Hey all,
So over a little over a week ago I found a bubble in my paint in the rear panel (just to the left of the gas door). When I touched it the paint crumbled away leaving a nice hole that looks like it has been rusted from the inside (see attached picture).

I took it into the dealer to ask about the rust warranty. After they looked at it they claim the the area has been resprayed since the paint is thicker in that area (they did a paint density test?). I'm the only owner of the car so I know that's not true. Now I have to wait for one of the reps to come over and look at it but it's been over a week now.

Anyone else have this much trouble with the dealer? Any suggestions? You can see there are a couple other bubbles just to right also.

 

I did! They checked my paint, too, and said the same thing... Until I made him check the whole car while I stood and watched. My only guess is that service managers aren't used to the thickness of Mini paint - or he was trying to pull one over on me. He told me the WHOLE CAR had been repainted! But because they had "done a good job," he would authorize the work (in my case, new boot lid and quarter panel repair). There's simply NO WAY my entire car was resprayed without my knowledge...

My suggestion would be to go back and have them check the rest of the car (it's a fast process) while you stand in the service bay and read the same numbers they read. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the advice. They are refusing to make the call on the repairs themselves, so I'll wait for the rep to come over. When he does I'll make sure we all get to see exactly what the test says for the entire car.

 

Those two spots are so perfectly round that I would suspect a dent was pulled out there using the little weld-on studs. Since you're the only owner, perhaps the car was dented in transport and MINI fixed it before sale? If that's the case, they should stand behind the rust perf warranty.

 

The car is going on 7 years now, so that would be hard to prove if it was a dent.

If I knew how to remove the plastic from the inside of the car I could maybe see if water has been getting in there somehow. The hole is on the other side of the speaker grill