Anyone else noticing wear marks on their Roadster top? I have 2 wear lines - 1 over the driver side and 1 over the passenger side in the same spot. Looks like a line about an inch long by 1/8" wide with black fuzz forming on either side. Less than 10,000 kms and only 60 hours on the 'Openometer' on the car.

When I get a chance I'm going to take it in to the dealer to look. Anyone else seeing this?

 

I've got them too. They're from the top rubbing on the rubber trim when it's folded down. The problem seems to be the strapping under fabric top causing the top to bulge out a little in those two spots.

 

Gonna have to check this. I'm at around 50 hours but the top has gone up and down quite a few times to achieve that.

There was another thread on this, but I can't recall if the dealer was willing to do anything about it after they adjusted it.

 

Please post pics, guys

 

I just spotted one of these myself a week or two ago. I'm 2k away from service, and I plan to get it looked at then. It looks like rubbing on the rubber trim to me too. It only happens on the driver's side for me, as the top goes down there's a sort of peak or crease that forms and rubs on the rubber. I've started to push it away manually if I open the top from outside the car.

 

I hope I'm not the only one here planning on raising hell for a replacement if mine shows signs of wear. I paid enough for this car not to have it damaging itself in the first 6 months ;\

 

Anyone got any good pictures of this wearing? I've noticed on top of the bows, there seems to look like it could be starting to show signs of wear. Not concerned yet, I think that there might be a problem in the future. I'm up to 12 hours of top down time with 1867 miles on the clock, a d loving every minute of it.

Bill

 

There was a previous thread on this issue with a photo. See: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...top-issue.html

~ Alan

 

That was my car with the photo. I brought it to the attention of my dealer when I went for first service. I was told that they adjusted the ribs underneath.. It still seems to be bulging and rubbing. I may just use an emery board and gently sand the rubber where it rubs. I HATE relying on others to do work for me. Unfortunately, I'm not good with new engine technology. I also have a rattle coming from the left side when top is down. Dealer said that was from my seat being all the way back and rubbing on speaker. Somehow I don't think that would cause a RATTLE. Actually it's not the cause at all. I guess I'll try to take off the outer plastic and see for myself.

 

I was thinking the same, trimming a little of the rubber trim. But that's a last resort.

Regarding the rattle... I may have the same issue. Actually I think I had the same rattle in my R57. Anyways, I might have solved it. maybe.. Spray some lube into the door lock mechanism. I think the rattle is the locking mechanism knocking on the latch attached to the body.

 

I'm coming up for regular service soon so I stopped by the dealer to make an appointment and show them the issues with the top wearing, and a few spots where the paint is rubbing off inside the boot opening (where the rubber snake is as in this post and near the hinges). The dealer is 50 miles away, so I'm hoping by showing them this in advance (I'll call the week before as well) they will be ready with what they need instead of keeping the car all day then telling me they need to get parts and making me go back again. We'll see how that works out, but I'm not holding my breath...

 

I went to the dealer and they made note of the marks on the roof. They said that they weren't bad enough to warrant replacing the roof yet but if they get worse they would look at it again.

 

I've got a situation to, similar to yours. Mine is more of a squeak that I think is actually in the door latch. At first I thought it was in the lower top area, but as i investigsted further it foes seem to be in the foor latch. I oil the door latch, and the squeak goes away. Who knows

Bill

 

That's basically the story I got. He said that they had opened a case with MINI to find out more, but they wouldn't replace it now. If it gets worse then they would likely replace it.

 

I think I'm just starting to see signs of this wear...on the driver's side, about an inch behind the first support bar when the top is in the up position (just about straight above my head).

The rest of you who have reported this -- still living with it?

 

I actually took matters into my own hands. I cut some of the rubber away where the top hits it on both sides, seeing how the dealer didn't do much for it.

 

I'm trying to figure out how to do this and make it look decent in case I can't get a new top under warranty next time I go to the dealer for service. Any chance of a how-to and/or a couple of pictures?

 

Sorry, no how to or pics. I just covered the rubber with painters tape, then scribed a line around the 2 bulges. I drew about 3/32's away from top. Then cut the rubber with curved cuticle scissors. It looks like it just touches now but the wear marks have not worsened.

 

Can you guys provide a good picture as to where this is happening?

 

If you look at the rubber seal when the top is down you would see something like this on both sides where the top sort of bunches up a little and rubs on the seal:


With the top up that spot looks like this (very hard to get a good shot with a camera phone:

 

That's perfect! Yes I get the same contact area with the seal on our new roadster. I'm guessing that it will become an issue from the looks of it.
The interesting part of this is that the fabric has a lot of room behind the fold but apparently isn't stretched when the top is down creating a contact situation. That's really too bad...

So as mentioned one solution is to trim the rubber. I'm not sure I really like this idea as it may affect efficient water drainage effect. Not mentioning it may not even solve the problem and could create an even worse situation. What other options do exist?

Just brainstorming here:
- Could a smoother plastic sheet like material prevent rubbing. Let say a piece of vinyl or else of sort taped on the edge of the rubber trim?
- Could the soft top be adjusted to stretch more in that area so to prevent contact? Maybe a small modification from the inside. Maybe some form of more rigid internal stick on patch that would provide some stiffness reducing the fabric from bulging out. Again I'm just brainstorming here

 

Good grief.

So the mods felt it necessary to move this thread from the R59 Forum (where everyone in it has a vested interest) to the 2nd Gen Stock Problems/Issues Forum (where 98% of the forum readers could give a rat's a$$ about R59 topics, and where the thread will soon get buried under a bunch of stuff that the Roadster community couldn't care less about).

 

Ha ha... So true.... Maybe it's a BMW conspiracy

 

How do we get it moved back? I can't find a "contact a mod" link anywhere...

 

Had an email conversation with my SA. He said he's aware of the ongoing discussion about this issue and asked for some pics of my situation for further investigation/resolution.

Here's what I forwarded: