Yesterday I finally put in my clear fender marker things. Looks cool BTW..

But in the process I broke one clip that held the cheap fender trim on. I managed to take the trim off after and swap around clips untill I can run to BMW and get more. But as I was doing this I kept thinking how shitty the trim really is. I think it looks bad unless painted the cars color so thats already a negative for me. Plus the fact they are held in my cheap clips that are prone to breaking is another negative. When it was off I noticed that it really doesn't add that much of a flair. Started thinking about seeing how I could make some steel flairs and french them into the car... Or something our of fiberglass...

Anyone make anything better for the car to replace the flairs? Anyone do anything custom like get rid of them and try something else?

 

that would be really cool...I'm wondering the same thing.

 

Do a search, this topic has been discussed to death.

 

How about a link. I searched and it didn't come up with what I was thinking. If I didn't owe as much as I do I would almost make some from
steel

 

Steel would get horrendously dented up I'd think, and would add qute a bit of weight, but it could be done. How'd you break it? Mine's pristine even after years of service including lots of hard driving and several impacts against frozen slush, etc. So, I'd not agree that the clips are "prone" to breaking... at least, I've never broken one.

That said... if I were in your shoes I'd be happy. Sounds like you were modding a part on the trim and the tab broke, probably sparing you from WORSE damage to the trim itself or to the body itself. Personally, I'd rather have to replace a few $1.50 clips than a cracked plastic bumper or bent fender...

In all fairness, I will say that when I've read about people MODing the trim (ex.: painting it) that they generally just get a full replacement set of clips, as the tabs generally do break off in the trim removal step. Seems as if the tabs really aren't designed for installation, removal and re-installation. This is no different than on any other car I've had though - My Toyota FJ had almost the exact same clips holding on some windscreen trim that I removed to do a MOD there, and it even said in the dealer manual to "replace clips after de-installation". I'm just glad they're cheap.

 

Thats true.. When I hear of people getting the trim painted they almost always get new clips. It's that much in the long run. I would really like to paint them but when they are off the car it looks like it would be "easy" to make something that would maybe flair out more.. Or if I made some from sheet steel I could french them onto the body for a true "wide" look.

 

'french'? Crikey, it's an English car!

 

If you do this, be sure to take a LOT of pics as you go. I bet a lot of people would be interested in how you did (or will do) this. I've wanted to change the body trim on my car forever - there are a few really nice kits, mainly from Japan, that change the car's appearance this way, but the kits themselves (if you can even get them) are a fortune.

Good luck to you!!

 

I have seen some "kits" for the cars.. They just make it look too.. I dont know.. Not flowing with the lines of the car. And they cost a fortune to even get here. I am just kinda suprised with all the custom mini's out there that no one has taken it a level higher and did something custom for the fenders.

 

There was the blue r50 cooper with the turbo that had welded steel arches in place of the plastic. Finding pictures is always hard though. It was the one with the flip forward hood.

I personally prefer the plastic arches to any metal solution. I just bought a bunch of spare ones so I can start cutting them up and see what I can come up with. I've been trying to work with the plastic to make them wider, but I think I finally got it after a bunch of failed attempts

 

Agree for the most part. The ones I like MOD the front bumper around the area of the fog lights to make them a bit more... aggressive? Cooler anyway. I haven't seen much that i like better than the stock side trim though - it's either too "vented" looking (like they were trying to copy a Ferarri) or simply looked goofy, with too many vanes and/or broken lines.

I'd love to see what you come up with, man.

 

Rally, did you figure something out that hasn't been discussed in the wide fender thread???

I want to know!

 

Not really...just a few changes here and there. I'm really only trying to get a half inch or so of added width for 16x10's.

There's always this. I'm pretty sure they used the same process as the one you and I were talking about. They made it a bit too horizontal and wide IMO, but someone managed to widen their stock arches

(Chris, you should also check out the blog I'm keeping on my site. I think you'd enjoy it. I've been posting up a bunch of the various projects and inspirations I find on the various MINI forums. I know how you like the project ideas )

 

Well, that's one funky manga Mini, Rally! But I think the fenders look a little classic Mini retro and might be OK in person. Do you have full car photos of that thing?

cheers,

 

Yah, it's from the tokyo auto salon so they've really gotta make it stand out. I think slightly thinner, on a normal colored car, with 17's rather than 20+'s and they would actually look really good.

http://stancedesign.tumblr.com/ for some of the other bodykits and stuff I've found.

Other pics

 

Wow... I thought only PU could make an ugly MINI... guess I was wrong.

 

Really? I see ugly mini's all the time while browsing around

It's got some pretty ugly characteristics, but the work put into some of the custom parts has to be respected. And like I said, remove the vinyl advertisements that they put on for the car show and put some reasonable wheels on there and you have a pretty decent Yellow and Black car.

 

Not like THAT. That's "eye-meltingly" bad. I kinda like that front bumper though...

 

Thanks Rally! Will do

 

Maybe it's because the wheel trim on that MINI is black against a lighter body, but at first glance, I almost mistook the wheel trim for part of the tire and thought that the car had *huge* tires sticking *way* out from underneath the car!