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Mini F56 JCW Wide

Writer: VAD AdminVAD Admin
Nov 16, 20222 min read

Updated: Feb 21, 2023

Well we can honestly say the wait has been well worth it and we are so happy to finally release our all new Mini F56 JCW and this is a very special build as we have added everything you possibly want in an overhaul.

It’s taken us about 12 months to find the right F series JCW as most had either a bad spec, to many miles, to many owners or just over the top expensive, but luckily our patience paid off and we found a little beauty.

Base colour is Thunder grey which we absolutely love, but unfortunately it has the rather terrible red roof, mirrors, grill surrounds and side logs, which is the only part of the standard car we dislike.

 
 

The good thing is we had a plan to get rid of all the red, the thing is we didn’t stop at the red, we decided to wrap the complete car and the main reason for that was because we hadn’t got the Matt Black out of our system from our last Cooper SD build and we wanted to protect the immaculate paintwork, so decided that we would kill two birds with one stone and also have a matt black flared JCW which is the first of its kind in Europe.


With the flares fitted and the matt black wrap applied by the amazing talents of our in-house specialist Wayne from Smiffy’s UK it was time to choose a wheel and we wanted a wheel that would not only fit he flares to perfection but also a nice deep concave front and rear which wasn’t available, let’s just say we found the perfect design and made it fit our specification an application and this wheel will be available in our F series drive in drive out programme, these are sized at 9.5x18 & 10.5x18 fitted with Yokohama 245/35r18 front and 255/35r18 rear which fill out the flares to absolute perfection.


Smiffy’s further enhanced this build with their black pack de-chrome for the, beltline, front and rear light bezels, and carbon front and rear number plate plinths and JCW front rear and side badges all wrapped in carbon, with our signature rear union jack black and smoke rear LED lights.


These isn’t much left to do on this build for the outside apart from fit the rear high level wing that we have been working on and then switch our attention to the interior which we will add our carbon seats and our rear seat delete, so keep tuning in for the upgrades on this rather special JCW.

 
 

F56 Mini Cooper SD Wears it wide

Writer: VAD AdminVAD Admin
Jan 4, 20222 min read

With our Green F56 hatch Cooper D daily demo sold as well as the all new R55 Clubman we finish and also sold, it didn’t take us long to find a replacement or two, with yet another F56 hatch but this time the much more powerful Cooper SD in black and a rather beautiful Countryman SD in true blue that has gone straight into surgery so we can develop our 35mm flares for the R60 chassis.

As soon as we got hold of the F56 Hatch it took us no time at all to start modifying and the first job was to attack the suspension by lowering it with a set of H&R springs which not only lowers the car 30mm but also keeps the comfort levels quite high, we really do rate H&R and would fit nothing else to this platform, and believe us when we say we have tried most suspension set ups on Gen 2 & Gen 3 platforms and this is by far the best set up for day to day driving, H&R have done an incredible job of lowering and keeping the oem quality drive.

 
 

Next mod was to de-chrome with the Smiffy’s black out pack, the front and rear head light surrounds grill, front bumper panel petrol cap, door handles and rear boot lid handle and whilst we were in black out mode we fitted the OEM Mini gloss black belt surround, which combined with the blackout pack transforms the look completely, it’s a serious must to get rid of the horrible chrome which we absolutely loathe, with the De-chroming complete Wayne from Smiffy’s added a touch of purple to the front grill strip, front and rear SD logos and Mini badges, which looks uber cool.


A mini wouldn’t be a mini without a set of our market leading flares and we still get blown away by how they transform the Mini, the Gen 2 is a great look, but the Gen 3 chassis its mind blowing to look at and we must say this black Gen 3 SD is the best one to date, especially sitting on our all new flow formed RS split spoke 6 spoke wheel design in gloss black measuring 9x18 at the front end and 10x18 at the rear wrapped in Yokohama 245/35R18 & 255/35R18 tyres front and rear respectively, which now completes the look of this particular build, which we hope to keep for now, but now its time to get stuck into the R60 chassis.

 
 

Mini R55 Clubman or should we say Clubvan with added flare

Writer: VAD AdminVAD Admin
Sep 20, 20212 min read

Updated: Sep 22, 2021

It took some finding but as they say we got there in the end and we are more than happy with how this stunning R55 Cluby has turned out.

We have always wanted a shop van to fetch and carry our smaller parts, it’s been great having the R56, R58 & F56 Hatch and coupes as the demo vehicles to showcase the wider flares but now we have the platform with the Clubman or should we say Clubvan to not only show them off but also to livery up where you go to get the wider goodies.


Well the first job we did after finding our black 2011 Cooper D was to lower on a set of H&R springs and then fully de-chrome and tint the windows, this was all done by Smifys & 1st choice tints and as per usual they absolutely smashed it, Smify also gloss blacked the side windows with vinyl to convert from ClubMan to ClubVan, we can now sit the livery exactly where it needs to be and it looks exactly how we had envisioned, 1st Choice Tints then applied the window tints with a double layer of 5% added to the rear windows to add to the Van look and they really pulled it off.

 
 

Next up were a set of our wider flares which were a little trickier to fit at the rear, but we do like a challenge, you just need time with a bit of patience as these are for the R56 as the fixing points are a little different, but as per usual we nailed it and it was time to look at wheel options and what we would fit on this build and as with all 4 stud vehicles that require wider wheels, it always throws up a headache especially when you want an old school look, as our tried and tested 2Forged wheel design just wouldn’t cut it on this build.

 

We had almost decided that 3 piece was the only option when we stumbled across the Japan Racing Wheels 5 spoke JR6 listed as a 9x17 & 10x17 4 stud wheel, with custom offsets available it was a no brainer, they are fitted with 245/40R17 front and 255/40R17 rear Nankang tyres and the rears still need help with a 12mm hub centric spacer, but they look absolutely amazing fitted.


The last piece to this build was to add our JCW Challenge front bumper, fitted with our Cooper D front grill this gives a totally different look to the usual JCW front end, all that’s left to do is add the livery.


All the parts off this R55 are available and if you fancy building an identical Clubby, get in touch with us to discuss further.

 


 
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