Updated JCW Aero Kit w/Optional Color Coded Arches Revealed
MINI has updated the JCW aero kit with a slightly more aggressive design and optional full (body-colored) painted side skirts and arches. In the photos above you can see the body-colored version on the right side of the car versus older style on the left.
The new kit will be available for Spring of 2009. Painted arches are now a factory option with the old style black arches still standard.
As the photos show there is a slight tweak to the front design but beyond that it’s essentially the same thing but with painted lower portions of the bottom trim and the painted arches. From our perspective this new kit (with painted arches) takes the JCW Aero kit from aggressive to hideous (at least with 17″ wheels and plenty of front gap). But that’s just us. Most MF readers probably know that we generally detest painted arches. But what are your thoughts?
Thanks Berthil
blech.
please say it ain’t so, and please say I can still get the old one when I get my car in june.
That looks like something a cheap ricer made.
actually come to think of it, Gabe, are they going to completely phase out the old one? I hope not
The new kit can now be ordered with colour coded wheel arches from the factory but also with black arches. Glad to provide you the pictures Gabe.
Ew… I don’t like it full colored… it looks weird. Thank God I got mine installed before this came out.
Yeah I agree. The 1st Gen Mini Aero kit looked the best. Aggressive, yet vary Mini. The 2nd Gen Aero Kit was the same story. And now I think Mini is trying to offer what a lot of Mini owners do after the fact… paint there arches. But Mini went too far. It doesn’t right.
As long as the painted arches are an option, it’s fine. There is no way I’d ever want painted arches or painted lower lip on any car driven hard; they just won’t hold up (especially the lower lip, it’ll get beat up to death).
I can’t get over how bad the painted arches look though. It accentuates the gap between the wheel and trim much more than I thought it would, but what really looks horrible is the gap above, between the trim and the bonnet, whereas the trim fits tightly farther back toward the door, gives it a funky line there. I thought maybe BMW would tighten the fit of the trim along the whole wheel arch if they went with painted arches; the trim really looks poorly fitted to the car in its current guise.
I’m also not a big fan of the colored wheel arches, although there’s really nothing that can be done about the gap, seeing as how it’s the bonnet to body (arch) gap. To be honest though, I’ve never liked this body trim. There’s something about the almost squarish fog light openings that never sat well with me. A couple of sharp angles in otherwise flowing details.
with every new mini post i am being steered more & more away from the current generation.
for the first time in years (and after three r53’s) i’m shopping other brands.
i’m trying to hold on mini, but you’re not giving me much ammunition.
I love my R56 with JCW Aero Kit. I think painted arches are ugly.
Too each his own on “Painted Arches”. I think it looks good on some applications, especially on earlier MINIs. I think the gap to tyre looks bad here but on a lowered car, maybe not so.
What part is more aggressive? Maybe a side by side of the two would be good?
Hey BERTHIL, did you go to IMM in Holland? I was there on the Guinness record day, mucho fun! I have a daughter who lives in Hilversum.
As I said before I hate the painted arches. Worst idea ever. I’ll take non-painted arches any day.
If they offer the trim in a gloss black on the aero kit… that would be pretty sweet!
Confirmation to my eye that painted arches are still not a great thing. I am sure though that it will have a market since more than a few have already painted their arches. Total agreement on the 17″ wheels, they don’t look bad with the black base treatment but look less than stellar with the painted arches. Makes the wheels look tiny.
Ouch! That’s a lazy update on minis part, and as a true mini owner enthusiast, “Just say no to painted arches”_David
I don’t care for painted arches . At least it’s an option.
When will we hear more about the 2010 updates. I’m especially interested in any interior changes. Just have to convince my wife the clubman is the way to go…..
The more gen. 2 stuff I see the more I want Mini to offer the Mini Classic: an R53 MCS with the new turbo motor and the original aero kit. I sold my 03 and have regretted it ever since.
uh…barf
EBlue and the brighter colors are blah. Can you imagine this new kit in yellow or white? Might mistake your car for a beetle.
I am a fan of the “black on ___ (esp DS)” look. sounds like this will be an option, thank the Lord.
Always though the M7 mini looked odd for some reason, and now I know why? I like the updated front black trim though… I already see that being a big retrofit for the people that already have the JCW aero installed.
I’m trying to get a handle on where the molded plastic is any different from before, painted vs black aside. And it only looks like the front corners are a little bit more flared or extended – although its still way short of being one of those splitter things that are sold after-market.
I’m disappointed. I was really hoping for a different vibe, but this does not amount to much.
I’m not on board with the old JCW R53 kit being better either. My take on the old kit is that it was a two dimensional version of the design they finally executed with some 3 dimensional depth on the base body of the R56 MCS. If you look at the two fronts you can see the lines are the same, but the R53 JCW has no depth relief to the design. You can see it clearly in this MF header:
![front end shot](<a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/img/header_900/04.jpg" rel="ugc">https://www.motoringfile.com/img/header_900/04.jpg</a>)
Although less aggressive the base R56 MCS body kit remains the best resolved design in my mind. And the R56 MC nose while mild is well done too.
