Hello everyone!

The MINI Cooper has been my dream car for the past several years. After months of research and several excruciating attempts at buying a used MINI, I am now the proud owner of a brand new, 2010, Cooper hard top with chili red body, white roof and mirrors, AT, premium, cold weather, bluetooth, rooster red seats, brushed alloy dash, and alarm! Phew! I think I got all of it!

I live in San Francisco but found this pre-built car at a MINI dealership in Colorado. The car should be ready for pickup next Wednesday so I need to arrange for shipping ASAP! Any suggestions?

Since I had a budget to live by, I was not able to custom order my MINI like everyone else. There are several things that I would really like to add later when I save up some more funds! Below are some questions I have regarding adding things after the fact that the car is built...

1) LOVE the silver mirror caps! Is that only available at a dealership or are there less expensive alternatives?

2) Also wanted the chrome fuel cap (like on MCS's) but heard that it's expensive because the entire area near the fuel cap has to be repainted. Has anyone had this done to their base model MINI? Does it look good?

3) I really wanted white turn signals but mine are yellow...and they bother me a little bit. I know I'll love my MINI no matter what but is it possible to change out the yellow turn signals for white ones? Is this something the dealer can do or is there a less expensive alternative? Has anyone done this on their own?

4) This is specifically for San Francisco MINI owners (or people who are familiar with the street conditions in SF). Is the Invisishield necessary when driving in the City? If yes, did you get just the one on the front bumper or the one on the bonnet or both? For everyone else, what about driving on the freeway? Is it only done by the dealer or has anyone found a cheaper alternative?

Thank you so much for reading my post! I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight! Yippee!!!

Jane

 

Congrats You sound kind of excited

 

Welcome and congrats on joining the Mini family!

As far as your questions....

1. It is possible to get mirror caps for your mirrors. Take a look to the left of the screen and find the Vendor Directory... several of them carry the caps. Make sure to note that you are looking up the correct one for your car (Gen 2 or R56 for your 2010 Cooper) and whether or not your have the powerfold mirrors or not, since that makes a difference.

2. There is a kit available to do this conversion; being relatively new to the world of Mini's myself, I haven't seen it done in person, but it is a commonly done mod, apparently. The kit is also available from several of the vendors I mentioned above.

3. For your turn signals, it is expensive to do at the dealer, since they only way they do it is to replace the entire headlamp assembly. For the front, it is possible to remove the orange lens - you then need to replace the bulb with either an orange bulb or a silvered bulb (looks silver unlit but burns amber) and you will not have a lens cover on the turn signal but since the entire headlamp is pretty well sealed up it does not seem to be an issue. For your rears, you have two options... replacement of the entire tail light assembly or getting a clear red film to turn the entire light surface red. Only place I know that offers that is Vynyl Styles (in the vendor list).

4. Can't help you with this one.

 

Welcome

Silver mirror caps are cheapest to get yours painted, if you mean chrome those can be had aftermarket cheaper than the Dealer.

Yes you can get the S gas cap on your Cooper, we actually stock the kit to do this.

As for the yellow turn signals. You'll have to replace the rear tail lights, side marker lenses, and the most expensive part each of the front headlights, since the turn signals are in them. They are anywhere from $450 and up.

For the Invisishield do it now, if you try to do it later it will be too late, it will look bad if you add it later and have rock chips in the paint.

Let us know if we can help, we can get all the parts for any of these mods, and again welcome to the club.

 

Welcome to the forum, you say you bought your car from a Colorado MINI dealer, was it Ralph Schomp? If so, they were happy to arrange shipping to me in SLC and did for a lot less than quotes I got. If it was MINI of Loveland I don't know what their arrangements are.

 

Hi Jane!

Post some pics...we wanna see the new baby!

 

Congrats & Welcome Jane!!!! I'm so happy for you and envious too...I lived in Alameda and was in the city a lot until last year. I miss it SO much! Get someone to take a good pic of you on Lombard Street. The hills in the city and Hwy 1 are a blast in a MINI. Not sure how much you need the invisishield if you're not on 80/880. If you ever intend to drive on 880 go ahead and invest. Good luck to you...can't wait to see pics...

