I'm David, living in Los Angeles, and getting ready to move to Fairfax, VA in the late October/early November 2012 time frame. I recently (3 weeks ago) ordered a 2013 Mini Cooper S hardtop from Mini of Sterling, VA. I've been driving my 2001 Mazda MX-5 Miata siince Feb 10, 2001 but will sell it prior to moving to Virginia. I really don't know much about the Mini S, other than I liked the test drive and have always admired and appreciated Minis. Accordingly, I have several questions I'm hoping MA members can help me with: 1) I wanted to order the Aero Kit, as I like the "all one body color" the kit provides versus the plastic black wheel well covers, etc. However the sales rep from Sterling Mini tells me that the 2012 Aero kit did not include matching body color wheel well covers. She said that the specs for the 2013 Aero kit have not yet been released, but that the 2012 kit price was approximately $3,500. I can't afford to pay that amount so I ordered the car without the Aero Kit. Question: Does anyone ofter some kind of Aero body kit as an aftermarket product? I don't really want to change the front and rear facias -- I simply want to eliminate the black plastic wheel well covers and the low side black body moldings so that the sides of the car are the body color. 2) I'd like to order aftermarket springs to lower the car 1 - 1.5 inches and enhance cornering. Do aftermarket street springs work well with the Mini factory shocks (I did not order the factory high performance suspension system)? And what about adding aftermarket anti roll bars? I have aftermarket roll bars (front & rear) street/competition springs and KYB 4 way adjustible shocks on my MX-5 and the aftermarket products work really well in keeping the car planted, while not underminig the ride quality. Also, if one adds aftermarket suspension components to a new Mini, do these additions nullify the warranty in any way? 3) Does anyone sell the John Cooper Werks dual tip exhaust outlets or something that has that appearance? I didn't order anything but the standard exhaust tips on the factory order but I definitely want to change the standard factory tips. 4) For the future, how wide can one go with tire width on the Mini? I have 17 inch aftermarket wheels on my MX-5 and the rear tires are 225s (front are 215s)? Won't intially change tire size due to the cost of the run flats but have seen some really cool Minis here in LA with wider-than-stock 17 inch tires). Thanks in advance for any inputs!! David Los Angeles, CA (on my way to Fairfax, VA)
Welcome to m/a! Check with Way Motor Works in Atlanta. You can get the plastic painted to match the body color. Some gurus will be thru shortly to answer your other questions.
Welcome to Motoring Alliance, thanks for joining. You can easily get the arches and skirts painted to match the body color. Springs should not nullify the warranty, however each dealer is different and some take it to extremes. MINI of Sterling should be familiar enough in seeing cars with spring changes, they've been around for quite some time and there are lots of modded MINIs in the region. I've seen as much as a 235 section tire stuffed under a 2nd generation MINI before. A 225 should be no problem.