I bought my MC 09 in January and the magnetic stone guards were placed on the car before leaving the lot by one of the dealers employees. I just noticed today that they are no longer there and am wondering if anyone else had this problem. My boyfriend & I think they may have come off in a car wash but are not sure. It's had three of them already (I live in MN, USA). Thanks for any help.

Lady

 

When I first saw these guards, my first thought was to wonder how resistant they would be to accidental removal. I know that most magnetic exterior signs need to be removed before taking the car through a automated car wash.

 

Ok thanks we were wondering that might have been the problem. But wasn't to sure. I didn't handle them myself so I don't know how the held onto the car.


Lady

 

They might be getting stolen as well....

 

Maybe but I haven't taken it very many places and I live out of town with no close neighbors.

 

mine blew off in car wash i went and got them back tho

 

Yeah, according to the catalog listing, these shields are made from the same sort of plastic-based magnetic material that flexible refrigerator magnets are made from. They're strong enough to hold themselves on the car in the wind created from freeway driving because they're not thick enough to catch the wind, but they're not very resistant to being physically grabbed and peeled off.

Go back to the car wash and ask if they found them. Maybe they're in the carwash's lost and found.

 

I'll try but if they came off in the car wash they may have been gone over a month already. Thanks all for your help everyone.

 

to add on to what i said before i have gone 100+ and they stayed on. but one spray with high pressure water they fall right off

 

Well if I find those ones I will keep that in mind. Thanks AkFarima so much.

 

If you decides to get another pair, you should take them off whenever you wash the car. Dirt and fine sand gets trapped between the stoneguards and the paint, and with vibration from driving, it will scratch the paint. I have a pair on my Z3 (these stoneguards were invented by a fellow Z3 owner), and was too lazy to remove them when I washed the car, for about a year. When I took them off, there was an outline of the stoneguards etched into the paint. Took a while to buff them out.

 

Older 911 Porsches had these type of stone guards ...they went on w/ a special adhesive that could be removed under a heat gun ...kind of like the removal of the clear protective shields people put on their cars. I wonder if the Porsche ones would fit our Mini's? -as they are adhesive (www.pelicanparts.com) would carry them.

Or just remember to take them off (like has already been said).

By the way I hate car washes ...they are too rough on our cars and can scratch the paint.

 

I hate car washes too but some of us live in places where we can not wash our own cars. i just find car washes that have a hand wash option.

 

http://autogeek.net/optimum-no-rinse.html

Seriously.... it's no joke. I just washed my car in the garage the other day. Parking lots would be no different.

 

Yeah I hate car washes too, unfortunately I'm disabled and have problems getting around much less hand washing my car. And I live in Minnesota so really cold weather here (we were under 30-F this winter). Plus my poor little car was already scratched somehow the first week I had her. Thanks everyone!

 

I've been thinking about washing my car in my garage, too. I could get a couple of blue tarp and hang them up like shower curtains so my tool and other stuff don't get wet when I spray the car down.