Good on ya Mini for watching what people do to their Minis after market.

Regarding the painted/nonpainted arches: to me, when new, black arches look better than painted ones. When new, these black arches almost match in color the black top (if you order it that way) and the rubber color of the tires. However, as these black arches are plastic, after years of exposure to the elements, they have to fade to this ugly light gray color, making them look ridiculous (at least to me). I am sure there are ways to restore their original color, but doesn’t going for painted arches eliminate this problem altogether.

Any input regarding this arch fade from early series gen 1 MINI owners?

i personally just think that the new kit looks funny and like some have said a lil home grown rather than race bred… however if it can be said and proven that the new lil lip on the newest JCW Aero actually helps with downforce and high speed stability without overly effecting the wear and tear of lower body kits… then i’m all for it… function is kinda a big thing with me… granted i’m more of a sleeper/factory runner than aftermarket junky.

Oh yeah and that Hyper-Crap kit offered in 2007 is hideous. The other day I was behind a Mellow Yellow R56 Cooper with the “Hyper” kit and that thing is simply barf inducing.

it would look nice, if the fenders were one piece rather than 2 piece.. then painted throughout would look nice, but since its a piece of plastic clipped onto the fender, and you want to paint that, it looks like what kids did back in the days when “import racers” popped up. pure and simple tackiness. but some people like it… as people liked the HUGE shogun style spoilers with 40lbs of bondo.

A bit of hyperbole, but… no thanks to painted arches.

The cars I have seen thus far with the Factory Aero Kit, which also has the wheel arches painted look very good – I have seen a Chili Red Cooper and a Lightning Blue JCW Hardtop with this treatment so far. It will likely depend on the body color as to whether the Aero Kit with painted arches fits, but so far so good.

On the R50-53, whoever, I’m indifferent. Painted or not, I like it either way for the most part, expect for the rear bumper cover. We got one of the last pre-painted kits available for our MC Sidewalk. The kit (std black arches) was for a coupe, which didn’t matter to us since we don’t like the aero rear cover anyway. Luckily, one of our friends who also had a PW MCSc had installed the full kit and still had her old MCSc rear cover. So I bought the trim pieces to convert it to fit on an MCc. We also nixed the aero kit’s grill and stayed with chrome. The end result is a look we like.

May I point out that there was no such thing as a “JCW aero kit” for the 1st Gen MINIs. There was an aero kit, but it was never badged or sold as a JCW accessory/upgrade.

Yes, I knew what you meant… but it’s an important distinction to make. There was only one OEM aero kit, and it wasn’t a JCW kit!

However, I agree that the fog light trim is truly a requirement to complete the look of the kit. I also agree with both Gabe and lavadera when it comes to the rear “diffuser” fascia. I realize they were talking about the 2nd Gen JCW Aero Kit, and not the 1st Gen Aero Kit… but I think it applies to that one too. The “cheese grater” looking stickers were butt-ugly, and both areas needed to be painted flat black.

as for the R53 JCW kit, the fog light trim that Gabe mentions finishes the kit and adds greater visual depth to the front bumper. why this was optional and so many R53 JCWs are running around without the fog light trim pieces always mystified me…

Could not agree more. Here’s the part btw: 51110151570

mind you, i have seen painted arches done well in context of some people’s modified (especially dramatically lowered) cars, but on the R56 in particular it makes the car have even less visual character and the front end look even more “puffy”. and the wheels look tiny even in 17″ size. too bad because otherwise the regular R56 JCW Aero kit always looked quite good to my eye.

as for the R53 JCW kit, the fog light trim that Gabe mentions finishes the kit and adds greater visual depth to the front bumper. why this was optional and so many R53 JCWs are running around without the fog light trim pieces always mystified me… all of BMW’s promotional shots for the R53 JCW showed the fog light trim in place but you have to purchase it separately from the dealer’s parts department to finish the kit.