u/Alphaman64

While streaming this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, I wondered about the SE. Yup, in 2023, Mini had SEs (including a convertible!) at Goodwood!

https://www.motoringfile.com/2023/07/17/mini-shows-off-jcw-1to6-cooper-se-convertible-mini-aceman-at-goodwood-festival-of-speed/

Had a nice warm day last weekend, was doing a spring-painting of some yard furniture, and thought “Oooh, I should paint my Mini-bits!”

Finally got around to doing the belt-line trim with PlastiDip. Here’s the process and results.

Before.

Step 1: pull off all the bits. Cleaned with the Dupli-Color Prep, and painted with black glossy PlastiDip

Step 2: first coat

Step 3: while waiting the obligatory 30 minutes between coats, back to Jules and clean the gunk from under where the trim attached.

Step 4: Shiny!

Step 5: another coat

Step 6: another coat…

Step 7: another coat, but getting closer!

Step 8: a final coat!

Step 9: back on Jules! Front and…

… back!

And the final results

Another glamour shot! 😍

I like the look, not yet sure if I’m completely satisfied with the PlastDip. I think I may need to polish it just a little bit. By taking off the trim, the only part I had to peel the dried PlastiDip from was the upper rubber, which was trivial.

Out of curiosity, anyone put wider rims on their LCI2 Cooper SE? Stock on my ‘23 was 17” x 7” with 205/45 rubber. Discount Tire says they can put up to 8” on it — true or not?

Questions that come to mind are things like handling, road noise, clearance, and degradation in efficiency.

Interesting post on Motoringfile — The Forgotten Electric MINI GP That Predicted Today’s EV Performance Problem. Which underscores the lack of practical limits with EVs, and leaves me thinking more about the go-kart aspect. I’m now thinking more about tuning the suspension and traction customizations, as opposed to being worried about changes to the drivetrain.

Mini SE GP prototype