We picked up a used MCc Hot Orange / Blue with 8K mi. which has the wear marks behind the window. I recently 'treated' our top with fabric protectant which seemed to make the marks less noticable.

With all the discussions with a 'fix' and warranty replacement, I thought we would wait until later in the warranty period before we demand a new top - it will make the car look 'new' again!

ken

 

Sorry, but there are definitely white marks on both sides of the roof. I have asked the dealer and they stated that they are looking into it . I wish I were being nitpicky....as the marks appear to be getting more pronounced .

 

I had my 10k service today, and my SA told me that that is part of owning a cabrio an I have to accept it... Sure, I understand that they wear, but I rarely put mine up, and thae car is 6 months old...off to email MINIUSA.

 

You most certainly do not have to accept it. After hearing everything from "we know it's a problem but there's no fix" last April to "it's normal wear and tear from opening the roof" four days ago, I became fed up and emailed MINI USA through the Owner's Lounge.

I received a reply within a couple hours that let me know they were contacting the service manager at South Bay MINI where I bought the car. I had never dealt w/ the service manager before, but I got a call the next day to bring it in so that he could see it and he took it for about 20 minutes to take some measurements. He came back and told me that I would be receiving a new roof and apologized for any issues that I had getting it resolved. He said he was not aware of the Service Bulletin until MINI USA contacted him and I believed him because he was genuinely trying to resolve the issue. Apparently it's dated June, 2005 and the document I saw has diagrams of the roof and how to diagnose a replacement need. Unfortunately, I don't know the bulletin number.

If your dealership tells you that there's no fix, I'd say there's a good chance that they really don't know it exists. Push them to intvestigate a bulletin from June, 2005 about the issue. Obviously this is a fairly expensive repair, so I'm guessing it's not in MINI USA's interest to widely broadcast the fix.

Since I sent that email last week, my experience in having this resolved has been great. Not only will my roof be fixed, I am also having the crescent scratched rear windows replaced. Apparently it will take at least a week, but South Bay is always good about providing free rental cars and they're setting me up with one for the duration of the repair. I go back in a week to start the process.

I was as frustrated as everyone else about this...but it seems like things are slowly changing for the better and with a littler persistance and a lot of patience, the cars are being finally fixed.

 

Thanks for that. I did send an email thru the OL, so hopefully, something good comes of it. Thankfully, I don't have the window scratches to deal with as well. I agree...they rpobably don't know about the problem, though the SA's dismissal of my concern irritated me a bit.

 

I know exactly how you feel. Fortunately the Service Manager has taken more of a "listen and try to help" perspective--which was very refreshing when compared with my experience with the SA's.

 

I've never met the SM here...I hope he's a bit more reasonable. Otherwise, I'm trading in for a hardtop, as much as it would pain me to do it...I wanted to keep this car forever, and i understand that over it's life a new top would be necessary, just not this quick. I went out to take pictures and all of my spots are fraying now...

 

I had the top of my Cabrio checked by the MINI Master Tech today. Sunnie will be getting a new top & rear side windows on Sept 12 I also want to give MINI of St Louis a . They treated me great with no hassle what so ever:smile: I'll also be getting a loaner car. Thanks MINI USA & MINI of St Louis Good luck to everyone else with getting their roof issues resolved.

Lois

 

I just picked up my '05 cabrio with it's new top and rear window this afternoon.

The short story is, as all of you have written, we all had the white wear marks and cresent scratches on the rear window, but when I got a couple tears on the edging, it was time to get help. I took my car in last Thursday to show the problem. The discussion was all of one minute and I was told we will replace it.

I am fortunate to have an excellent service advisor in Minneapolis and Brenda, took care of it instantly. :smile: Parts were ordered, and the car went in on Monday and completed on Tuesday. There were no issues and the problems were taken care of. Now that's service. BMW has a winner with the Mini and will make sure they do everything in their power to protect the BRAND.

As some of the other posting state, the fix is real. Get it done. Don't wait for the white marks to tear etc.

 

Just to chime in... had my convertible top replaced by Assael MINI today.

Previously I had all sorts of trouble getting them to acknowledge the problem. I heard everything from "your roof is just dirty" to "oh, that's normal, all the tops look like that".

No huge fight this time, even though I went in armed with all sorts of service bulletin numbers, etc.

I do find it interesting that on my paperwork, one of the replacement parts was "White Marks Repair".

So far the new top looks great! (must have looked nice to someone at the dealership, too since "someone" took it for a 10+ mile joyride after it was checked out of service , leaving me with only fumes left in the tank... but that's another story)

 

I check the wear marks every day and today, the fabric is torn on three or the four areas. There is a fray on the edges of those white wear marks, and yesterday they were not there.

