Sections: Best of the Web May 22nd, 2006 21 Comments Yes ladies and gentlemen, rust never sleeps. This includes MINIs. To the shock and horror and quite a few, there has been some rust found on a handful of mostly (but not limited to) 2002 MINIs in the bottom of the door frame. Specifically it’s under the rubber on the door sill. You can see photos and some good old fashioned mass hysteria at the link below:
[ Rust on the 2002 ] North American Motoring
blalor May 25th, 2006 Link
I don’t know if it’s just the MINI and Apple communities, or enthusiasts in general, but I get such a kick out of the wild speculation, crazy conspiracy theories, and benign moves by the companies taken as personal affronts by people. I think we just care too much, sometimes. :-)
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Reply
Chad May 25th, 2006 Link
Here’s another thread along the same lines as the rust issue: http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68821&highlight=washer+fluid
This one is interesting. Anybody here have either of the two problems (rust or washer fluid)?
Reply
Z4MINI May 25th, 2006 Link
The rust and corrosion warranty is for 12 years folks! No need to get excited.
Reply
mike May 25th, 2006 Link
I have an ‘03 and have rust on both sides, what do you think the service dept. will say if I point it out next time I go in for service??? do you think they will fix it or do I do it myself.
Reply
Jack07734 May 25th, 2006 Link
There is another area for rust. Check your exhaust system. The straps and pipes on my 03mcs (65K miles) have rotted out.
Cheers, Jack
Reply
pete burke May 25th, 2006 Link
See lots of buzz about this. Went out to my ‘02 Cooper. Lots of moisture under there. Let it air out. Thankfully no rust yet. Must be channelling down somehow under the rubber.
Reply
Greg W May 26th, 2006 Link
As Z4MINI says – all BMW and MINI vehicles have a 12 year International Body Corrosion warranty, subject to some requirements i.e. annual body checks. But the problem I forsee is that until MINI dealers start looking in this area they won’t spot it quick enough. Shame really, because Classic Mini suffered from the same fate in that area. I don’t think that the extension from previous BMW 6 years had anything to do with new MINI coming out – BMW issued the warranty first, I guess in reaction to Audi and VW having the 12 year warranty first. What is really heartening is that MINI owners can alert others to problems sometimes before dealers through forums like MF.
Reply
Karl May 26th, 2006 Link
Have you guys only just figured out that these things rust?
I’ve owned four Mini’s, the last three being Cooper S’s but the first back in 2002 was a Mini One. I owned this car for only 10 months before changing to the first Cooper S yet it had already started to rust on the door frame. I informed my dealer as soon as i noticed one day whilst cleaning, and they looked at me as though i was stupid… that was until i showed them, at which point they went very quiet!
Reply
Mike May 26th, 2006 Link
My 02 has a small amount of rust and the sill under the weatherstripping was moist-and the Coop doesn’t go out in the rain or on salted roads. My other vehicle, an 05 Scion xB has rust in a very similar area on the door itself under the weatherstripping. There is a discussion of that situation at http://www.scionlife.com. What a stroke of luck- two cars less than five years old, washed 2-4 times a week, garaged and covered already developing rust. By the way, rust warranty is for perforation only, and did you know that you need to have your undercarriage washed after the winter? The service manual states that ‘your MINI dealer will be happy to do this service at no charge’. What percentage of us have complied with that requirement? Me thinks we’re screwed; and that goes double for me. I can accept rust as an inevitablity of the universe, (unless your car is underwater), but not on cars at this stage of use. Seems like we’re dealing with a design flaw on both counts. The rust gets its start at the unpainted rectangle on each door sill (probably where the piece was bracketed for the paint job) and the lack of breathing holes in the weatherstripping holds moisture there for a long time. I don’t think it is reasonable to expect a car owner, no matter how obsessed, to remove and dry under the weatherstripping after each wash or drive in the rain or snow.
