Hello all,

I have an odd question to ask. I was involved in a hit and run recently and my front driver side wheel arch was damaged. The collision center I took my car to replaced it all fine and dandy. It looked good, until about a week later I noticed that a little hole now exists where the arch meets hood of the car. I've included a photo of the new and original wheel arch. The original is flat at this spot, the replaced one has the little arch you see in the photo.

I called the collision center and asked if they installed the wrong part, to which they stated that the wheel arch for the 2012 was superseded to this new one and that all new Minis come this way.

My question for the community is A. is this in fact true? or B. is this guy giving me a bunch of bologna?

P.S. I did see the same question arise concerning this being factory. But, that was for a different year and model.

I own a 2012 Mini Cooper S.

Thank you for your help!

 

I had an overly-close encounter with an R32 Golf a while back. I noticed the exact same thing; the new arch has that little cutout while the old one did not. It took me a while to get over it, but I don't even notice it any more.

The parts used to repair my car all came from MINI. No aftermarket ones were used, unless they were supplied by the dealer. (The shop owner, a friend of mine, was complaining that MINI was the only place they could get most of the parts--and the local dealer only got the right parts out about 75% of the time. And yup, some of mine were wrong and had to be sent back and replaced.)

 

We Cooper drivers have a bit of an OCD problem I think haha.

Thanks for the reply and clarification that this is the new "factory" Mini Cooper part!

 

There might have been a change in the part in 2013 ish .

Old part number is 51772751318 for the passenger side ( right) front new part number 51777343342 .

Old part number is 51772751317 for the driver side ( left ) front new part number 51777343341 .

Double check what part number you have.