Just look at this mess.

I can't believe MINI actually ever DROVE a MINI outside of Tampa Florida
before starting to sell these darn things.

I have been having strange noises when I turn my front wheel sometimes in
cold weather. It doesn;t happen all the time, and when I take it to the dealer,
they say "We can't find anything wrong." Sure, like THEY'D find anything
wrong with a car under warantee. Sure.

This morning, I caught a picture of the problem.

This is CLEARLY a design defect, and I want a full refund from MINI even
though I've had the car for two years.

Just look!!! The front wheelwell is obviously too small!!!

There's hardly any room for the wheel to even turn in there.
Man, what idiots.

This kind of thing doesn't happen to Hummers, so I'm sure it's a MINI
design defect.

What should I do? Ask for a recall, or Lemon-law it?

 

Not only that Trip, but by the looks of it their design oversight allowed your vehicle to become frozen to the ground. I mean how can they offer heated seats as an option and then skimp on the heated tires and wheelwells?? :evil:

This is too much. I'd ask for my money back.

 

How can you complain about a car that makes free salty slurpees for you?

 

mmmm, Aero Kit II!!! Only offered in northern climates and Canada

 

Trippy, I would wait until your Midlands 5 - speed Gearbox gets littered on the road, then you can do the double whammy recall / lemon law thing.

 

Buy a Hummer.

 

Show me a car up north that has slush in the wheelwells and I'll show you an owner too lazy to kick it out before he/she gets in.

Seriously, is this what we're reduced to, complaining about the slush and ice in the wheelwell? Every car I've ever driven in the winter accumulates that stuff in the wheelwells.

 

Hilarious Trippy! My slow internet connection did not show the pics until I had read completely through your complaint!

Fortunately, no snow here in Alabama. Lots of cold rain, but I've never had to shovel rain out of my driveway or kick accumulations of it out of my wheelewells!

 

How can you complain about that..... !?! a there are so many poepl onm this forum tryign to get rid of that little space it ridiculus,, seriously, this is a probelm for MOST cars in the snow, esspecially the icy stuff we've been getting lately... do you want them to heat the wheel wells?... Hell they've been testign the cabrio in snow storms, I think this is an owner issue

 

Trippy...you seem like a knowledgable guy. I would have thought you'd spot the problem right away just as I did just seeing the photo.

It's the steel wheels with the plastic hub caps. Not MINI stock equipment, therefore reducing the heating/cooling attributes associated with the original wheel/tire/wheel-well design.

Clearly a case of your aftermarket set-up causing your trouble. Warranty claim DENIED!

:smile:

 

There's an easy mod to fix this problem. What you do is:

Tap into the heater ducts and run 2" flexible tubing to both front wheel wells. Then buy (or fabricate) a 3-way splitter to split the hose into three separate blower outlets. Carefully cut three holes, spaced about 2" apart, in the plastic wheel well protector/cover. Insert the ends of each tube into each hole, and secure in place with a grommet. Cover each hot-air outlet with fine mesh, such as from a screen door.

Next, get in car. Start car. Let it warm up. Turn on heater to full blast. Be sure to close off all 4 air vents in the car. This diverts the full force of the hot air into your special wheel-well blower vents modification.

While driving, you can open any or all of the 4 inside vents to warm up your interior...enough hot air will be diverted into the wheel well vents you've just installed to keep them above freezing. This will not allow snow and ice build up to occur in your wheel wells anymore.

I'll post photos of this mod when I wake up from the dream.

Rock On,

-MightyBoognish

 

White wheels would enhance the the design of the MINI cold weather package.

 

Trippy - do you not have the "Cold Weather Package"? Oh wait, you have an '02....yea.....MINI didn't start retrofitting wheelwell heaters until mid '03. Looks like you'll have to order the retrofit package. I don't have the part number on me, but any dealership north of the mason-dixon knows about it. Also, I agree with MINIGUY99, it's your aftermarket setup that's not allowing proper airflow and subsequent excess buildup. I think you should move to a warmer climate; that's what my dealership told me when I first experienced this issue.

 

Is this a joke right?

 

This is the first time I've heard about wheelwell heaters........they really exist?

 

Wow. People's responses to this thread are very revealing. Kind of a gullibility/sense of humor measuring device.

 

Yeah, I can't believe anyone took him seriously!

 

>>> Yeah, I can't believe anyone took him seriously. <<<<<

On this forum, you can never tell!

 

OH GOD TAKE IT BACK!!! COMPLETE DESIGN FAILURE!

 

Trippy, I know where your coming from. I sold my MINI three months after I purchased it. The damn ashtray was over flowing!!! After three months!!! Yes, I smoke two cartions of smokes every day, but come on.

 

>>How can you complain about that..... !?! a there are so many poepl onm this forum tryign to get rid of that little space it ridiculus,, seriously, this is a probelm for MOST cars in the snow, esspecially the icy stuff we've been getting lately...


I'd have to agree here. I almost think that there is too much empty space around the wheels. Maybe some mudflaps would help a bit.

 

YOU HAVE IT ALL WRONG!!!!

they took extra time to develope just the correct space for that to happen. Don't you know anything!!!! The pains taking building of the snow is to prevent you from breaking the windshield of a H2 with rocks fling up from your wheels or chipping the paint of an Expidation.

 

>>
>>There's an easy mod to fix this problem. What you do is:
>>
>>Tap into the heater ducts and run 2" flexible tubing to both front wheel wells. Then buy (or fabricate) a 3-way splitter to split the hose into three separate blower outlets. Carefully cut three holes, spaced about 2" apart, in the plastic wheel well protector/cover. Insert the ends of each tube into each hole, and secure in place with a grommet. Cover each hot-air outlet with fine mesh, such as from a screen door.
>>
>>Next, get in car. Start car. Let it warm up. Turn on heater to full blast. Be sure to close off all 4 air vents in the car. This diverts the full force of the hot air into your special wheel-well blower vents modification.
>>
>>While driving, you can open any or all of the 4 inside vents to warm up your interior...enough hot air will be diverted into the wheel well vents you've just installed to keep them above freezing. This will not allow snow and ice build up to occur in your wheel wells anymore.
>>
>>I'll post photos of this mod when I wake up from the dream.
>>
>>Rock On,
>>
>>-MightyBoognish
>>

Mighty...you've outed MINI. They've had this kit in development and were planning to release it to dealerships April 1st...just in time for spring.

Trippy...check with your MA, I'm sure he or she can look up the bulletin that talks about the new winter wheel-well package.

:smile:

 

Move to Hawaii, Florida or California and your problem is solved. Hey Trip, I'm still beating myself up for letting my wife talk me into moving back to Okla from CA. What the heck was I thinking?

I know when I lived in CA,the MINI was on the road alot more. Since the move back here to Okla, it seems because of the bad roads, snow, and ice, the MINI spends more time in the garage.

Perhaps this spring, a road trip to sunny CA in the MINI will be in order.

 

OMG!!!!!!!!! You've got HUB CAPS on your Mini!! You have no right to complain about anything, that's just gross.