I thought I was just going crazy the morning after I had picked up my car. I was out wiping dust off the hood and saw what appeared to be a trail of dried washer fluid from the nozzle on down my black bonnet stripes. After several attempts to clean the areas on both stripes, I figured Id just ask the dealer on Monday when I went to pick up my mats.

The staining got worse the more I used my washer fluid. By the time Monday rolled around by stripes were looking like geriatric vericose-weined calves while the rest of my car was sparkling clean. The sales manager and a service rep took a look at my car, and they are going to replace the stripes under warranty, as Im told one in 25 R56s are having this problem (figure came from the dealer) as the washer fluid concentrate was not properly diluted when added in Oxford at the factory.

Im going to drain the washer fluid tomorrow and refill with generic blue fluid to avoid damaging the clearcoat on my paint as well.

Needless to say, Im a bit worried about it. I work late and am not able to take a day off just to get the damn stripes redone because some idiot cant read the label or make simple math functions :-P. Its just frustrating.

 

Wow. I have stains on the white strpies of my 05 BRG MCS, but I never thought to talk to my dealer about it. I thought it was just something I'd have to live with.. hmm

 

Here is a suggestion for washer fluid (I have used this for 7+ years in my bimmer and many over on the bimmer boards do as well): 70-90% isopropyl alcohol (I don't have my Mini yet, so I don't know the size of the tank), 1 pt, then water (distilled if you are real ****), then 1tsp of dishwashing liquid (ie: ivory). No colored residue, smells good, and is effective and the freezing point is depressed by the Etoh. Similar to the factor BMW stuff they use to put in (mine was clear at delivery, then at first service they put the "blue stuff" in which I ran out and then put the solution mixture above. They have to color fluids in the us to save us from drinking them and litigating. Give it a try.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but Im not especially worried about refilling it, its whats already in there and eating my stripes that causes concern. I was just wondering who else has the same problem. I will look into your suggestion once I siphen the contents of the reservoir out this week.

 

i have the same exact problem..got my car a month ago and have these spots on my stripes..i will call tomm.

 

i have one spot on a stripe that drives me nutso too. Chamois takes off everything but that. Glad your dealer is taking care of it.

 

i have the same problem... cant we just put water?

 

You could use plain water as long as you don't have to worry about it freezing, but it's not as effective as washer fluid.

Anyway, there's no reason to avoid washer fluid altogether. The paint and stripes won't be affected by regular washer fluids. The problem just came from the factory using the wrong concentration when the washer fluid tanks were initially filled.