Ok, this may seem a bit odd....

I would assume, like most cars, the mini is painted at the factory, however....

I bought my wife a 2011 Clubman S, with a red body and roof. The roof has a few rectangular strips of what appears to by vinyl missing, revealing a dingy off white roof underneath... So I was thinking that maybe it originally had a white roof that was covered in red vinyl. Interestingly, there is a spot on the hood between the left headlight and grill that has been worn away (rock chips maybe), that also reveal a dingy white underneath the red, the edges of the "paint" kind of feel like a vinyl coating rather than paint as well.

Do minis have normal paint jobs or is there some kind of vinylized paint or wrap applied? I'd really like to get her car looking better, but I'm not sure the best way to go about it. It is raining cats and dogs right now, but I will take some photos once the rain clears up.

Thanks,

Mark

 

Wow, that's really odd. They're painted at the factory. I saw it happening when I toured the Oxford plant in 2010 (wow, time flies).

It could be a vinyl wrap or a bad paint job. Does the silver underneath feel like regular car paint? If so, I'd guess they wrapped it.

What about the door jambs, under the hood, under the boot liner, etc? What color is the metal in the hard to reach places?

 

The hard to reach areas are all red. the areas that are exposed feel a little rough, like fiberglass, not smooth like paint. I would assume it's the paint lifting, but the perfectly straight lines on the roof really throw me off.

 

I have no answers, but I'm fascinated and I hope someone more knowledgeable than me chimes in. Those irregular parts look like paint bubbling, but the perfectly straight lines on the roof are baffling.

 

I would run the VIN through an online decoder to see what color the car was originally painted when it was built.

From your description it sounds like you might have a Pepper White Clubman that was either painted with red Plastidip, or regular paint with really bad prep work. If your not familiar with this trend, search for Plastidip paint job or DipYourCar on YouTube.

Either way the straight lines and sharp corners where the paint is missing on the roof is baffling.

 

What is the color listed on the car? Check in the engine bay, passenger side strut tower will have a metal tag with the official paint named on it.