On my current car, there was a lot of debate over the paint quality. So much so that it made everyone basically run out and get a clear bra. When I first got my car, I had 5 chips within the first 1200 miles, even paying special attention of not following car, trucks, anything on the highway at all. Is the Mini prone to this same crappy paint? I heard it was because of EPA rules and regulations that made the paint more prone to chipping and the fact that the paint was now water based. Also, it seemed to plague certain colors more than others (red and black seemed to be the worst). Is this something I need to worry about? Should I have my clear bra guy ready for when I pick up the Mini or is it something that I can pass on? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

My 2005 chili red mini got an aero kit and the paint flaked off badly! It looked like a polka dot car. The paint on the actual car has done nicely; but on the aero kit, the paint is terrible. The dealer replaced the painted aero with a red colored plastic aero and it ahs held up well.

We have Invisishields on both of our Mini's.

 

the front of the mini has many near vertical places on the hood and front bumper. any car that has flat spaces on the front of the car like the mini does will get chips. theres nothing you can do about it besides invest in a clear bra.


i dont mine repainting the hood in a few years, and i can get a new freshly painted bumper cover for 100-125 bucks on ebay, so thats not a big deal for me at all.....

chips are just a part of driving - battle scars, if you will- deal with them, or just park it, it wont ever ship then!

 

I wish I had had the time to install a clearbra on my All Jet Black MCS back in 2003, but within a week of taking delivery, I was on my first cross-country roadtrip.


It was a fantastic trip, but Wanda's front-end is really chipped, especially after having completed THREE cross-country trips. I had some touch-up painting done at the dealership after Trip #1, but will need to have her re-painted at some point, at which time I will install a clearbra, for sure! GET ONE!


Clover

 

YES! YES! YES! My MINI picked up more dings, scratches & etc. in its first two years than my previous car did in 15 years. They're not all driving-related, and they don't buff or polish out. The paint job is my biggest gripe with this car. If I keep it I may get it painted -- I'm already starting to think about colors. The only reason I wouldn't keep it, or course, is that I'm thinking it might be nice to get an '05 or '06 :smile: .

I can't quite figure how EPA regulations would influence the paint quality, howver. Paint and coatings regulations control emissions where the paint is applied... in this case, in England.

 

I do also think Mini paint is not that good, when compare to my other cars. You can always find new chip on the front on different location, no matter on the chrome part or the body paint. At least that has been happening to my 05 MCS.

 

I've heard the same complaints on the BMW forums. Factory paint in general isn't all that great these days.

 

Talking about bad paint, my car has a run on the hood from the factory. This is a 05 Jet Black MCS. I just discovered yesterday that where my spoiler is, the clear is lifting right off from the base coat. Now this does not make me happy at all. I am hoping that the dealer will have to repaint the hood if they cant get the run out and that will get rid of my chip marks on the front of the car from the damn trucks. I could not install a clear bra as i am still waiting on the dealer to decide what to do with the hood. Well its now to late to get a bra installed as i already have chip marks! So far i have had had several cosmetic issues with my mini. All paint related and from the factory that is.

Garrett

 

0 Chips to date (and 2,400 miles):



VentureShield clearbra kit installed recently. More info here: ----> www.accuguard.biz

The VentureShield paint protection kit has a LIFETIME warranty against peeling, yellowing, cracking and fading. Paid $325 for the entire kit (Including installation) as follows:

*Bonnet
*Hood Scoop
*Front Bumper
*Top of front Bumper
*Headlights
*Front bumper marker lights
*Front fog lights
*Leading edge of roof
*Both exterior mirror caps
*Both front door handle cups
*Front grille chrome slats and lower bumper chrome slat


To answer your initial question... Yes! absolutely a clearbra is a MUST if you want to protect your car's finish as much as possible. The factory paint is too FRAGILE to withstand the rigors of normal highway driving. Some people have even gotten chips driving home from the showroom.

All colors suffer from the same chip prone tenedency. As a matter of fact this is not a MINI concentric problem, this is an issue with nearly every new car sold in the world today, regardless of brand, origin or price. My neighboor has a '04 Lexus ES300 (Black) and the car's front end was covered with chips within the first couple of weeks of use. He came from a '91 Acura Legend (Also black) but that car had the much more chip resistant oil based paint, now deemed illegal by the EPA.

So when you buy a MINI, and if you care about protecting the finish, you must factor the cost of a clearbra into the final purchase price.

Whatever you do, don't drive the car naked! Unless.... you have the time and patience to fill thousands of paint chips every week or get your bonnet repainted every couple of years. Neither one of those are acceptable options for me, so the clearbra so far is the only feasible answer to the problem.

 

A couple of years ago I had my 240 Volvo repainted and was told the paint quality would be weaker because they had to remove the lead from the paint.


Art

 

Also repainting the bonnet for the sole purpose of repairing stone chips, will have a negative effect on your resale value. Something to keep in mind.

 

If you have the dealer paint your aero kit definitely get a clearbra. You can get a great deal from Ryan over at www.autopaintguard.com


I only use clearbra on the aero bumper and non on the bonnet. I only have
like 3 real small knicks on my bonnet after 17k miles. After you install
your clearbra, keep the excess pieces as you can use them to make
small bra's for your side skirts. You'll need one for the front fender area
where rocks get kicked up onto the sideskirt and one by the vent near
the rear fender arch. the paint chip in those areas real bad.

 

yeah, a friend of mine shoveled my car this winter with a plastic shovel and i have four HUGE scrapes running up the bonnet. i consider them more stripes . as for the guy who shoveled my car, he's a dope but a plastic shovel seriously shouldn't have done this much damage. my old, 9 year old a4 with 80,000 miles on her had ZERO scratches. in the next few years i'll be getting totally repainted as along with the bonnet scratches i have tons on the bumper and even a few along the sides. and from what? who knows.
GET A CLEAR BRA!!!

 

My 03 MSC DS/B is doing great, little over 24k miles and just a few marks. My wifes 00 Accord Couple looks like crap. My 00 Dodge Ram in Solar Yellow held up way better than her Accord and that included many off-road excursions.