My week-old Mini Cooper S, with all of 720 miles on the odometer, was vandalized last night. Someone smashed the passenger side window. Did not enter the car, just broke the glass.

Anything I need to know about glass replacement in a Mini? I'm probably taking her to the dealer, and I'm sure they'll take care of everything, but - if I were to take it to a local glass place, anything I need to tell them?

I'm amazed how glass shards got virtually everywhere in the interior.

I'm royally p'ed off. I was hoping to do some serious driving this weekend!

 

Oh dear! I am SO sorry to read about this! I'd take it to the dealer...not sure about going to an independent glass person. Where are you located? Hope you can get her repaired quickly! I'll bet the glass is a huge mess!


Clover

 

I'm in Maryland - Towson Mini is the closest dealer.

It happened in my parking lot.

I'm even more p-d off - I ordered, and paid for, the factory alarm. If I auctually had the alarm in the car (it's being redesigned for the '05 models), perhaps I could have got a look at the punks.

 

Ouch! I'm so sorry. Don't you wonder why people have to do things like that?

Out of curiosity, where do you live?

Hope it gets fixed real soon and you can get out there to motor! I'm taking delivery next month and pray that there are no evil people out there willing to do harm to property that is not theirs!!!

 

Never could understand why idoits want to destroy other peoples property. At least if they steal they gain something but just to be a ********* is STPID. If I caught someone doing that kind of thing to me I would probably end up in jail.

Earl

 

I am most saddened to hear of your news. This should be a happy time for you, and some ay-whole has to show his lack of maturity. It sounds like you live in an apartment (because your MINI was parked in your parking lot). Have you pissed off any of your neighbors? Got any SUV or monster-truck driving fellas in the building? Ones that have a "Buy American" bumper sticker, the confederate flag, or a back window decal of Calvin pissing on some other car maker's logo proudly displayed?

Look in these places first.

I am more concerned that once you have this window fixed, the culprit might just strike again! I hope not, but anyone that is enough of a jerk to do it once, can certainly do it again...

 

Pure friggin ignorance brother.

And the glass everywhere is a safety thing. The side windows have to be able to shatter fully to promote easy access in and out the car in case of emergengy.

 

The glass also blows to tiny bits so you don't get slashed by big sharp pieces of it.
I'm sorry to hear this happened to your new ride.I thought it was rough when someone walked off with my week old tire valve caps.
Most idiots are not black and blue,cause the court time and paper work is not worth it

 

I feel for you, but in a way, think of it as being lucky: a window is easy to replace, and the car will look new again once done. If the paint or any other part would have been the target, your car and your wallet would have been in much worse situation.
If your car has to be violated, a broken window is the best outcome...

That being said, make sure whoever replace the glass cleans inside the door as well (and does a very good job) otherwise you will hear some noise everytime you'll make a sharp turn.

 

I did notice a paint chip on the passenger door. Goes all the way to the metal.

The worst part about all this is I have zero idea who is messing with my cars (yes, CARS - my Miata and Integra have been broken into recently as well).

Without a description of the perpetrators, the cops won’t even come out. I'd set up some sort of camera, but there is not adequate lighting in my apartment’s parking lot - I would only see shadows. Poor lights, no security cameras - the place is a major target for punks.

Needless to say, I'm moving very soon.

 

Yea I've kinda made enemies with a few kids @ school, that's why I don't drive my car there. Also that's one of the reasons why I'm friends with some of the football players, I'm not a bad build myself, but if we ever caught someone doing anything to any of our cars (friends cars: Subaru WRX, Mitsu EVO MR, and of course my Cooper S), we would.... take care of the problem.... No we would probably tell the popo. If it happend again I would probably end up in JUVI, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

 

Why are some kids so immature?? I think it's there upbringing... My parents told me if I was ever jealous of something to work hard and get it for myself, and don't steal/screw up the other individuals glory, especially if they're very proud of it.

 

My new (to me) MINI was vandalized on Friday. Punk kids decided to use it as target practice, throwing rocks from a nearby train trestle. Broke the windshield and put a ding in the bonnet and on the roof.
I make it 3200 miles home without a major mishap, and it doesn't make it 10 days in CA.

********* seeking missles, anyone? Sadly enough, when to the police station (~100 feet away) at 5:10, and they were closed.

Good luck getting things back to normal, and just remember (though it's tough to believe sometimes) there are more good people than bad...

 

Arrgggghhhh! You too, Eric? My condolences! I really cannot understand vandalism. Punks!

Clover

 

I tend to live by that

 

If I were you, I would consider an aftermarket alarm system with a pager. Considering the fact that you are parking in a lot, as long as your apartment is withing 1/4 of a mile to where you park, you would be alerted as soon as someone actually damaged your car. http://www.directed.com/ is DEI's website. Take a look around, it may be the only defense you have left....

 

To be honest, the side window is certainly something you could replace yourself, not a hard task. The glass itself is about $60 but to have the dealer replace would be quite a bit more. If you arent comfortable, still, then by all means, take it to a pro.

If you do decide to try to make this valdalism as cheap as possible and give the replacement a try on your own, let me know. I got a service manual and some exp also.

 

There is not much I can add, except to says sorry you guys had this happen.

Try not do dwell on it for too long, if you get angry, spend too much time thinking about revenge and such, then the SOB's really win.
It will be summer soon, let's motor.... :smile:

Best Regards

 

A good thing that works but is a little cheaper, buy a paintball gun, always keep it loaded (CO2 and paintballs) but have the velocity cranked all the way up. Mine (powered by N2 which tends to be more powerful), with the velocity cranked will pepper a car door, and when I had CO2 it would knock the bark off of trees.

This would work extremely well against humans and make them think twice about trying it again, but that is only if you get a pager system and catch them in the act! Take that you little B&%$#@*S !!!

 

Sorry just got a little crazy there.

 

In spite of the sage comments from 'TheOldMan', I HAVE considered staking out the trestle to see if can catch the offender(s). (Then if you do catch them the dilemma - do you throw them off, or drag them by the ears to their parents? ) The worst part is not that it happened, but wondering if it will ever be safe to park there.

 

yes, stand your ground...
only downside is you might get more vandalism because of it...

 

Sorry to hear about your bad news. It's a terrible thing. I'd get the window fixed (if you can do it yourself to save yourself the bucks) and move on.

 

Since you appear to live in a crime prone area, once you replace your door glass, I highly recommend you looking into this product:


Pentagon Supaglass:

www.pentagon-supaglass.com

www.pentagonglasstech.com


2 weeks ago, our local club MINIS of Miami, hosted our annual BBQ event and we invited a couple of vendors to demonstrate some of their products. We arranged to have a tech from Pentagon Supaglass to do a live demonstration of this incredibly strong window film on his VW Jetta. The man pulled out from that back seat a metal baseball bat and then he proceeded to bang the passenger side front door window with all his fricking might and he could not, I repeat, could not knock down that glass. After 3-4 strong blows of the bat, he managed to shattered the glass, but the film stil managed to contained it in place within the door frame. You have to see it to believe it.

The only way to break the glass, is from the inside. He opened the door and was able to knock out the shattered glass but only from the inside!

Absolutely incredible product that provides a greater safety margin on accidents, burglary attempts, etc
Price quoted was around $500 for the entire vehicle. Money well spent IMO.