I noticed that when there has been a really heavy rain or I wash my car, that water gets onto the silver door sills inside the car... Is this the cause of the rust issues people were talking about? Is it something to worry about or not? I know I have unlimited rust protection as part of the warranty (I have an month old '06) but was just wondering...

Also, on another point, Is the steering wheel supposed to be exactly horizontally aligned or slightly tilted to the left when driving in a straight line?! I noticed I have to hold it slightly tilted to the left to drive straight, which I thought was weird. There is no drifting of any kind, so I don't think it's an alignment issue... Could the steering wheel not be put on correctly or something, or is this common on all MINI's?!

 

Water will get on the door sills, as the seals for the doors are on the onboard side of the sills. Nothing you can do about it, but if you keep them clean and wipe them dry after washing you should have no problems.

The steering wheel may tilt slightly to the left if there is a crown in the road for drainage. Try driving on the wrong side of the road, where you are sure there is no on coming traffic, and you will probably see a slight tilt to the right.
If not, get the car into the dealer to check wheel alinement and balancing.

Mark

 

Keep them dry as under the door sill rubber is where rust is starting to appear on the MINIs.

 

I had heck of a time keeping my sills dry on my Cooper when they got wet. No matter how much I dried, a few minutes later, water would ooze out from somewhere else! My solution - I bought an MCS with an aero kit (no sills on the aero kit) LOL.

 

Hey guys, thanks for the answers, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't just my car with the sills thing!

As far as the steering wheel issue goes, it's more like the actual steering wheel is off... I mean, if I am driving straight, if I keep the steering wheel straight I will be turning slightly to the right. I have to turn the steering wheel slightly to the left in order to go straight... if that makes sense! But like I said before, it doesn't appear to drift or anything, it just appears the actual steering wheel is not put on right or something. I noticed it a few days after picking it up, and left a message at the dealer and never heard anything back (typical!) and then I just kind of forgot about it! So the best thing is to take it to the dealer to look at?

 

^^ the car's probably just following the crown of the road.

as far as the door sill, like any metal parts, keep everything as
dry as possible.

 

i hate when water gets in the door sills

 

I went a little less expensive route. I use the cans of air used to dust computer equipment to blow the water out of all the little crevices and seams. I have seen people here who have an air compressor the same way.