Has anyone ordered the boot and bonnet stripes from bimmian.com? If so, how do they look...good quality? Any problems yet?

 

No one?!?!? Oh well...


I guess once I get my samples from Bimmian, the choice will be down to them and Aesthetic Creations. Cooper Flags never sent the samples they promised. From what little contact I have had with them, they don't seem too concerned with getting my business. Aesthetic Creations has been fast to respond and very friendly. I guess it will all come down to who has the vinyl color I want.

 

I've been trying to decide where to buy stripes as well, but I don't like the factory stripes because they curve in too much. I had stripes on my car when I bought it, but I removed them because they had some scuffs on them that I couldn't clean off.

I just want two white stripes like I had before. My car looked naked now. So I finally decided today to go to my local FastSigns to just purchase 2 strips of 3'x4.5" premium white vinyl. I'll put the stripes on exactly the way I want. I'll probably put them back the just way they were, but I'm not 100% sure yet.

These were the aftermarket stripes that came with my car.


But this is what the car looks like now. It brings too much attention to just the roof, headlights and chrome grill now.

 

i'm thinking about getting the stripes from bimmian as well. how much better/worse can they be? they're pretty cheap so that's why i'm getting from them. i'm deciding b/t regular or reflective white. i think the reflective white might look pretty cool, or they might look pretty dumb as well. any suggestions? they say their stripes are computer cut to the exact shape as the oem ones so should be pretty good, no?

 

Here is my issue w/the OEM stripes. They come in too close at the nose of the car. They don't help with the "bulldog" stance of the car...they actually make it look even narrower at some angles. But by either straightening out the stripes or spacing them farther apart, the car looks wider and tougher.

Here is another place I found MINI stripes...and they offer a longer stripe set wider on the car...actually too far apart for my tastes. I don't want them to come to the very bottom corners of the grill where it meets the bumper.
http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewPro...eIndexID=52539

For comparison from what I'm talking about though.

My car is on the left (when it had stripes), and the car on the right has OEM stripes. Sorry, all I had was my camera phone at the time so the pic quality is really bad.

But just by the stripes alone...I'd say my car on the left looks wider.


OEM on the right



OEM




OEM

 

I ordered my boot stripes from Aesthetic Creations and they're great. I've helped install stripes from a number of other vendors and they all seem to be more or less the same - any of them I've installed from a NAM vendor seems fine.

I can't comment on the actual DESIGN of the bimmian stripes (Cooper S's especially benefit from a slightly curved stripe, to properly get around the hood scoop), but I recently installed some of their vinyl mirror skins, and I can tell you that their directions were VERY thorough. It was nice to have everything spelled out very clearly. Materials-wise, the vinyl seemed comparable to others I've worked with.

FYI - whichever way you go, I did a DIY Boot Stripe install thread that goes through the technique I used for my stripes. I've used this same technique (a dry install technique) on some other cars as well with good results. With stripes the main thing is to carefully measure your placement before applying. see the linked thread for more details.

 

So you did a "dry" install on your DIY thread. Very nice.

What are the techniques for a "wet" install please? Do you just use a spray bottle of water and pull off the stripes to reposition if they need it?

 

Exactly... Water with a few drops of dish soap in it ill help the vinyl slide against the paint. Considering doing this makes me somewhat nervous, because of the size of the stripes - IMHO it's a bit worrysome to consider pulling the ENTIRE backing strip off and then sliding all that vinyl around on the car, but I know that others have done it with no problems. Personally, I prefer the technique I used that has you only remove HALF of the backing material. (FYI - I'm familiar with both techniques - I used the wet technique for my blacked-out grille and my vinyl mirror skins and it worked great, but in those installs, the peices of vinyl were MUCH smaller...)

Really it seems to me that the only reason you'd need to reposition the vinyl is if it's crooked or uneven, and if you're careful about measuring the position prior to installing, then you shouldn't have that issue. Just lay the stripe down with the backing material still on it, measure carefully using some symetrical point as a reference (I used the washer nozzles, the hood scoop, the bonnet logo and the side of the headlight ring as reference points) and then use masking tape to secure it. Don't be stingy with the tape - use enough to firmy secure the entire length of the stripe.

I like to walk away for 15 minutes or so after taping the stripe down just to be sure I can look at the car with "fresh" eyes and recheck all my measurements. If they're good, trim away half of the backing and start squeegeeing.