On my 1 month old 2010 Midnight Black Mini Cooper S, the hood scoop is a different color than my Bonnet. It seems to be a lighter black, almost purplish. Is this normal? It's only noticeable in direct sunlight.

 

Mines a month old and I just noticed it last week. I would say while it's not right it's normal. You have to different materials that are being painted and most if not all manufactures dont go through the right steps of priming and sanding to get the colors to match. Just the way it is unfortunetly.

Side note I do see alot of calcified water spots on the hood. Get some Eagle One wipe and shine and get that stuff off. It will kill the paint given how much heat it built up there.

 

Normal - only if you have cameleon paint.............

1st Gen MINI's never had this problem, and can't say I have ever seen this as a problem with other makes/models either.

I have purchased many used MINI factory scoops and mirror caps, bumpers and aero kits in DS from other year MINI's - all painted in varying years and NEVER had a paint match issue.....

No, definately not normal and worth a call to your SA.

 

Man you have some terrible water spots! My scoop is the same color as the hood, might be more noticeable on MB.

 

I wash my car every week. However, going over the Pali Highway on Oahu, to get to work everyday, I get rained on. It's inevitable, and I'm not joking that nearly every day it does rain up there. Then as soon as I get over the Pali, it's bright and sunny.

I do have the Prima wash and wax on order so hopefully that will help with the water spots when it comes in.

Hawaii is just a pretty dirty place in general for a car. Lots of wind, spontaneous rain, lots of humidity and heat, and crazy amounts of salt in the air.

Anyway, I'm going to call up the SA tomorrow and see what they'll do.

 

I know what you mean, it's sunny, a shower races by, then it's sunny again... Murder on our paint especially when you mix a light dusting of salt to the mix. I use just plain Meguiar's and it does a good job of keeping the water spots away.

 

Just spoke with the SA and my MA at Mini of Hawaii. They're going to check out my car tomorrow at 9a and see what the options are. I'm hoping it's just an easy swap.

I'm planning on doing a full detail once I get this hood scoop problem sorted. My Prima stuff came in today so I'm anxious to try it out. This is my first black car - it's tough living in Hawaii sometimes lol. We have too many darn birds hanging over the street parking here too.

 

Keep us posted if they get it matched I may go bug my SA.

 

Just finished my meeting with the SA and Foreman. They definitely noticed it was a problem with the paint on the scoop. Foreman said he's going to run it through regular protocol and get back to me on my options.

However, my MA, who was there also, suggested I look into the JCW CF Hood Scoop and ask for a discounted price instead of replacing the stock scoop.

Not sure what I'm going to do, but I guess it depends on what my options are.

So far my first experience dealing with the service side of Mini of Hawaii was pretty easy and smooth.

Also, I've never seen a black MCS with a JCW CF Scoop. Wonder how that would look..

 

One of our club members has a slightly discolored/warped bonnet scoop. Another member has bought the turbo heat shield. I highly recommend this to anyone that has an R55/R56/R57. Runs about $140.

MINI Mania: http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/G2.../InvDetail.cfm

Custom Cars Central: http://www.customcarscentral.com/nme...6--07-up-.html

 

I actually have the NM Titanium Heat Shield on order.

 

I'd love to know the response too - I noticed it on my pepper white 2010 a few days ago...

 

Thats my new favorite thing ^pic above. Anyway I just came from Oahu about a year ago. I feel your pain on the rain there and washing your MINI once a week. I had to do the same thing and I am trying to still get the water spots out. I will be trying that Eagle 1 stuff. Oh and I am sorry to say this but the MB is a really really really dark blue. That purpling you are talking about it is the blue showing. Though it isn't right that your hood scoop is noticably a different color. Maybe take it back and see what kinda fix you can get or upgrade to CF. That would be sweet.

 

My Pepper Aero kit is whiter than the body. Especially the rear.

 

Just an update:

It took a while but everything was covered under warranty. SA said it could have been a bad production line for MB's where the paint was off. My MA, yes MA, convinced the service dept to replace my parts with the JCW Carbon Fiber parts. And when I say parts, I later found out my spoiler was fading the same color as my hood scoop.

So now I have a JCW Carbon Fiber Hood Scoop and a JCW Carbon Fiber Spoiler.