 

welcome to the club - Chili Red is the bestest color

If it were me, I would fly out to pick up your new MINI, and drive back from Colorado to San Francisco. Excellent opportunity to bond with your MINI

 

Thanks, everyone! What an awesome feeling to be a part of this warm and welcoming community!

I don't have my car yet. Still dealing with paperwork, which they will Fedex to me overnight! The car is in Denver (yes Ben, at the Ralph Schomp dealership) and shipping is going to cost me $650! Ugh! The cost of this car is going up by the minute! I thought about flying out there and driving back but was told by others that it's not a good idea to put a brand new engine through 1,300 miles in its maiden voyage.

Anyway, I think I will get the Invisishield kit to protect my baby! I'm also going to looking into getting the chrome mirror caps! Is that something that I can easily install myself? The white turn signals sound like a big pain in the a** and very expensive. Being a complete novice to working on cars, I may just have to deal with those ugly amber turn signals! :(

I cannot wait for the day it arrives! Pictures will follow...stayed tuned!

Any other advice for my new car will be greatly appreciated!

Jane

 

Congrats!!!! I don't see sport package listed as one of your options so I am assuming you have 15" wheels. I am unsure if the 15' wheels come with non runflats or runflats. If they do come with runflats I would suggest dumping those ASAP.

Enjoy your new MINI!!!

 

No sport package so yes, just the performance tires.

Does anyone know a reliable auto transportation company that is reasonably priced? The quotes I have gotten so far have been $650 from Denver to San Francisco.

 

O.k, you live in SFran, picking it up or shipping it from Colo. You have but one choice pick that baby up and drive her home. Colorado in the mountains in the summer!!!! Utah, Nevada, through Lake Tahoe. You won't hurt it....Drive her/him home and have a great time.

 

Really? Isn't there a "break in" period on all new engines? At least that's what I've been told.

 

I read some other threads in the past saying both!! But come on, you can drive from denver to breck, vail or my favorite for twisties Winter Park spend the night thats only 1 to 2 hrs out of Denver. The next day off to Utah (Moab) stay another night. Then on to Tahoe, man I'm excited tell you what. I'll deliver it, you pay for the gas and my ticket home. With that route your not putting to many hours on it at all. But I really don't think the break in period applies much anymore.

 

Aww, Dreamini, I'm so very delighted for you. You sound like you really budgeted yourself and dreamed about this very moment. To top it all off, it's a 2010! Fortune is smiling upon you, and I know you deserve it. I love the Chili Red and as a new owner myself, I can tell you, you're just gonna love it. I think everyone has answered your questions by now, chrome mirror caps super easy aftermarket switch (can even be done by yourself, search the forums on the 'how to' of it all). As for the amber turn signals, don't hate so much on those, I got the white turn signals and I gotta say both are just as fantastic as the other. Just think of them as a bold accent color on that Chili Red! I can't wait to hear of your maiden voyage, mine was to the movie theatre! I couldn't have cared less about the movie, I was thinking the whole time, "NO one better chip my baby!!". Post the pix when ya get 'em!

Wanted to post script here, LOVE LOVE the rooster red seats, did you also get the dash and door trim? It sounds just lovely!

 

Thanks for all the well wishes, everyone! It is truly a momentous occasion! I cannot wait to get my baby! Not sure what I'm going to do with myself for the next two weeks! Good thing I didn't custom order this...how do you get through 8 weeks of waiting?! But, the bad part of the shorter wait (and better deal) is that I had to just go with one that is pre-built. Therefore, I did not get to choose the red dash and door trim. Mine is the brushed alloy, which looked pretty good in the pictures! I am really nervous about the rooster red seats since I have never seen one in person. I'm sure I'll love no matter what!

 

The rooster red seats are sweet. I bet you'll love 'em!

