem and the white would match the roof and mirror caps

thing is going down the mods route im only 19 and already paying £1300 so if im adding performance mods making it 200+ bhp I will have ZERO money for that aero kit!!

[EL-COOP]

ahh ok, well I have to say for all insurance might be an issue, you should be very proud of driving a car such as that at the age of 19!

Can I ask who your insurance is with? A quote of £1300 doesn't sound too bad for somebody your age. I'm 23 at was getting quotes of around the £1100 mark for an S from Admiral/Elephant.

Even just the cosmetic mods alone will boost the quote too. Like you say, if you start modding the car's performance it's only going to sky rocket. In that case, maybe you're better just sticking to the Aero kit and having the alloys sprayed.

[hammo18]

cheers, i have my own business which helps pay the finance off but i also work in a school, which is my occupation on my insurance which brings it down a lot! Admiral by the way

yeah the window tint might be a bit of a killer, but I did own a MINI One before with mods as long as your arm (bit of a halfords body kit i must admit) and my insurance only went up £150 so the window tint fingers crossed shouldn't make a difference, plus I'm pretty sure you can get is as an extra from factory!

[michel2tiffin]

The aftermarket is fully of very talented people, and they will certainly be able to crack the ECU and re-map the system to get more power out of these cars. I wouldn't be too worried about the aftermarket not being able to create power-adders.... it's just a matter of time.

Besides, the lucky dogs in Europe and a few other areas have been tinkering with the R56 for a couple of months now, so I wouldn't be shocked if they offered some performance goodies by the time the R56 hits our dealerships.

Thanks,
Michel

[beken]

Careful. Once you get started, it's hard to stop.

[BlueBeastie]

Change your front indicator bulbs to silver ones. Just do a google search for them. They make a huge difference in the appearance of the front. I also changed my park bulbs to OSRAM Cool Blues and now the fog lights and park lights look like one unit, when both are switched on.