As a new mini owner of 20 days, I have noticed that the rear window can get really dirty fast. If it rains it need a wiper, if the roads or wet it needs a wiper. Even driving on a sunny day they gets to be a thick layer of “road dust”. So right now I have the standard S wing, and am getting a full aero kit but may not install the wing in the end. So here is my question: Who has what wing and do they find it keeps they window cleaner with it? I know there are 4 combos you can have, No wing, cooper wing, copper s wing, and aero kit wing. Maybe you found the aero wing to be better than the cooper s wing? Please post your findings. Thanks

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of hatchbacks. As cleanliness is only a matter of degree, the brutal truth is that no rear spoiler will make that big a difference in your window's condition. I have yet to drive a hatchback that didn't have this wonderful feature. Now we know why trunks are so popular.

 

From previous posts (and my own MCS experience) it seems that the shape of the rear of the MINI really sucks any possible road dirt or water down the bum of the car. After driving through rain, the boot is by far the dirtiest part of Alice.
Annoying, but ppl who see the back of my car usually have trouble making it out in the widening distance, so I live with it.

 

Yep, join the club. There was a similar post to this a while back (can't find it now though). The upshot was just as MGCMAN says, none of the existing spoiler options do much to help.

I'd been looking at rear mud flaps as a possible solution...but there aren't any for the S (just the Cooper) and besides as someone pointed out, they'd probably look sort of goofy. So, I just live with it. I personally find that it's much worse in the winter when I can go through a whole tank of washer fluid on the way to work just trying to cut a path through the salt spray on the back window. And this time of year, well, look at it as an excuse to get out and wash your car more often.

 

There are rear mudflaps available as well, but just as the various spoilers/wings, they apparently do very little to help the problem. I think we just have to live with this one.
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I don't really have a dirt problem worth complaining about. Maybe it's b/c I have PS, but coops rear doesn't get that horribly dirty. BTW, I switched from the regular cooper fin to the aero one and didn't notice a dirt difference.

 

>> There was a similar post to this a while back (can't find it now though).

yes there was jsun, but its been deleted because of several personal attacks by a certain member.

chad123--congrats on ur new mini. waht new aero kit are you getting?

 

One time, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a leaf floating in mid-air right behind me! Interesting things going on with the airflow back there! The leaf fluttered about for a few seconds and then finally blew away.

Anyway, I would suggest keeping the back of the car well waxed. If you have a good coat of wax on there, it makes it much easier to clean off the dust accumulation, based on my experience.

 

>>As a new mini owner of 20 days, I have noticed that the rear window can get really dirty fast. If it rains it need a wiper, if the roads or wet it needs a wiper. Even driving on a sunny day they gets to be a thick layer of “road dust”. So right now I have the standard S wing, and am getting a full aero kit but may not install the wing in the end. So here is my question: Who has what wing and do they find it keeps they window cleaner with it? I know there are 4 combos you can have, No wing, cooper wing, copper s wing, and aero kit wing. Maybe you found the aero wing to be better than the cooper s wing? Please post your findings. Thanks


Chad123: Congrats on your new "happy place" buy. In answer to your issue, here is my spill on it. Hatchbacks all have the wheels practically at the rear of the car. turbulence from that and the fact that the bumper is inches away, there's quite a vortex of air coming from under the car which throws water/air or whaterver can move with it onto the back window. Add another vortex coming from the spoiler both over it and the down draft from air passing under you get a practicle series of tornados behind you. BMW uses a rear diffuser which I think helps abit in resolving this issue. And yes there is one for the Mini. "Hamann" produces it. Again I don't know this to be fact, just my spill on it.

 

It's all about aerodynamics. In any vehicle with a squared off back (van, station wagon, SUV, or MINI ) you get a suction created by the vehicle passing through the air. On the MINI the effect may actually be enhanced by the car sitting so low to the ground. I theorize this because an SUV, though the same body shape, seems to have less of a problem. Possibly this is because it has a stronger air flow coming under the body as they sit much higher.

On a side note: This effect is the same reason why you don't want to ride with the back window of any of this type of vehicle open. It actually will cause exhaust gases to be pulled back into the car. There have been more than a few accidents attributed to this as the driver "falls asleep" from breathing these gases.

 

>>It's all about aerodynamics. In any vehicle with a squared off back (van, station wagon, SUV, or MINI ) you get a suction created by the vehicle passing through the air. On the MINI the effect may actually be enhanced by the car sitting so low to the ground. I theorize this because an SUV, though the same body shape, seems to have less of a problem. Possibly this is because it has a stronger air flow coming under the body as they sit much higher.
>>


I can second that. It's definately the shape of the car body that does it. When we had the 4 dr GMC Jimmys and it rained the rear window was nearly useless. The rain and road gunk would get sucked right to the rear window. However the rear window on the 2 dr Jimmy I had before that was sloped towards the front something like 30 or 40 degrees. On that truck I never needed the rear wiper in the rain, it stayed copletely dry (unless I was backing up!)

 

i am getting the mini aero kit.

i know most vans and suv's have a air deflector to move air over the back window to keep it some what clean. so i thouhgt mabye one of the wings for the mini would act like that more than others. but i'll just have to keep it clean and waxed. i also found that the rear window washer sprays kind of low on the window. is that normal too or did i get a bad one? maybe i need to make a rear air pan to move the air in a different direction....hummm in carbon fiber....lol got to go wash my window..

 

Chad, buy yourself a California Car Duster...plan on using it ALL THE TIME

yes, welcome to the world of hatchbacks

Dust away,
Ryan

 

i have a car duster. and with a black top i use it a lot, but i was just thinking one might help more than others. i'll just have to design up something cool that works. right after brake ducts.