I finially had time to take my car to the dealer to show them a body/paint flaw. It is located on the rear right below the Cooper S to the right of the license plate.

They showed it to Mini USA who agreed that it should get fixed under warranty, but... they think it will not fix by a simple buff, so they need to sand, smooth, then re-paint. I worry that they will never be able to match the paint and texture like the rest of the car.

I asked them to give me some "credit" instead of getting it fixed, but Mini USA rep said no, but I have not pushed the issue that much as I'm waiting for my MA to return from the Clubman event he went to in Germany.

What would you guys do? Fix it or ignore it or push to get "credit" for something else?

 

Let em' fix it !

 

Fix it. I've never had an issue if you get a good body shop to work on it.

 

Is it Sparkling Silver? Silver metalic is a tough color to match. If you have them fix it make sure they use someone who knows what they are doing.
Good luck!

 

Let 'em fix it, just make sure they promise you a loaner.

 

Had this been found at the VDC - they would have fixed it and you would have NEVER even known about it - fact is, they can repaint a certin % and NEVER tell you..

So, get it fixed and enjoy your Mini..

 

from personal experience i would push for the credit. I just had some black spots removed from underneath the clear coat on the hood. They wet sanded it and now i have a very small ding but it goes all the way to the down to the primer. im going tomorrow to have it assessed. i am happier with this small ding than the black spots though but they were way more noticeable than your paint problem.

 

Any ding that hasn't cracked the paint should be popped out pretty easy.

 

metallic colors are very hard to blend... my guess would be that they would have to repaint the entire panel that is affected for it to look 100% normal.

 

The new paints (metallic or not) can be matched by any GOOD body shop who has had experience with them. My son had work done on a 4 yr old metallic blue Boxster S (blended on both wheel wells) and you absolutley can not tell where the blend stops and starts.

Same for my wife's Amulet red A-6...(same body shop BTW)

 

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to wait until next week and see what my MA suggests. They are all being really cool about it and giving me all the time i need to decide

 

I have a Pure Silver MCS that has had some repainting done. When it arrived, the scoop color did not quite match the hood. Then I backed into a famous person's BMW in a parking lot (not entirely my fault). So, the scoop had to be repainted under warranty and a new rear bumper had to be painted. I used the shop that MINI of Mountian View uses for both jobs at the same time.

They mixed up a color to match the hood, then went to use it on the bumper. Guess what, it didn't match the panels around it. The hood was a different color than the back panels. Either the hood was painted with a different batch than the back at the factory. Or, there was damage in transit and the VDC repainted the hood.

It took the body shop several attempts to finally match the rear panels, but they did. No one can tell that the front doesn't match the back, but evidently they are different colors.

The point to all of this is that a body shop with a skilled painter can get very close to the right color -- perhaps better than factory.