Old gear head here. New to the mini world though I’ve owned several BMWs in the past, e36, e38, e66. I’ve also had other “exotics” and highly modified cars in the past.

I bought this this car as a tool,to teach my kids how to drive. Honestly, I really liked them and figured this was a good excuse! It gets a lot better gas mileage than my QX80 or even my S5. My daughter thinks it’s her car, but in actuality she will be getting a new ‘18 or ‘19 cabriolet for her birthday! So....I get to play with this one a bit!

First up, brakes! I have the JCW kit on the bench in the garage complete with 20mm wheel spacers and long lugs. Hopefully I’ll get this done next week. After that I plan on doing some audio upgrades. I’m hoping I can get some answers from folks here on my questions in that area. I’m also thinking of changing the wheels, but that’s down the road a bit.

Once the brakes are done I’m going to take the stripes off the car, do a proper detail and paint correction, and wrap the roof with red vinyl. (It’s a black car with the JCW appearance package) I’ve got a line on a good vinyl guy local to me. Any advice on taking stripes off?!?

anyway, I’m likely one of the older guys running around in a mini in this town. Looking forward to hearing from you folks and learning from you!

 

3M (and I’m sure there are other generics out there) makes a rubber wheel the goes on your drill. It called a ‘decal and stripe remover’. Basically, it’s made of material similar to an eraser. It works great, but does tend to wear down fairly quickly. I had used them at work before, and found mine on Amazon. It won’t mar or damage the paint whatsoever. Good luck!