My better half gave me a floor jack and stands for Christmas, so, naturally, I had to go try my new toys out. Whilst looking over the procedures involved with lifting Maggy, my 06 CR/W MCS, I noticed this damage to the left front strut boot.

Trying to remain calm, I took these snaps and submit them for ya'll's review and comment. I'll be waiting for the dealer to open tomorrow to correct this immediately. However, I'm interested to hear if this is a common or not occurance.

Background: Original owner, just went over 10k miles since 30 June. No hard bumps, hits, runs or errors. Do work the roundabouts vigorously (it is Holland, after all!). Only other driver was my wife who drove all of 6 miles, very carefully!

Cheers!

 

it is just a dust boot and won't cause much harm (Please correct me iif i am wrong). I would get it replaced as long as Mini is paying for it.

 

I'm not worried about the dust boot, I want to know what that big chunk of plastic is in there! Is that part of your bump stop? Some better pictures of that would be good... If I IS part of the bump stop, it should be looked into ASAP, as that is one helluva hit to crunch it like that. The strut shaft looks OK, but I'd have the dealer give it a GOOD look-over.

RM2k5

 

You are still under warranty, so it's really not a big deal. Looks like part of the bump stop has broken off. Get it fixed asap.

 

Those are strut shims used when shipping the MINI; they are supposed to be removed at the vehicle distribution center or at the dealership during make ready. I also had these as well; they are not supposed to be there.

 

Anyone have a pic of these installed correctly before the dist center removes them? I'd like to check to see if they are still in mine.

 

Just look at his photo, he has one white (piece) and one blue shim showing. If you push the dust boot all the way up, the bumpstop is cream color or slightly yellowish and is fairly soft compared to the hard plastic shims.

 

Nice find. Might have been there another 10,000 more miles.
See, your jack was helpful!

Call your service center and get all the shocks checked.

Looks like the shim or other part has become dislodged and poked out through the boot.

 

Given the condition of that shock, make sure you pop the hood inspect the mounts and look for mushrooming around the strut mount. I have attached pics of a good and a bad strut mount.

 

The dealer never removed the packings on my car and the dust boots blew-out like that, too. They don't protect much even when perfect so I wouldn't worry too much. If you want to punish your dealer, hand them what's left of the packings and ask them to replace the boots.

Steve

 

Cool! Thanks for the input. Now I'm not so worried. Only problem now is to try and convince the dealer that this should be covered under warranty. Well, like I said, that's what I've got for however long it takes tomorrow!!

Cheers!

 

Same thing happened to me - dealer left the blue packing in and the boots got ripped up. **** as I am, I had the dealer replace the boots!

 

Make them pay!

Steve

 

I had the same thing on my 06S.

Those white peices are part of the assembly that holds the strut between assembly and insertion into the car are supposed to be removed by those on the assembly line, but in our cases were not...

 

I'm trying to not compare the cultural differences between the United States and Europeans; however, I'm really thinking that we're from Mars and they're from Venus!!

Being that I'm in Europe, I made an appointment for Maggy to be seen about her shims problem. No drama with that; would have to do the same in the States. I explained to the person behind the service counter (not an SA as we know it because there are NO Mini dealerships here, just BMW shops) that I needed to schedule warranty work for the destroyed left front strut boot, to remove the shipping shims and to inspect for any other possible damage. Earliest he had was for today and that Maggy was safe to drive in her condition. Fine, off we go.

I dropped Maggy off this morning and was called back almost four hours later that the work was done, come and get my car. Once I get there, I am told that I'll have to schedule another appointment as the shop will have to order the replacement boots. So, there goes another Friday burned up shuttling cars...

Now, to the point. Is this typical of European service? Make an appointment to see the car, spend four hours to confirm that what the customer has said is true, then schedule another appointment to fix the problem? Keep in mind that this "should" be under warranty; however, oil changes are NOT included here and cost me 180 euros (~$250USD)!!

Again, I am desperately trying not to compare but to understand the differences but this seems pretty bizzare even for Nederlands!! What're ya'll's thoughts?

Cheers!

 

For that price I'll change your oil and tranny fluid using redline products, wash your car and take you to lunch...and hook you up w/a lovely young lady in one of those cars w/the red light on inside by the side of the B-40!

...and still have $$ left over!

Just a short drive down here to SW Germany!

 

I think the 2 visit fix is probably fairly common either in Europe or the U.S. When my serpentine belt and pulley assembly got very noisy I had to take it to the dealer, have them listen and diagnose, they then ordered the parts and I went back a week or so later and had the work done. Bottom line is the dealer is not going to stock every part that could possibly be needed on every model of MINI. Too much overhead sitting on shelves. It does make it inconvenient to say the least (my closest dealer is 85 miles away, and many people are much farther), but one of things we MINI owners may have to live with.

 

Well, at least I know what type of oil to bring to the dealer next time. That, however, won't be for another 14,000 miles, according to the computer!!!! I'll be able to buy that for a few dollars on post versus the 17 euros they charged!!

As for the two trip visit, I wouldn't have expected to make two appointments, though. Again, that whole Mars and Venus thing. It could've been worse. I moved here from North Carolina and its a two hour drive, one way, to either of the two Mini dealers in the state from where I live! You can drive through WHOLE countries in two hours over here!!!

Cheers!

 

Dude, it's completely normal unfortunately. I would tell my Audi dealer exactly what was wrong with my A3, ask them to have the parts ready, and they'd STILL screw it up and make me come back
The free service/oil change is MINI North America specific apparently and I feel your pain. My MCS came up for it's first service a whole month before we shipped her to the States (IIRC it was about 150 or so Euros in Germany)

 

I use Mobil 1 almost exclusively...IMHO Redline's too expensive to justify as often as I change my oil. Use Redline or Amsoil in the tranny and diff though--generally buy whatever's readily available when It's time to do those.

A petroleum engineer friend did a full analysis a few years back on the most common/popular oils for the Miata crowd (posted it on Miata.net--I'll try to find it). While redline was measurably better, it was only at the far extremes of operating temps. Mobil 1 gives you over 99% of the performance for 1/2 the price--still better than anything you're likely to need too.

Where are you stationed? I'm at Ramstein...

 

sorry to hear about your frustration. but this is typical for any US dealer
too if they dont have the part in-stock. would've been better for them
to call you or you to call them for updates on the repair progress, but
parts are not always in-stock, unfortunately. (that oil change is a rip! btw)

i had this happen to me on my recent AC issue. went in, 2hrs later was told
i have to wait a few days for the parts to come in, rescheduled, part come
in, replaced, 2months later same problem still exists. come in again, give
them a full day to figure it out, come end of the day they say they can't
figure out the problem, tells me to bring it back again when the AC stops
working cause they put a dye... this is at my MINI dealer...

well, im happy that they were honest and trying to solve the problem not
just say 'i donno, i give up.'

this is my first euro-car i bought. not a good impression im my books.

 

Ah, I'd like to make an appointment to have my oil changed . . . .