Yeah...the P21S should be fine/great for the painted metal surfaces under the bonnet. And that is the place to stop the flow of course. But the real problem is what to do if this stuff happens to drip onto the plastic wheel trim and you don't happen to notice or you're on vacation and it dries. My bet is that P21S or anything else, commercially available, won't eliminate the residue. I finally gave up trying. Black Wow does the best job of making it less noticeable.

 

Eric(Plug Guy )
I had the same problem with cosmoline on my new 09 Cooper that I purchased in March. Took it to dealership yesterday and they gave me new wheel acrhes on both sides of my mini because they where very discolored .It took them 5 hours but they are new ! They tried to remove all the cosmoline off my car also . I saw news cars in the lot leaking cosmoline every where . Temps near 100 everyday where i live . The dealership was nice to me but had no loaners to drive . Good luck i tried every thing to remove mine and it did not work ! Had to replace stained parts .

 

Yep...me too. My wheel trim has just been replaced due to the cosmo stains.

 

Had the arches replaced last winter from the problem...but the cosmoline still exists in a few small areas...going to try again soon. Not worried about the plastics - that can be replaced, and the parts are cheap. It's the source I'm trying to get at.

Thanks.

 

So, as I can gather from your experiences, the best prophylaxis is to stuff some rags in the bonet vents on the underside to soak up the liquid before it runs?

 

Would never recommend that. Just work on getting it all out on the first day/detail after delivery. I demand all new vehicles be delivered to me dirty - and the paint on my cars shows why - it is flawless, even on older vehicles.

As a result, you do have to deal with junk like this from time to time....

 

"time to time" is right-- my 05 MCS weeped Cosmoline right up to the day I traded it away, nearly 4 years after delivery.

 

Yep...just stuff some paper towel material into the braces which are direcrly above the wheel wells. This will wick up the molten cosmoline before it drips onto the trim. You might have to change it out from time to time as it becomes soaked...I have.

 

Rwwilson
where on the gulf coast do you live ? Cosmoline is some bad stuff

 

Mobile...was in BR last week with my Mini. Yeah...I've been fighting that stuff since I got my car. Brian Harris changed the wheel trim out last week.

Bob

 

I personally love the Cosmoline!

Where I live (Eastern Ontario, Canada), many people pay good money to have all manner of goop sprayed into the nooks and crannies of their car's body structure.

Why?

Salt! Dumped on the roads to melt the snow and ice during the winter months, it encrusts everything on a vehicle. If you live in a warm southern state, you have no idea how destructive it is. It literally gets into every hole, crack, seam and on every surface and facilitates that chemical reaction that we all know as RUST. I'd wager that most cars are eventually taken off the road here because of corrosion damage. My previous car (a '93 Lexus) needed a new gas tank (eaten by rust), new brake lines and fuel lines (leaked from corrosion), brakes that don't last as long as they should (rust again), a new radiator, transmission lines, etc. etc. Now I see a couple of small rust spots on the body near the corner of the rear doors.

Damn you, salt!!

Now, the car is admittedly 17 years old! Nothing lasts forever, I know that. But all the mechanical bits are working great. The interior still looks good. the car is a tank and would probably go on and on, except that the rust will eventually get into body mounts or floor boards and cause it to become unsafe to drive. Off to the junk yard, when that happens!

So spare a thought for us Great White North types who need all the help we can get in our ongoing battle against chemistry. We know we will eventually lose. In the meantime, I'll put up with the dripping and the gooey mess under the hood of my MINI. The trade-off is increased protection from the dreaded and inevitable tin-worm. Anything to delay its onset.

ps. I did stuff some paper towel into the holes in the hood near the plastic wheel arches, just to staunch the flow in that area. I like the Cosmoline - but on the inside only...


________________________________________________

 

Eric,

I just wiped the inside of my hood down with laquer thinner and removed that crap.

Just a suggestion.

Mark

 

rwwilsonjr .
i live in Houma ,La . And Brian Harris is my dealership also . They had no loaner car when i went and my window was messed up ! I hear that they will have a new dealership in Pens. Fla. that may be closer to you in the future .

 

That's right Mini of Pensacola. They are supposed to have the grand opening August 6th. The Panhandle Mini club had a meeting at the sister BMW dealership earlier this month and things went well. It will reduce my travel time for service from 3 hrs to about 45 minutes. Although, I like to visit La. so I will be coming back to visit.

