Black is the new Black

[andrew.littlefield]

Hi folks,

Here are a few pictures of my three week old custom JCW with added blackness.

I'm pretty pleased with the results let me know what you think.

After reading various reviews of the JCW factory suspension I was surprised that I didn't find the ride particularly harsh when running on Michelin Pilot's.

Otherwise I'm bummed that I can't put a full mechanical diff in the car without voiding the warranty as that's the only area in which I feel the car could be improved. I don't really feel that that I need a bunch of additional HP as it's already plenty quick enough for "spirited" road driving and the brakes are exceptional.

I started with an 09 Midnight Black JCW Mini Cooper with Redwood Leather seats, Convenience Package, Cold Weather Package, Premium Package, Center armrest, Fog lights, Xenon headlights, MINI HiFi System, USB kit white turn signals and a full JCW body kit.

Performance Modifications.
JCW Strut Kit, JCW Sports Suspension, Michelin Pilot SPT+ Tires.

External Modifications.
Added: JCW Carbon Fibre hood scoop, rear defuser and wing. Plus black driving lights, black license plate surrounds, a stub antenna, an Escort 9500ci Concealed Radar Detector / Laser Shifter (front and rear)

The standard 17" wheels where repainted black, a matt black wrap was applied to all of the chrome external components and the rear lights. I also added a matt black racing stripes across the drivers side of the car. Also the rear windows are tinted.

Finally I de-badged it to make it a little little more discrete, which in hindsight pretty stupid given all of the external modifications, but I still think looks cool!





Internal Modifications.
Replaced factory HiFi system with an Alpine PDX-4.100 amp, Morel Hybrid Ovation 6" 3 Way speakers in the front and Morel Tempo 6"x9" 2-Way speakers in the rear.

Re-covered the center console, door armrests and dash knee guard with Redwood Leather to match the seats.

Modified the factory USB kit so that I could have a completely clean iPhone installation in the dash utilizing an Wilson Electronics iBooster cradle (which works wonders for iPhone cell reception, charges the iPhone and has a pass though connector to the USB Kit). I use the iPhone for navigation, music serving and also as a phone!

The Escort 9500ci display and control unit was mounted discreetly and all the silver components

I also added a JCW Carbon Fiber dash kit, door grabs, gear lever and handbrake.

Finally I had a matt black wrap applied to all the interior chrome components.



Tricky Modifications.
The the factory HiFi amp has been removed from permanent placement in the car and I now just have a connection harness so that it can be plugged in when the car's ECU needs to be programmed.



Also I've jail broken my iPhone so that I can use roqyBT to attach a Holux M1000C 64 Channel GPS receiver wirelessly to my iPhone for better GPS reception.

[sony]

Stunning MINI. Mindblowing.

[minicore]

Wow, that looks brilliant.

[aarontharris]

I just bought this car from "My Car Guy SF" on Sept 9th w/ 14457 miles on it.

Since I never met the original owner, its cool to read this post as some documentation on what has been done to the car.

Thanks OP!

The car looks great except for a few nitpicking items.
- I noticed the roof was repainted - kinda subpar quality. Some of the paint is on the stripe and moon roof edges. I think I'll just have the roof covered in black-matte vinyl to protect it and be done with it.
- Few minor scratchless dings on the rear passenger quarter panel.
- Maybe my imagination but something feels funny with the drivetrain, it may just be that the clutch is worn but it feels like more than that, like something is kinda loose and rattley down there - not sure but it's still under warranty so I'll iron it out.

Overall the car is sweet, OP modded in good taste.

OP - if you read this - msg me, I'd love to hear more about the car's history. Since I didn't buy it from you, you can freely tell me all the goods and bads with the car

Thanks

[MINIAC]

Quote: Originally Posted by aarontharris (original)

OP - if you read this - msg me, I'd love to hear more about the car's history.

Doubt you'll hear from the thread originator as his last access was on the day the thread was started

[aarontharris]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINIAC (original)

Doubt you'll hear from the thread originator as his last access was on the day the thread was started

Yeah - my thoughts too. But worth a shot - maybe he is still subscribed to this thread and his email is the same.

[minicore]

Quote: Originally Posted by aarontharris (original)

Yeah - my thoughts too. But worth a shot - maybe he is still subscribed to this thread and his email is the same.

You may want to PM him...

A lot of people don't subscribe to threads, but get new PM notifications by email.

[Marioalex24]

Wow that looks really sick. I thought black looked bad on a mini. But you change my mind I love it.

[aceraceruk]

love the black on black look!