 

So happy for you! I thought I'd give you some advice:

1. Chrome mirror caps are awesome and a good beginners mod to do!
2. MCS fuel cap-- it's a bit expensive... I wouldn't do it (personally) Your money would be better spent on window tint to protect that gorgeous interior!
3. Don't sweat the turn signal colour. Change the side scuttles on your car. MUCH more fun, and a better mod in my opinion. Cheaper as well.
4. Don't worry about invisishield on the bumper. It is plastic, and can more easily be touched up. Get it on the hood though, but be advised... they always seem to install it over top your stripes... so if you get sick of the stripes look... it can be a bit of a problem.

 

Oh! I forgot to add that if you really like the rooster red colour line for the dash and doors... you can order it and get it installed at the dealer. I'm actually planning on doing this with my new car! It will be more expensive because you will have to pay for the install though...

 

Congratulations on your new baby. The Rooster Red Seats will be awesome.
Very cool.

 

How do i get a cool "Chili Red Owners Club" bagdge? Do I have to wait till my MINI gets here?!

So happy that you guys think the rooster red seats will look good!

Just another quick story to share...I've been talking about getting a new car for a long time and every time I tell someone I'm getting a MINI, they always say, "That's so YOU!"

 

Exactly what Carlisle said!! I was gonna add about the interior trim that I heard that it can be vinyl 'skinned', however I think a better investment would be to do what Carlisle suggested, have it ordered & installed at the dealer (when you decide to spend that on your MINI). And don't you dare knock your 'pre-built' (as you call it) baby!! I'll whip you with a wet noodle. Think about how many people who are MINI enthusiasts that never had the option to order and fell in love regardless, it doesn't take away the fantastic-ness of it all. You've made a wonderful discovery and decision and I know you're gonna smile for years on it! I will also add, I'm a bit obsessive, I pretty much Invisi-shielded everything! I made sure they removed my stripes (I didn't like the black bonnet ones, & I'm going to get new ones anyway), so I could have the shield under my stripes so I could switch the stripes for new ones in the future-without the hassle of removing the more expensive Invisi-Shield. Ooh! That's another thing to look at for reasonably priced mods, racing stripes. I've seen some that are pretty decent and inexpensive!! However, I know people who like to keep their MINIs lookin' au naturel! The rooster red seats are absolutely mad fabulous!! I demand that you will love them! Either way, I cannot wait to see your baby and I know that brushed alloy interior will look wicked cool!

Post Edit: Get a stubby antenna & grille badge holder (or two)! That modification alone (with seven, count 'em seven, new badges) made my car look so swanky! Everyone loves them! And it makes the MINI look 'old skool'!

 

Can I just say that ALL of YOU are AMAZING! Who are you people?! I don't even know you and I LOVE you all! I could be on this site all day...and not getting any work done! Ha ha! My boss drives a MINI so I'm sure she'll understand!

I'm definitely getting the invisishield! Is this something you would recommend doing at the dealership or can I go with a cheaper alternative? Which parts can you shield? On the miniusa.com site, I only saw invisishield for the front bumper and bonnet. What about the back? I live in a city where parking is always a problem and there are lots of pot holes everywhere! I want my baby to be protected! I'm getting it delivered without the invisishield so it makes me nervous just thinking about driving from my apartment to a dealer or some other auto place. That's going to be the toughest thing is constantly worrying about my MINI's well being! How do you guys deal with that?!

 

Okay, so I just inspected and I think they Invisi-Shielded my hood, bumper, and lights? I don't wanna peel, but I think it was just mainly frontal items (the areas that can get chipped whilst driving). They might offer the rear items as well, but I was/am unaware of such. I had mine done after market (it was cheaper for me that route-check your local dealers/listings-shop around). Ooh! Maybe your owner-of-a-MINI boss will be understanding if you need a 'personal MINI day'. You know, a day off work dedicated to synchronizing your 'Chi' with twisties, good grub and the like. Hey! I'd try it!

 

[quote=dreamini;3091141]Can I just say that ALL of YOU are AMAZING! Who are you people?! I don't even know you and I LOVE you all! [quote]


Very simple, Dremini... we're Mini owners and enthusiasts!