Oh jeez don't make fun... If you are talking about the spot where the bolts screw into to the bonnet and into the hinge that attatches it to the car... Then yes that's at least the area mine leaks from.

 

I'm sure they are talking about the "gas pressurized hood springs", but the stuff is actually leaking out of the hole in the hood just above the wheel arch. It was sprayed in there (and elsewhere) to protect the car during its trip from the factory.

 

Not so much making fun as pointing out that when you completely misidentify something, we can only guess at what you are talking about. If I said that you should look at the area next to the capacitor on the bonnet, would you know where to look?

 

Same thing going on with our 09 Clubman. I've found that just rubbing a paper towel in the two holes in the underside of the bonnet has minimized the amount of goo leaking out. Bug/tar remover seems to clean it up.

 

Here are they are together again. My wife seems to think she now has two cars. My 12 year old thinks we are going to keep the blue one for her. My 22 year old thinks I am going to teach her manual on a new clutch.

The 2009 goes in for limo tint on rear glass and sunroof tomorrow.

 

I just clean my cosmo off my car from the common leak points. In the past i used a damp towel with limited success. This time i use this all natural cleaner and it work WONDERS. It was called 7th Generation All Purpose Cleaner. I tested it on a painted surface first and it looked fine. It cut through the cosmoline like a hot knife through butter. Really amazing stuff!

http://www.amazon.com/Seventh-Genera...7963328&sr=8-1

 

Mine has the cosmoline leak right there (just above the tires/under the hood), too. I tried my best to clean it off but sadly it has indeed stained the car where it leaked. It's not very noticeable at all, but when I see it starting to drip out again I instantly attack it to try to keep it from getting worse. It makes me sad. :(

 

Yesterday I took my 09 Cooper S in, just four days after purchase, to ask about these same drips. The sales manager told me they were cosmoline, and would replace both wheel arches, but wanted me to wait for a bit, so the rest of it could drip off and not stain another set of arches. Both front arches were stained and I could not get the stuff out of the plastic.
I had a cosmoline drip streak up in the front of the car, on the bumper, but was able to clean that off with some of my Klasse clearcoat cleaner. Just wish it worked on textured plastic!

Hope that helps.

 

Anyone try Wizards Black Renew on the wheel arches with cosmoline stains?

 

I'm curious about how to clean it. I've probably let it sit for too long now and it's probably stained but I'm going to try and clean it with water today. We certainly haven't seen the end of 100+ weather here in Texas so I'll probably wait and bring it up later. I may not bother with replacing it since I would like to paint the arches and trim at some point to match the paint color. But in the mean time, does the Wizards Black Renew save the arches?

 

My dealer said that you can clean it off with a citrus based cleaner. I have not tried it yet, so I don't know if it really works or not. I also put small bits of paper towels into the holes in the underside of the hood where it is coming out. I didn't close the hole to air flow, just enough to catch the flow. So far no new gunk on the fender arches.