The factory Mini spoiler looks a bit stunted on the slightly longer 4-door Mini Cooper so I ordered a JCW spoiler from Mini of Manhattan which took around a month to receive from the UK. It comes with new black side pieces but the spoiler itself comes primered and unpainted.
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| JCW Spoiler (unpainted) |
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| JCW Spoiler |
I took it over to
New Saddle Brook Auto Body and two weeks later (they were busy working on a bunch of other cars), I was able to pick it up freshly painted gloss black to match my roof.
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| JCW Spoiler painted gloss black |
Installation was pretty straightfoward. You had to pull out the side covers to get to the 10mm bolt holding the side in place, then in the hatch there were five plastic covers you had to take off to get to the T20 torx screws holding the rest of the spoiler in place. Taking off the original spoiler took a bit of effort but you basically have to pull it straight out with some force and it'll eventually un seat itself from the clips holding the middle in place. Then reverse the whole process to install the JCW spoiler.
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| Side cover removed exposing the 10mm bolt |
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| Uncover these holes in the hatch to get to the T20 torx screws |
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| OEM spoiler removed |
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| JCW spoiler installed |
I also took delivery of my new summer wheel and tire setup. Unfortunately someone who previously worked on the Mini must've used an impact gun to way overtighten one of the wheel bolts and I ended up breaking a 17mm socket and rounding off the bolt head as I was trying to take it off unsuccessfully. I ended up ordering this lug nut remover set from Amazon. It's a twist socket that basically has these "teeth" that help bite into the bolt head allow you to use maximum torque. Along with a strong break bar, an extension and quite a bit of muscle, it eventually let loose and I replaced it with a new bolt that I was able to pick up locally Autozone for a few bucks.
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| Lug nut remover twist socket set |
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| Twist socket |
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| Got the wheel bolt off but destroyed it in the process |
I was then finally able to put on my new wheels and tires. BBS SX 17x75 +45 black wheels wrapped in 215/45R17 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S Tires. I loved these tires on the GTi so it made sense to get them for the Mini too. They kind of look like the OEM JCW wheels but a bit wider and I'm going for an OEM+ build so this the perfect low key combo.
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| New wheels and tires |
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New wheels and tires
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| New wheels and tires installed |
