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After wiping the wet area on the sill, I leave the weatherstripping off the sill overnight in the garage after it's been washed. The tracks in the weatherstripping are dry by the next morning.
Shellback, I have a couple of pictures of the affected areas before repair was done in my gallery.
In the Netherlands we have the same problems with the door sill and the rust.
At this moment I am in discussion with my dealer and Mini Netherlands... They first did not wanted to recognise the problem and told me that they never heared of this problem...until I told them that many members of the Dutch new mini club have this problem and issued it before me to their dealers and Mini Netherlands... Now they called me back and told me that they will repair the rust under warenty and place new designed seals on both of the doors, with a new and better draining system!!! Anyone else heard of these new designed seals???
I've never heard of a revised seal, but if one exists - I'm most definitely interested in it!
I'm tired of water building up in my door sill. I live on an island, so it's just a matter of time before the salt air starts getting to the door sill...
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Darren Asuncion
Kodiak, Alaska
04 MCS IB/W - Indi Blue Owner's Club #76, MMC#515 FlickrFacebookYouTubeMyspace
I coated mine with POR, and it fixed the obvious. There is one spot at the top of the pinchweld where it still shows active rust however. Is it possible that there is rust down inside the seam? Has anyone remove the black plastic sillplate and done an inspection from under the car?
wish i had seen this thread 2 years ago. just found 8 rist spots under my sills on my 03. soem of these "spots" mind you were 2 inches long and had taken out ~5mm deep of metal. just sanded the rust areas down and painted over the area with some black rustoleum. will check it in a few months to see how its doing...
Not sure if this has been mentioned but does anyone know what the Canadian rust warranty is for an 06?
just bought it and we just had some heavy rain, i notice water remains on the door sill. then i notice a tiny spot of rust near the front of the sill...
i'm in Toronto Canada and would love to know for sure how to proceed.
Cheers,
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R53 MCS DS/B w/ B viper stripes
I have recently used Rust Bullet to great effect on the driver's side door seal area. Removed the interior sill, minor sanding with 100 grit to whole length, clean with isopropyl alcohol, two coats of standard Rust Bullet, then a top coat of Rust Bullet Black Shell. After some rain, the water was beading up along the treated area. I will have to get some photos when I do the passenger side later on.
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9/29/2002 EB/W MCS Broken - temporarily retired
Original owner since 2002.
I wish I had known about this sticky a few years back also. I checked today and I have two spots of rust on both door sills. I will be treating them this week with a rust inhibitor and then I will be installing a CounterAct electronic rust inhibitor system on my 03 DS/W BUG ETER.
I wish I had known about this sticky a few years back also. I checked today and I have two spots of rust on both door sills. I will be treating them this week with a rust inhibitor and then I will be installing a CounterAct electronic rust inhibitor system on my 03 DS/W BUG ETER.
I got info back from the CounterAct company on their rust inhibiting system. The model for my car will be priced at $349.95. Since I plan to keep my MINI until they pry my cold, dead fingers from the shifter and steering wheel I think this is a wise investment
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Good things come in small packages. Better things come in a MINI.
The big issue is this is an area where several areas are welded together (post #594 pointed this out) and the POR cannot protect where it cannot go. I would still clean well; POR15 where I can and after possibly add something like oil or grease later to the seam to lock out moisture and oxygen; periodic inspection and drying water after driving in the rain as someone else suggested.
I've used the POR in areas which had bad "cancer" and the rust never seemed to come back through. You do need to get rid of any scale rust but you do not need to get rid of every speck of residual rust before painting.
Once this stuff dries on skin it is basically impossible to remove without the skin too. Acetone removes it easily before it dries.
I buy disposable brushes and use them once. A little paint goes a very long way. I use a plastic scoop and scoop some into a small plastic container to paint from. It dries slowly and any brush marks will disappear. When you close your can use plastic wrap under the top else it will be hard to ever reuse the can. POR can be peeled from anything plastic so I save my scoop and container and peel them before the next time I use them.
It is not absolutely necessary to use their wash and Zinc etch. It is a nice idea but you need to flood with water after using the pretreatment and a lot of times like it is not super practical.
Last edited by ZlotyR50; 08-08-2010 at 07:55 AM.
Reason: Added clarification
Based on what I've read here I checked my sills today. I've only had my 2004 S for a few days but am rapidly getting familiar with the little beast. Found some moisture on the sills along with water and dirt in the rubber seal groove. No rust though. Cleaned and waxed the metal sill and used a thin piece of metal with a shop rag to thoroughly clean and dry the inside of the rubber seal. I'm thinking about coating the metal with some silicone grease to help protect the surface from future water and will likely make pulling the seal a routine maintenance item.
Sorry for bringing back to life a dead thred but did MINI ever extend the rust warrenty for the older first gen cars? I am also curious about what this will cost? I am just trying to get a ballpark price so I don't end up paying to much. I wish I didn't have this problem.
i'm actually surprised my 03 doesn't have rust where everyone has been mentioning, especially considering the 110k on the odometer completely in New York and Minnesota. miracles do happen apparently. i do however have a tad bit of rust developing just on the bottom of the driver's door, which isn't bad enough to worry yet.
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Quote:
Sad that something so interesting on paper turns out to be such an unfortunate train wreck in reality...
Would never have thought to look for rust there if it weren't for this thread - I just happened to run across a month or two ago...
Just put Por15 on both sides under the weatherstripping. Hoping this kills it for good. Driver's side wasn't too bad, but passenger side had two very severe spots.
Also, the inside bottom edge of my passenger door was showing the beginning signs of rust and some minor bubbling, so I took the door paneling off and applied Por15 inside the door as well as on the bottom outside edge.
Hopefully that takes care of the rust...for now...
__________________ 2003 MC BRG soon-to-be 6-speed formerly CVT - 121000 miles
I just purchased on 05 MCS last week and I checked and found a couple small spots of rust. Does Mini cover this now or am I on my own with this?
I suspect you're on your own because it most likely hasn't perforated the metal. It's my recollection (without going out to the car and digging out the owner's manual) that the MINI extended rust warranty is against perforation, not against surface rust, which is most likely what you've got.
There are several ideas on this thread concerning how to deal with it. What I did was to use a tiny dremel grinder to carefully remove all visible rust from the small area affected, then cover with a liberal coat of Phil Wood grease (it's green, and my car is BRG/W - you can buy it at a bike shop, but any good water-proof grease will do the job). I pull the door gaskets after each wash, and as possible when the car's been in the rain, drain the water out, use a towel to sop up any extra, and re-apply the grease two or three times a year. So far (since 2004) the problem has not worsened, so I don't worry about it.
__________________ Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body. You should skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO!!! What a ride!!!!"
03 MCS b/w, checkered rear spoiler & rear view mirror caps, xenons, Katzkin custom leather/suede interior, alta 15%, lightbar (55watt hid), 19mm sway, cold air. 7.5J 17 BBS CV, 
2003 MC BRG soon-to-be 6-speed formerly CVT - 121000 miles
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body. You should skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO!!! What a ride!!!!"
