I live in Montreal Canada and purchased a 2012 Mini Countryman All4 last fall. It’s painted Cosmic Blue and it looks like my snow brush has made a mess of the clear coat. The BH's 5 year old Mazda looks better.

This is my 1st Mini. Is this normal ? Did the clear coat fail ? How do I control this in our environment ?

Happy with my Countryman, not happy with paint right now.

Thank you for reading and appreciate your comments.

Fred

 

any pictures of mess? What have you tried to clean it with so far?

 

Are you saying the snow brush scratched the finish?

 

Have been doing more reading here and speaking with others since I posted .. I was told that the clear coat surface is on the softer side (?) and polish/wax seem to be the only way to conceal it now.

teebo7; tried to get pictures...pretty hard(although i have seen familiar pictures in other posts on this site)

From a distance it looks like swirl haze, when up close every brissel in the brush left its mark, luckily i only passed the brush in 1 direction.

drsimmons...yes, but its probably a combination of the surface, snow,grimmy winter conditions and the brush. We can't control mother nature,but I'll need to pay more attention to surface and find a softer brush.

Their are lots of suggested polish/wax methods, i'll pick one and go with it.

thanks for your interest....ahhh waxing we will go...

regards

 

You might just try using a clay bar followed by a good wax.

 

+1!!

Claying will get off all of the "environmental" contaminents, the Polish and Wax will protect the paint from future intrusions but only for 6mo., then the process will need to be repeated to keep your MINI looking it's best!!

 

As stated above, take a clay bar to it, otherwise it sounds like a job for a DA polisher and some compounds to get out the swirls and hazing.

I no longer use a brush for winter time, I use a Snow Broom that is much safer than a brush.

 

Clay and wax aren't going to do anything to repair the finish. You can clay if you want but you're going to have to polish the swirls out anyway so the clay might be a waste of time. I can't say it WILL be, but I'd polish a small section first and see if you still need to clay or not.

Then when you're done polishing you use your wax or sealant to protect from further damage. Also, don't ever let your brush touch the paint. I always brushed just above the surface to prevent just the situation. A softer brush isn't a solution because it won't remove the snow.

 

Sno Broom works well, check that out as well.

You definitely want to clay before you polish, and depending on the clay it may not leave swirl marks at all. Claying will for the most part clean the surface for polishing. Once you polish, any marring created by the clay would be gone.

I doubt your clear coat failed. post a picture, but sounds like you scratched the clear coat and some polishing is in order.