2004 MINI Cooper S - Improving Aerodynamics

[iplaysdrums]

Perhaps, but they look awesome!

[johnf36]

Nice

[Arragonis]

I might shamelessly steal that idea for the mudflaps as my fronts are slightly proud of the wheelarches. Not keen on the VGs for effect or looks TBH. The 'zorst sounds fun and I know you will justify it.... somehow

[iplaysdrums]

But there is a lot to share!



Added aluminum side skirts (bits of flashing from Home Depot - ~$7 each), cut to shape and size, bent to follow the curve of the car, painted flat black, attached with zip ties.




I may have dented the driver's side skirt a little going over a speed bump without being quite careful enough. So it goes.



I've also reattached the front air dam, which I'm going to shape a bit better, hopefully tucking the edges in so it looks like part of the car, not a bolt-on bit of coroplast like it is, then I'll paint it flat black like the side skirts.



I also filled the large gap between the bonnet and the front bumper, using weather stripping, which I colored with a Sharpie. It turned out looking great, I think! In the above pic you can also see the tape airdam over the top grille.



I had to leave a gap to get to the external bonnet release, as my hands aren't completely flat.

It should be somewhat obvious that I've forsaken the belly pan for the airdam, and I'm now brainstorming rear-end treatments to curb the car's massive trailing wake. This will prove difficult, but I have an idea, I just don't know if the product I want to use exists. More on that later.

Ta!

[AeroModder]

Looking good! All you need is those side skirts stretching all the way between the wheelwells. Here's what I did for mine:

[iplaysdrums]

I may use some leftover flashing to make removable extensions, but I had to leave room for the jack!

[AeroModder]

I forgot about that. My car has a scissor jack that I just slip under my skirt. Though now I need to get a new jack, because I used it on the neighbor's car, which was 1000 lbs heavier. It didn't like her Taurus.

[johnf36]

Originally Posted by iplaysdrums

I may use some leftover flashing to make removable extensions, but I had to leave room for the jack!

I made a extension for my jack that fits into the lifting pucks.

How are your numbers doing?

[Cd]

Just wanted to add my half cent here.
If you want to get a good result out of aero mods on your car, why not tuft test the (entire ) car to find the problem areas first ?

I would suspect that the main areas of drag are around those wheels ( and of course the rear ).

BTW You can easily add a professional looking 'trip-strip' to the rounded corners of the rear by using a piece of black electrical tape. It will be nearly invisible since the pillars are black themselves and the trim has the same matte black finish as the tape. A piece of small gauge wire under the tape would act as the tripper, and keep everything straight and pretty.
if you use a good quality tape it will last for years ( over two years on my car now ). Splurge and get the expensive type that is more rubbery and has less of a glossy plastic look to it - it's a few cents more

You can also use rubber edge moulding around the car to make skirts and such, and since it is made from rubber it will have a matte black factory finish and as a bonus, is entirely flexible. It's also inexpensive as well.

I'm worried that the flashing that you have used is not going to last too long without being all dinged up. It is also razor sharp, and I would hate to have a piece of it fly off and hit a pedestrian. Why not go with the rubber edge moulding instead ?

Nice car

[iplaysdrums]

Cd -
Thanks for your half penny! It'll end up translating to dollars, I'm pretty sure. For the electrical tape trip device, should it go just before the rounding off starts, or just after? Or somewhere else entirely? I'm guessing a K-tail extension from the roofline would augment this effect, right?