So much for "Normal Wear & Tear" the dealer stated - literally? Today marks 8 months and a day with me. I picked her up on December 31st.

Son of a B!

 

Ours had just started fraying in a few places, just short of her 1st b-day.

Actual holes should get you an even easier replacement!

 

I only had the dreaded symetrical white spots & the top was replaced this week without question.

 

My roof was replaced this week & it looks great. The sharp edged mechanism that caused the wear on the old roof is gone. So I hope it is a good fix
They also replaced the rear side windows that had the eliptical scratches.

Lois

 

Brought my late January-build 05 Cabrio with blue top to the dealer last week, and asked them to "document" the wear marks on the roof. (on the way to the dealer, the passenger side drive axle popped out of the transmission on a very busy freeway, rendiring the car motionless000but that' another story). The car has less than 1,500 miles and the top has been down about maybe 30 times since delivery.

Today the MINI Service Advisor emailed me and said that they would be replacing the top fabric and installing the "update kit" which was designed to eliminate the wear marks.

I'm a little hesitant to have the top replaced just yet, in the belief that I don;t want to have it done again in a year or so in case the "fix isn't a fix.

Can anyone who has had the update installed and roof replaced attest that it had resolved the roof wear problem?

Charlie

 

I'm 2 months into the roof repair (early Sept). My top is down most of the time but I do put it up when parked. I have no wear marks at this point. Mine was a Sept 04 build. The way I look at it, if it wears again I'll get another new roof!! The new roof has no leaks. In fact the whistle & rattle I had on the old roof is gone. I'm glad I made the decision to replace it.


Lois

 

Thanks Louie. Keep all those cards and letters com'in in !

 

Had the top on my wife's MCc replaced about 2 weeks ago for the second time. We haven't had the top down too often, but the wear marks haven't re-appeared. Unfortunately, it looks like we have a small leak and new rattles with the top. Time for another appointment...

ken

 

Spoke with the MINI SA this morning. Their dealership is experienced at replacing cabrio tops, including both switching tops and re-skinning them. Seems they've done a number of "switches" when prospective customers prefer one color over another from cars in stock (amazing!) as well as pulling off just the skin and replacing it due to wear issues..and installing the update kit.

Felt more comfortable after hearing this; and as Louis says, if it isn't right afterwards, it's still under warrranty. So, they'll be replacing my blue top whenever the parts arrive.

 

My top is being replaced by my dealer. Car has been at the dealer for almost 2 weeks. I hope to pick it up on Friday if the ice storm isn't too bad. BUMMER!!

 

My top was replaced last week it took two days. They also replaced both inside door panels due to the silver delaminating. The new top is great and looks good. They also gave me a loaner.

 

I got my car back a few days ago after it spent 2 weeks at MINI of Towson having the top replaced. Have not tried to put it down due to the cold temps but I did try to use the rear window defroster this am and yeah you guessed it, no juice. I called MINI of Towson and believe it or not they drove from Towson to Frederick where I work and picked it up and left me a loaner. Hopefully it is a minor problem and I will get it back tomorrow. The loaner is very nice, same color combo as mine but it is an 06 MCSc with the paddle shifter tranny. Pretty slick but I still prefer a traditional manual. However if I drove in a lot of city traffic this would be a great option. Later

 

... as I purchased a 12 year old Miata a few years ago with the original OEM top and except for the rear window the top looked like new. The original owner had always garaged her and stored her with the top up. Folding tops when they're cold is worse than when they're hot but the worst is folding one when they're dirty as any grit will act like sandpaper. I use a cheap shop brush ($4 from Harbor Freight) and alway give the top a quick brush to keep loose dirt off. This isn't related to the premature wear others are reporting but if you want to keep your top in good shape it will take some maintenance. BTW our blue top on our '06 is only two months old and shows no signs of wear. It's been up-n-down at least 100 times since we've gotten it. We did get a light spot on the first week that's dissapeared after the first wash and so far has not reappeared. Still, we're keeping an eye on it and will have the dealer document the first signs of any wear. Thanks to everyone on this board for making us aware of this problem.

 

After having my top replaced I had this problem too. I brought the car back and they said they had just forgot to plug the connector back in but I feel it is still not working. Gonan bring her back in when I have the chance. Please let me know what they do to fix it.

 

I took my Sept. 04 build MCC in yesterday to have my seatbelts unraveled and check some cracks in my anthracite dash and door pulls. I wanted to have the mild top wear noted in my service record, so needless to say I was thrilled when my service advisor proposed ordering a new convertible top! And, best of all, I can get a replacement green top, not just black or blue, as I had read online.

My parts should arrive in week or so; I will have the work done early January.

This was definitely an early Christmas present for me.

-Teri