When washing my car the wipe cloth caught the small piece of molding at the top right of the windshield that wraps around the bend on the passenger side. It's soooo poorly designed and such cheap plastic that the only way I could get it to stay on was to bang it with the heel of my hand. When it snapped on, I noticed the black plastic vertical brace (?) that runs the heighth of the windshield on the passenger side had a crack at the top. Amazing that just a tap from my palm would crack it. Has anyone else had this happen and is there an economical way to seal the crack rather than paying some outlandish price for an OEM part and installation? Sorry if I can't name the actual part , but I'm really not sure what it's called, LOL.

Again, it's the vertical, black plastic piece that's about 4" wide and runs the vertical direction on both sides of the windshield. The passenger brace is the one that cracked about a 2 1/2" crack at the top where it meets the molding. Too bad Mini put such lame quality into all the plastics. I guess the R56's are much better, but I love my Supercharged whine..

Jonathan

 

 

Sounds like you are talking about the A-pillar cover. Shiny and black yes?

I would just suggest replacing it. It is super simple to do (just pry the old off, remove all of the clips, and snap the new one on) I think it was 30-something dollars from my dealer.

As to the material, I believe that it is the material that it is because of the shine that they wanted it to have, and to have the ability to keep that sheen and wear well. I will say that it does act strangely when it breaks though. When my improperly installed cover flew off one day, it shattered into many tiny pieces when it hit the asphalt.

Good luck!

-Chase

 

Here is one link we found for A pillar removal/installation/post #6. Here's another link that has a bit more info on A pillar installation. Hope this helps.