Man, am I pizzed. I've tolerated the quirks of a Mini for about as long as I'm going to.

I've tolerated the lifters clacking that sound like a diesel sometimes.

I've tolerated that my freakin' sunroof won't open unless it's cool outside.

I tolerated the fact that my $30K+ car melts hood scoops.

About a month ago, I asked my SA if I could replace the hood scoop with the JCW carbon fiber one and just pay the difference. I figure that it was going to cost them the price of a hood scoop, why not let me pay the difference.

So they did and so did I.... I painted the scoop and installed it and in less than 3 weeks, my new carbon fiber hood scoop is warped. Instead of warping in the middle, it now bows in two spots (both were the clips attach themselves)

I guess I'm going to have to go buy Way's turbo heat wrap. I don't see why I should be having to modify and pay for poor design.

I know Mini doesn't give a crap but I paid over $30K for a mini and I expect them to have issues but I expect them to resolve them.... your ability to take care of poor designs SUCKS....


Freakin' POS

Mark

 

wait wait wait, the carbon fiber scoops melt also??!

 

Wow Mark I don't blame you one bit for being extremely pissed especially since the replacement JCW CF hood scoop that you paid the difference on has now also begun to melt!!

 

They don't technically melt, they distort from the heat. Instead of having a huge dent in the center of my scoop, now I have two smaller ones on either side.

I know from past experience that carbon fiber "dies back" because it's so thin but I thought perhaps Mini was making a thicker version.

NOT, the scoop is a real thin piece of carbon fiber and sure enough, the heat in less than 3 weeks has put dents in it.

It's bad enough I did the replacement work, paint work and replace the 3M clear bra on it all at my cost but now what am I going to do?

Freakin' Mini is really starting to **** me off.


Mark

 

My friend has a S and is going through even more issue then you, He is selling it and going to a BMW.

 

I wonder if the rear carbon fiber diffusor would be subject to heat issues?

 

Is the JCW scoop for the R56 solid carbon fiber? On my R52, it's carbon fiber over ABS plastic (like the rest of my JCW CF pieces), so I would expect it to have heat problems similar to the stock piece.

 

Ahh..... a Mini is a BMW, thats the problem. Tell your friend if he wants a car that will hold up buy a Lexus.

 

Hey Scott, no man, it's carbon fiber but the clip "mounts" are epoxied onto the back of the scoop. Really kind of cheesy.... having said that, I guess there is no other way of doing it.

The scoop is REALLY a thin piece of carbon fiber. I think if they had overlaid carbon fiber over plastic, it may have held up better.

Oh well, what do I expect for a $30K+ dollar car?


Though it's hard to see the distortion in this pic, you can kind of see it. (can really notice it under my flourescent lights in the garage)

 

i'm curious....with the melted hoodscoops....have you removed the grill in the scoop. I have had my grill out since I brought the car home 1.5years ago, run the car hot and hard, and haven't had any issues.
with the grill out I can stand a couple feet from the scoop and feel the hot air come out.

 

Kinda.... I didn't remove the scoop but I did get a die grinder and open up every hole.

 

Are there only some holes open on the scoop as stock?

 

Yeah, about 1/3rd of them only are open from the factory.


Mark

 

Since an S is an S, how come all S MINI's don't have this same problem. (All S with turbo.) With the number of MINI's sold I would think that this problem would be rampant and that MIMI would have no choice but to address the problem. But this does not seem to be the case. Is there an explanation for this?

Regards,

Pat

 

Pat,

Obviously not every single car that is produced will have a problem... however, it seems that there are 3 major quirks that are prevalent in quite a few owners.

1) sunroof gets stuck in hot weather.

2) hood scoop melts

3) lifters clacking when cold.

A lot of this will be eliminated just because of regional reasons. Obviously someone who lives in warm weather will not experience the lifter problem.... likewise, someone living in cooler temps will probably never see their sunroof getting stuck.

Then there's the people that don't care, not on the forum or just live with it.

I think it's much more prevalent than we think. It's just a poor design.

Mark

 

I think they came up with a fix for the moon roof. And it doesn't really get stuck. It basically thinks that there is something sitting on it because the gaskets have expanded and the motor has to work a little harder to open the roof. The motor cuts out automatically to prevent an incorrectly anticipated burn out. It is easy to work around the issue by giving the roof a little nudge with your other hand.

So what are you going to be trading your MINI for? My parents just bought a new Prius and people I've talked to with those cars are very pleased with them. I highly recommend a Toyota or a Honda. I've never owned one, but they're well known for being very reliable.

 

Not only have I got the same problems as the OP but more , also they can never find parts that fit , my airbag was shot and they have to replace the whole steering wheel , what if it wasnt under warrenty and I had to pay for that . No way am I keeping it past the warrenty.It's a piece of crap that corners great .

 

4) bonnet release cable pull failure

 

Are you adding that to his list? He as a R56, looks like you have a R53. Don't think those on his list are problems with the R53, they have different problems #1. rattels in the sunroof.

 

Actually, I have an R50 ...

...but #4 is a well documented R56 issue. Do a search here on NAM and you'll see.

 

What kinda mileage did you have? Not that it should make any diff, but I haven't seen any dents on mine yet.

The dimples were not there before you had it painted? Paint will telegraph any imperfections as it dries and even the smallest dimple will show through. Before painting they had to rough up the surface a bit..... oh well too many unknowns for me.

Sorry to hear your having a problem with the carbon fiber too!!

 

I have had 5 BMW's Never 1 issue that would make me sell the car, Bmw in Name only.

 

I have had 2 only, but they both have had many little glitches.

 

Sorry, was going by the pic in your sig.

 

BMWs are about average in reliability, but very expensive to maintain once you're out of warranty. My '02 BMW wagon needed a new thermostat, and I was quoted $500+ by the dealer. I bought a Clubman instead.