I posted this in another thread in the R56 thread, but only got a response from one person who tried to help me with this problem, but came up short. He was very helpful though.

The Plastic Wheel Arches on my 08 MINI Cooper are peeling. I use peeling because there are no other words to describe what the problem is. At first I was told that Forever Black or Back to Black would fix it, however after showing them the pictures of the wheel arches he seems to think that there is another underlying problem. So I am trying to get a second opinion. I have attached a couple of pictures of what they look like. If anyone has any ideas about what my options are then I would really appreciate it.

Location of the pictures:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-upgrades.html

I couldn't attach the pictures because I attached them to another thread. And I didn't know what else to do. Just scroll down a bit and they are the only pictures on the thread. Thank you

 

I don't know what's causing that, never seen it before. It's possible the previous owner sprayed it with black paint or even a clear coat and that's what's peeling.
I didn't really read the other thread, just went to the pics.
But if it were my car I'd tape off the body, lightly sand the "peeling" areas see how that looked, if it all came off easily, I'd sand it all. Or I'd spray all the trim, first with a self etching primer and then some gloss black, or even something close to body colour. You might have to touch it up every few years though because people say paint wont stick to plastic.

 

Actually try this; If there already is paint/clear coat on it. Grab some paint thinner/stripper and rub some on and see what happens. But first test it on the underside of your bumper trim in case the thinner leaves white streaks or cracking in the plastic.

 

Give the mr.clean magic eraser a try. SRT4's had a similar issue but it was on the pillars and the magic eraser worked pretty good. Try in in an inconspicuous spot first.

 

I had a similar problem on the flares on a Land Rover I previously owned. The verdict was something had been spilled on it and was lifting surface. The solution was to wipe them down with a good grade of thinner/alcohol and two coats of forever black. Hope that helps.

 

Looks like somebody put something on the trim to try to make it look darker....and it is wearing off...
The trim is molded plastic (unless it has painted ones), and the plastic does tend to fade a bit...leading folks to try diffent things to make it look like new or reduce the work needed to keep it looking good.....bet the prior owner tried something....
Back to black maybe, or a dye or other type of stuff....
Try a bit of solvent in a hidden spot, and see if you can strip it....then find something and apply it to make it look good!!

 

I had the same thing on my 2005 Tucson with the black fender trim. I found out later that the car was in an accident and they clear coated the fender trim when they painted the car. The result was after a while the clear coat started coming off and looked just like your pictures. I never was able to get all the clear coat off and it never looked as good as it should. the peeling only happend on the side that was in the accident the other side was fine. I think if you went to an auto body repair shop they might have some solutions for you.

 

Looks like someone painted them, and it's now coming off. That's not normal wear for Mini Coopers.

 

Looks like someone may have tried forever black on it, but not cleaned the plastic before application. You'd need to try one of methods mentioned above to get it off or another dye to possibly cover it up.

 

This is why I don't recommend coatings for plastic parts. It just doesn't degrade gracefully. They look fine while intact, but overtime they become a mess. My Black Wow trim restorer would never do this and lasts over 8+ months when applied properly. I've got a test vehicle to prove this durability.

I replied to your other thread but essentially I said try using some 91% alcohol applied with a white painters rag from Costco. Or try some media reducer which is used for thinning automotive paint. This will take off touchup paint and most coatings with ease. It won't hurt your cured paint however.

Richard