>I’m not on board with the old JCW R53 kit being better either. My take on the old kit is that it was a two dimensional version of the design they finally executed with some 3 dimensional depth on the base body of the R56 MCS. If you look at the two fronts you can see the lines are the same, but the R53 JCW has no depth relief to the design. You can see it clearly in this MF header:
Completely agree and that’s the reason why I never got the kit on either my R50 or R53. However there are two black plastic pieces surrounding the fogs that are missing in the kit above and typically missing with all R50/R52/R53 aero kit installs. They help… a little.
>Although less aggressive the base R56 MCS body kit remains the best resolved design in my mind. And the R56 MC nose while mild is well done too.
The biggest issue I have with the current kit is the rear diffuser absolutely needs to be painted flat black. I remember talking to the designer of the kit and mentioning that the diffuser was always body colored with port installs. He seemed surprised and a little disappointed. I know I was with the one on my car because of that little detail.
I have a 09 JCW with the factory aero kit in Laser Blue. And I really like the look of it. I am new to MINI and do not care for the look of the 1st gen cars at all. I love the Gen 2 JCW aero kit and would have really liked it on my car but I bought my car off the lot. I like the JCW aero kit but do not care for this new JCW aero kit with or with out the painted arches.
Even though my car has painted arches, I think the non painted arches are the way to go on a MINI.
Awful. Just say a big NO to painted arches. The best thing about all of these aero kits is the R53 front bumper. The R56 front/rear bumpers aren’t bad, but I’d never get the painted arches or side skirts.
I can tell on this blue mock up if they have painted the rear lower fascia or diffuser as Gabe’s calling it. The mock up is painted arches and trim on one side, black arches and trim on the other side. But with the angle of the photo of the rear I can’t tell if they painted the black on the far side of the exhaust.
@<a href="#comment-251471" rel="nofollow">lavardera</a>: It’s painted body color as the as has been customary of all port installs since 2007.
i’ve always held that painted arches are best avoided on any generation of MINI/mini… the black textured “flares” are a feature that really distinguishes the car from other hatches and accentuates the wheel-at-each-corner design. it also helps to hide the R56 high ride height, proof of which we now have in the photo showing the 4×4 front wheel gap when it is ringed by a painted arch.
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.
>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
<blockquote>as for the R53 JCW kit</blockquote>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.
I guess I’ll be the desenting vote on the painted arches… The arches are so big on the R56 that I prefer them painted. When building R56 cars online, I always pick the factory kit because it shows them painted.
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.
I much prefer the R53 Aero Kit over the current one, but in all honesty, this new one doesn’t bother me that much either.
The current JCW Aero Kit is an all around better design than the R53 kit – The kit for the R53 was done well, however the ‘grills/screens’ on the rear valance of the R53 Aero Kit are decals which detract from the overall styling. The current and soon to be updated version for the R56 doesn’t have true grill inlets, (ie. around the front fogs, on the sides in front of the rear wheels and again above the rear foglights on the back end) But, these design elements look a whole lot better than sticking a decal in that rear recessed area, trying to impersonate a grill or screen.
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.
I doth not approve of these painted arches. Didn’t work with the Hyper-ugly kit, and ruins the JCW awesomeness.
A bit of hyperbole, but… no thanks to painted arches.
oh thank god they arent forcing the painted arches on all kits.. i would go nuts because it honestly looks like a pile of rice turd.
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.
I think MINI should abandon the idea of Aero kits in the seocnd gen cars….
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.
<p>so are they trying to make the updated JCW Aero-kit more like the MINI Challenge car??? that’s what it appears to me… call me a lil crazy but i’d rather just have the first R56 JCW Aerokit and throw in AC Schnitzer’s rear end or have M7’s Defusers front and rear…</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>I’ve got a port installed JCW Aero Kit on my solid Chili Red JCW Hardtop. I dithered on painting the rear diffuser black, but general opinion of my local MINI club members who have actually seen my car is that they think body color looks good on my combo. I don’t like the painted arches either, I think it needs the contrast of the black to look its best.</p>
<p>the coloured wheel archs are desperate looking. Who would ever think of buying them</p>
<p>i think the new kit looks alot cleaner and it does help at top speeds..all tho the old kit has the more aggresive look i do agree. but what i found with this new kit it all depends on the desighn and color of the car… for instince the chilli red jcw coopers look really nice with painted arches also the black ones look really nice too!! the blue and yellow ones need to go for non painted but thats my opinion…. its all in the driver and what they like..after all im the only one who drives my jc dub……</p>
<p>The main problem I have with the JCW Aero Kit are those two (at least to me) ugly vent openings just ahead of the rear wheel arches. I bet MINI will say they are functional, but judging by their size this surely makes only a slight difference….</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Any input regarding this arch fade from early series gen 1 MINI owners?</p>
<p>I quite like the effect, but would like to see Mini giving us a complete colour option. By this I mean something like red car … blue arches. Might sound wacky, but it’s all youism. I could never drive a car that was the same as every other one.</p>
<p>Good on ya Mini for watching what people do to their Minis after market.</p>