 

Ha...I wish I was up in the Great White North right now...it's miserably hot and humid right now and another hurricane season is upon us. Yeah cosmoline is good stuff, as long as it stays where it belongs....WHICH ISN'T ON THE PLASTIC TRIM! sorry for screeming.

 

I found the goo on my MCS, too. When told what it was, I had an Army flash-back! Kerosene on a rag for painted and metal surfaces, followed immediately with a rag soaked in warm soap and water. Doing it once won't work, just keep at it till it's all out of the hood brace. Hint: To really melt it all out, make a +80mph run across the Mojave in July. You might check your hatch door as well. Bet you find Oozle-Finch juice around the vent holes. Learned this trick when cleaning a new 155mm howitzer that had been dipped in cosmoline.

For the wheel arches, I used the same process but with Goof-Off instead of kerosene. It worked, but be careful. Both these solvents are very flammable!!
Good Luck, Dwight

 

Does Goof-Off get the baked-on cosmoline off the arches as well? I can use Green Works to remove the surface cosmoline while its still in a wax form, but once it dries on the arches i have yet to find something to get it off.

 

IME...Once the cosmoline dries on the trim nothing is going to make the discoloration completely go away. Here's the deal with using Goof-Off on the plastic trim...you could end up further damaging the trim. Goof-Off is good stuff but it is pretty strong. I would definitely try a little in an inconspicuous place before using it on the very visable wheel arch. If the car is under warranty the dealer could give you grief if you make a mess. I would follow Dwights tips and wash good with warm soap and water...followed by Black Wow.

Also, remember my tip to stuff some small pieces of paper towel into the frame of the bonnet right above the wheel trim to prevent future dripping onto the trim.

 

Right on about Goof-Off. After some thought, I think the reason it worked for me was that the goo hadn't completely dried. Did the "treatment" over a year ago and haven't had a problem since. I suspect the active solvent in Goof-Off is acetone! If so, BEWARE!!

 

Yeah, thanks Mark...but this is in places not reachable....

 

Bringing this thread back from the dead. I just went to my nearby dealership to have them check on a problem I was having with my iPod / USB connection, and I mentioned the cosmoline stains on my wheel arches and asked what they could do. The SA said that BMW/MINI is now authorizing dealers to take under-warranty MINIs into a partnered body shop to de-cosmoline the underside of the bonnet and any other part that's gunked up. He said that they realize that replacing wheel arches is only getting rid of the symptom (and the cost adds up), and most of the time the customer needs to come back in because of seepage.

I'm not 100% optimistic that they will get rid of it all, but he says that it's a two day job so hopefully that's a good sign. After they attempt to remove all the cosmoline they'll replace the wheel arches and hopefully that will be that. I'll post back results in case anyone wants to try getting the dealership to deal with the problem.

 

That's encouraging news...the wheels of progress move slowly sometimes.

 

You know till today I had thought my issue with this problem was my detail guy using something different and him not owning up to it. But it looks like it was in fact the cosmoline leaking. Its been really hot in Texas lately so I bet money it leaked out one day and I didnt catch it... Really looks like it caused some kind of chemical reaction in the actual plastic of the wheel arch and its never going to come out like that. Guess its time to call the dealer and see what I can find out.

 

Funny, we vintage Brit car owners actually buy similar stuff (WaxOyl and related) and spray it into the cavities of our classics to try to stave off rust. Any old British car that you see here in the Midwest has either been restored, or has been garaged all its life and never rusted in the first place. Mine falls into the latter category, but I've WaxOyled the thing, and hopefully I won't have to worry about rust.

And if we see WaxOyl dripping out, meh... big deal. We're used to things dripping out of our cars!

Seriously though, this is an interesting discussion. I've noticed a bit of Cosmoline around a few of the holes in my MINI's bonnet frame, and it never occurred to me that it might actually damage something. I'll keep a closer eye on it from here out.

Cheers,

Spridget

 

I know with a little elbow grease I could get the stains off the wheel arches. And I know there are a few products out there like Prima CosmoNot that I could use to get rid of the stuff myself. It's not necessarily damaging anything, but it's really annoying. I figure if the dealership is going to attempt to take care of the problem I may as well give them a shot. If not, I'll be ordering some CosmoNot in the near future.

I saw a restored Mini on the road the other day. I got beside him and was trying to wave but he wanted nothing to do with me for some reason. In any case, my car felt HUGE next to his. Seriously, I felt like I was in an SUV...until an SUV came up and dwarfed us both.