Reply
Mike May 26th, 2006 Link
Here’s a direct link to the discussion, instead of the home page on Scion life, if anybody is interested in seeing how Scion/Toyota has dealt with this situation. http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=116812
Reply
snid May 29th, 2006 Link
I have an 09/02 build 2003 Cooper
Here’s the “unpainted” area on the passenger’s side of my car: !(http://static.flickr.com/45/155702978_d209a77a80_m.jpg)
Here’s the “unpainted” area on the driver’s side of my car, with some rust: !(http://static.flickr.com/52/155703606_850d8255c6_m.jpg)
Bigger version of the rust picture: (http://static.flickr.com/52/155703606_850d8255c6_o.jpg)
Reply
snid May 29th, 2006 Link
I guess my understanding of how to attach an image in these comments isn’t quite right.
Reply
Mike May 30th, 2006 Link
Here’s a quick follow-up on the rust issue from my dealer’s perspective. I brought my MINI in for some last minute (Car picked up four years ago tomorrow and 49,500 miles ago) warranty stuff like dash rattle/squeaky sunroof and some other minor stuff. I mentioned the rust issue and showed the area to my SA. He went on NAM to check out the thread and called MINI USA. He told me that MINI was not covering this under the rust warranty at this time, and that I was the first person to raise this issue. While I was there I checked out the area on the 07’s on the floor, and the entire door sill is painted. Don’t know about the 06’s but I’m pretty sure this is an issue for all MINI’s at least up to 05 builds. I also asked to have the undercarriage pressure washed as per the service recommendation and was told that they don’t have a high-pressure undercarriage wash available. I wonder if I was the first person to ask for this to be done, too. I also wonder if other MINI dealerships offer this or not. It would seem to me that if MINI USA can dictate what the MINI showroom has to look like, I’m sure they have specs for the technical/service/equipment areas of the franchise as well. I don’t think that this would have made any difference in the issue at hand, however, as the area in question is actually inside the car. At least the SA made the effort to check NAM and make the call to MINI USA. And yes, my MINI is now ratttle and squeak free :)
Reply
David L. May 30th, 2006 Link
What ‘07 MINI were you looking at? Current new model MINIs in showrooms are 2006. 2007’s will be showing up in 2007.
So I’m pretty sure you saw 2006 models and as you say they were fully painted in the area others are seeing rust. Some ‘05 MINI owners on NAM have said they have rust in the same area. I do not think that having paint on the area will completely prevent rust, but it may delay it a bit. If you have an area of metal that is wet like owners are describing then rust will eventually happen. The painted surface is not impermeable and can be damaged by a ding or scratch. I have not checked my door sill areas yet!
However, on my 05 MCS BEP I noticed a paint bubble on the bottom edge of my hatch. It came off easily in my hand when I was drying it after a wash and there is now exposed metal underneath. I’m not sure if this was a rust related issue. I have ordered touch-up paint and will cover it up ASAP to reduce the growth rate of rust in that area.
Regards, David 05 MCS BEP
Reply
Mike May 30th, 2006 Link
My mistake-I was looking at the 06’s. I posted this on NAM too but was able to edit when I realized 07’s not here yet. Thanks for catching it here.
Reply[...] Yes it’s true. My 12 month old Cooper S has the dreaded rust door sill rust. For those that haven’t been following the rust saga, a few people over at North American Motoring have been reporting rust on MINIs in the door sill area. While it’s mostly been older cars that have been aflicted, there have been a smattering of 2005’s with rust also. Well you can now add mine to the list. The good news is that is it very much under warranty and just at the earliest of stages. However it’s still rust on a one year old car. Not a particularly pleasant thing to see. [...]
PauloD Jun 2nd, 2006 Link
I keep seeing people post messages saying something like this, “I too found rust on the door sill. But good thing its covered under warranty!”. If its under warranty where are the posts that say, “I too found rust on the door sill. Brought it to the dealer and here’s what the did to fix it….”.
Reply
HTML Formatting Tips
MotoringFile also allows use of Markdown formatting in the comment section. This accomplishes the same formatting as HTML but is typically easy to use.
| _your text_ | → | your text |
| **your text** | → | your text |
| `my code` | → | my code |
| * Bulleted list * Second item | → | • Bulleted list • Second item |
| 1. Numbered list 1. Second item | → | 1. Numbered list 2. Second item |
| [link name](URL) | → | link name |
| *** | → | Horizontal ruler |
| <http://url> <email@add.com> | → | Auto-linked |
|  | → | Image |
Copyright © 2002-2010 Gabriel Bridger
