I know many of you have been awaiting word on the resolution of the paint rubbing issue I documented a couple months back. For those who don't remember that post you can read it here. You can see the photos there as well.

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You may also remember reading in the comments of that original story that MINIUSA contacted me about the post and forwarded on the photos to engineers with the company. Because of the story posted here and the photos I was told they aware of the issue and would be working on a fix.

Well It took awhile but a regional MINI rep took a look at the underside of my MINI's hood today. Apparently this is the case this particular rep had seen but he did consider it fairly serious. He is going to report back to engineering his findings and add the to what they already have. In the meantime he has given the go ahead to have the underside of my hood repainted and then some protective foam attached. Obviously the foam isn't a permanent fix but it will buy MINI some time to determine the best solution.

For those who have found this to be an issue on their MINIs the first step I'd recommend is to contact your dealer and have it thoroughly documented. I'm not entirely sure having the hood repainted will be totally necessary until an actual fix is found but some sort of protective strip probably will be in the short term.

Judging from the responses from the first story about this issue MINI certainly has a growing issue on their hands. The only conceivable solution I can see would be the redesign of the plastic and rubber piece that goes above and around the radiator. Add that to the cost of repainting all those hoods (granted most will probably not need to go that far) and the entire situation begins to get complicated. Hopefully MINI can come up with something that is both an encouraging solution to owners as well as being financially viable for them. That being said I have faith that they will find a solution and deal with it accordingly. From my experience BMW and MINI have a history of dealing with issues head on and being as fair as possible to the customer.