Interior/Exterior Interior and exterior modifications for Cooper (R50), Cabrio (R52), and Cooper S (R53) MINIs.

Interior/Exterior Finally did the Headliner and Pilars in Suede.

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Old 07-23-2008, 02:18 AM
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Finally did the Headliner and Pilars in Suede.

Not the first, but I finally did the headliner in black passion suede. Did it in the garage and it was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be. A little stressful, but not too hard. Here are a few pictures for you all.









I also finished painting all the guage surrounds flat black, but forgot to take pis of that. Enjoy
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 03:16 AM
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very nice!
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 03:53 AM
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Sweet!
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 05:41 AM
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Very nice job!
Can't wait to do mine.
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 06:27 AM
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Looks great! i was wanting to do this because the anthracite headliner and everything was so expensive...

any pictures of in the process?
could we get a write up on this maybe??

thanks !
looks awesome
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 08:32 AM
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Looks good man! How well does the black match the rest of the interior?
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 08:34 AM
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Kudos to you - you did a great job!

Donna
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 09:24 AM
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Very nice job, want to start a business? I'll be your first customer (no, not the cabrio). How long did it take?
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 09:30 AM
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did u already have anthracite interior, or did u simply buy / paint the pieces?
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 09:34 AM
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Wow - legends are made from that............SO professional!
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 12:25 PM
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Originally Posted by SnYpR
did u already have anthracite interior, or did u simply buy / paint the pieces?
I painted the pieces with different flat black spray paints. One was a vinyl paint for the visors and the others I primed and painted with and indoor/outdoor spray paint. They actually match the rear view mirrow really well.
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 02:45 PM
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well then....that looks quite amazing..looks just like anthracite to me.. im sure spraying vinyl paint is a lot cheaper than buying the visors new for 100+ very nice work! just wish i was that thrifty, instead of dropping 700 on new anthracite parts lol
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 04:33 PM
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what did you use glue wise?
Did you buy the fabric from a fabric shop, or an auto interior place?...does it even matter?
can you give us an estimated cost for the materials?

looks really really nice...
Ive been wanting to go this rout for a long time...
 

Last edited by Malcon; 07-23-2008 at 04:59 PM.
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Old 07-23-2008, 05:02 PM
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Originally Posted by xnotfunkylex
I painted the pieces with different flat black spray paints. One was a vinyl paint for the visors and the others I primed and painted with and indoor/outdoor spray paint. They actually match the rear view mirrow really well.
Hmm that's brilliant! What vinyl paint did you use?
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 05:50 PM
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Originally Posted by xnotfunkylex
Not the first, but I finally did the headliner in black passion suede. Did it in the garage and it was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be. A little stressful, but not too hard. Here are a few pictures for you all.









I also finished painting all the guage surrounds flat black, but forgot to take pis of that. Enjoy


*whistles* hot daaaamnnn.. very very niiiice!!
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 11:17 PM
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I keep reading that it's almost imposable to get the pillars off from the inside with out breaking them. I think it was the B pillar. How did you go about doing such a nice job?
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 11:36 PM
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Nice work! Everyone freaked when I did mine way back when, first they were asking me if the car got striped cause the whole thing was gutted. Then it was "the pillars cant come off!" LOL

again nice work!
 
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Old 07-23-2008, 11:41 PM
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xnot,
very interesting. thanks for good photos.
 
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Old 07-24-2008, 01:04 AM
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Originally Posted by Bang110
I keep reading that it's almost imposable to get the pillars off from the inside with out breaking them. I think it was the B pillar. How did you go about doing such a nice job?
The B pillar was actually the easiest to take off, 1 screw and then it slides out. The A and C pillars have clips but they also have straps to hold them in if the airbags fire. That's where it gets a little tricky, and you have to prey the female half of the clip out of the hole. Not too difficult just time consuming. Other than that all I did was pull and the clips pop out.
 
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Old 07-24-2008, 01:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Wake|MCS
Hmm that's brilliant! What vinyl paint did you use?
I used a flat black Dupli-Color vinyl and fabric spray paint that I bought at Pep Boys. This stuff http://www.duplicolor.com/products/vinyl.html
 
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Old 07-24-2008, 01:23 AM
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Thanks for all the nice comments everyone. Wake, the suede is a pretty good match to the rest of the car, but it is a little darker with less gray in it. But there are so many different colors to choose from I bet you could find a better match.

Originally Posted by Malcon
what did you use glue wise?
Did you buy the fabric from a fabric shop, or an auto interior place?...does it even matter?
can you give us an estimated cost for the materials?

looks really really nice...
Ive been wanting to go this rout for a long time...
For the glue I used 3M General Trim Adhesive that I bought at Pep Boys and Auto Zone (used a can and a half). But I wish I would have done more homework for that because it didn't work the best on the headliner because of the fabric that was already on there. I don't think it will come off but in a few places it didn't totally stick. The pillars aren't going anywhere though.

I just got the fabric at a fabric shop near my house. Went to a few of them and picked the one I liked the best that wasn't crazy expensive. So I'd say all in all it cost me about $140 give or take. Plus a few headaches along the way . And it took my 4 days I think because it was really hot here so I tried to do it after it cooled down and it was a little stress full doing the pillars with the hard curves in them.
 
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Old 07-24-2008, 01:30 AM
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Sorry for so many post just now. Last one I promise.

Originally Posted by Malcon
Looks great! i was wanting to do this because the anthracite headliner and everything was so expensive...

any pictures of in the process?
could we get a write up on this maybe??

thanks !
looks awesome
Sorry, but no pics of the process. I did it with my Mom and we were the only ones there and most of the pieces took two people to do them. I think the pillars could be done alone, but I recommend two for the headliner hands down. It was pretty tricky and I messed mine up a little because we rushed a little and didn't really know what we were doing. So if you choose to do this TAKE YOUR TIME. But really not too hard to do and you start to get the hang of it after a few pieces.

I would love to do a write up on this, but I really think it's one of those things that you just have to do. I'm not too sure of how to tell someone to cover a pillar in fabric. I just followed the adhesive directions and went for it. But if you are going to do this (and if you want to I think you totally should) don't hesitate to PM me with any questions you may have.
 
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Old 07-24-2008, 06:15 AM
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Looks fantastic!! As far as removal of the headliner & respective pillar pieces was it pretty intuitive to remove them? Once upon a time, I tried removing the B-pillar and I think I snapped some tabs off since I couldn't figure it out. Are there instructions in the Bentley manual?
 
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Old 07-24-2008, 07:16 AM
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thanks for all that information.. i think i'm going to look into this within the next few weeks.
 
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Old 07-24-2008, 07:55 AM
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Originally Posted by xnotfunkylex
I used a flat black Dupli-Color vinyl and fabric spray paint that I bought at Pep Boys. This stuff http://www.duplicolor.com/products/vinyl.html
Thanks man gonna have to buy some of that stuff.

Question, you were able to re-use the D pillar (C pillar)?? Is it a simple task to take off the pillars and the headliner? The more of these DIY posts I see the more I want to just start small with the pillars and get this done little by little.

Is there enough 'give' with the strap attached to wrap it while still on the car?
 


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