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Writer's pictureVAD Admin
Jan 4, 20222 min read

F56 Mini Cooper SD Wears it wide

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.

 
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Writer's pictureVAD Admin
Sep 20, 20212 min read

Mini R55 Clubman or should we say Clubvan with added flare

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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Writer's pictureVAD Admin
Sep 17, 20211 min read

MINI R56 JCW GRP Mini Challenge Style Front Bumper.

Our Mini Gen 2 products keep growing due to the demand , and we are excited by this product as the JCW product is so hard to get hold of, with the Challenge MINI parts for the Gen 2 hatch even more difficult to source, so its great to bring the both products to market as a one piece product, with the challenge splitter now an integrated part of the bumper, for road or track use.

This fibreglass front bumper is designed around the MINI Cooper S R56 John Cooper Works bumper with an integrated Mini challenge splitter moulded in.

The bumper mounts to the original fixing points and has a 10mm lip around the central grill opening for mesh, or to fit your OEM grill set

 
 

The bumper is supplied in White or black gel coat ready for painting or wrapping your colour of choice.

get in touch and order yours today, available from stock or a 7 days manufacturing if product is out of stock.


In our next blog post one of these bumpers will be fitted to the www.miniflares.com dail Mini Clubman that has been conversted to a van and we must say looks incredible with all of the other additions that build has undergone, its a real little eye opener.




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