Mini has agreed to repaint this part of my car. However it will not be done in house, but sub'd out to a paint shop. The paint shop will decide if they need to remove the parts or paint them on the car. I'm not too thrilled with the idea of non-Mini tech touching my car.

Has anyone else had this paint problem and would you have it fixed? You can see in the pictures below how only over-spray hit this area of the bumper. I never noticed it but a friend did. I even had taken a closeup picture at delivery of the front end and hadn't noticed. What do you think, worth repainting?

I'm on the fence about it. If Mini was doing the painting I wouldn't have a second thought. Obviously I can't expect every Mini dealer to have staff and facilities for this type of repair; painting, but they do have this at the port and I'd be happy to drive it down to have it properly painted by Mini/BMW. My car already had paint work done at the port due to a minor scratch in shipping.

One plus of getting this repaired would be that huge rock chip I got on day 1 would be fixed properly. You can see my bad touch up job in the photo below.

Driver side.
Attachment 28971

Passenger Side.
Attachment 28972

 

im sure it will be fine. If not, you can just hold the dealer responsible.

 

True. I'm surprised that wasn't seen at the port.

 

are the curves of the grill painted like the curves of the fog lights? is there any "clear" on the inside of the fog lights?? maybe they just need to be buffed out with some high grade polish? do you have any say what shop does the repaint? most paint shops that handle high end cars can handle your front end with their eyes closed and will remove the lights and bumper prior to respraying...imho that's the only way to go on a brand new car of this caliber. i can feel your concerns --being a brand new car.

 

Buffing wouldn't work as there is no paint there to buff. The lower part of the drivers side is partially painted and cleared. The upper part is clear over yellow over spray like the gun wasn't actually aimed at it. It looks very green in person. The passenger side looks better in the picture but is actually worse in person. The whole thing has just clear over greenish primer.

The dealer gave me the name of the paint shop they use. It's basically next door or within a block of the dealer according to Google Earth. They are letting the shop decide if they will remove the pieces or paint it on the car. Since the front bumper is multiple pieces the SA thought they would remove them. The paint shop is currently painting and installing a JCW kit for another customer. Not that it means they know what they are doing but if I want it fixed, without paying for it and using my own shop, I don't think have any choice.

One thing that gives me a little piece of mind is the fact the dealer is handling it. Any complaints I have about the repair won't involve me and the paint shop, just the dealer. It probably not uncommon for the dealer to sub-out work on things like window tints, graphic/vinyl installs, window replacements. Being a brand new car and I'm a bit OCD on it, there is some concern. But in the end, it's only a car. Hopefully there won't be overspray all over the car and the fog light area will look better.

 

i gather that they just "forgot" to paint that rounded area?? thats wild when you consider most manufacturers automate their painting with robots and computers.
most dealers do sub-out alot of their work--problem is they almost always go with lowest bid--my experience with houston dealers.
all things considered --i think you'll be fine. you may even want to drive by paint shop and check on the other mini they are painting --that may ease some of your concerns.
as you say -- the dealer will handle any problems . let us know how it comes out.

 

Sure looks like they just forgot. That's the problem with robots painting. They can't see where they miss like a person. I guess that's why the door jam areas are painted by hand and not robot. Same with the sanding of the roof prior to painting white or black. I'd stop by the paint shop but it's over an hour away. Oh well, Monday's the day I drop it off. Should be interesting.

 

I hate to bring up this possible scenario, and I am probably wrong. Could the front end have been damaged in transit and repaired when it arrived at the port of entry? I hope it is not something like that, but you never know.

 

The car had a scratch repaired on the drivers door at the port. The repair order had no mention of anything on the front of the car.

 

Proper painting for that area, it need to remove first to avoid over spray.

 

That would be my guess as well. BMW doesn't neccesarily have to disclose this if under a certain amount do they?

 

I would leave it alone. After all you did not notice it until it was pointed out to you. Consider it character! It won't rust!

 

If it would have been repaired at the port, it wouldn't have the paint missing (they would would have painted it after repair).

 

I dont know how uncommon it is, but I have that same problem

I noticed it close after delivery and was kinda mad, but I'm not gunna bother it really isn't that bad for me (at least I hope not a few years down the line)

 

I checked some of the cars at the dealer and couldn't find any with the problem. Since it's their dime, I don't mind having it fixed. If I really wanted to find something on the car to get mad about it would be the 1970s fit and finish of the body panels. Lines that aren't equally spaced, etc. I've just decided that stuff is part of the Mini character.

 

Yeah I would like to show them and have it fixed, but I'd rather not risk the quality of the paint after a few years you know? I mean I'm sure they will do an excellent job i just think i will just deal with it...its not that noticable on mine anyway (but I may think about it and have them fix it who knows )

Good luck and post how it turns out

 

That was exactly my thoughts on it but being too OCD about the car I went for it. If they hadn't opted to pay for it, I wouldn't have bothered.

 

bmw will always disclose if the car was repainted or repaired because they lost a case a few years back for not doing it it cost them over a million dollars in damages trust me they will tell you.

 

minidrivr,
anything?? get it back yet?

 

Not yet. They are fixing a couple small things once the car is done at the paint shop. They were hoping to have it done by Friday. It should be back at the dealer today. My SA is out til Friday.

 

Minidrivr, you should have your car back by now right? I noticed that whenever parts of my car get dirty, the yellow looks green similar to the pics of the fog light rings.

 

I just picked up the car today. It was early morning, cloudy, and raining. Definitely not a good combination for looking at paint.

The paint shop was going to just repaint the part surrounding the fog light, but when they looked closer at the entire bumper they noticed on both edges where it meets the black trim around the fenders there was green visible. Also just in front of the bottom grill, about 1/16" in depth but the width of the grill opening, there was green primer too.

They ended up repainting the entire bumper. It looks great! I'll get some pictures later.

 

very cool!! glad it all turned out well? so how long did this take? did you get a loaner?
there are DAYS that go by when we don't drive our MAXX but i cannot imagine being without him and not being able to drive him when i wanted. i know you're glad you got yours back!!!

 

I dropped the car off on last Monday. A couple days later my SA looked it over and didn't like a couple things so she sent it back to the paint shop and had them fix them. Monday was the holiday so I don't know if any Mini techs worked. Tuesday Mini started with my other requests. They fixed the rear sunshade from sliding open on it's own. They fixed loose rear mud flaps (double stick not adhering), and they fixed a rattle in the sunroof, which was a screw that backed out causing a washer to rattle. I think the thing that took them the longest was fixing a mis-routed wire that crossed in front one of the rear speakers. They had to practically strip the interior out of the back to get that panel loose. I think that added a few hours at least.

I had a little delay picking up the car. They had found and fixed another rattle in the sunroof area but the original one I was hearing was still there when I drove away. I went back in and found they were more than happy to get a tech to drop what they were doing and find the rattle I was hearing while I waited.

That gave me a chance to test drive a Clubman S. I was quite surprised how willing they were to search for a "rattle" since I'm sure it's probably their least favorite type of service work to do.

They did give me a loaner, not a Mini, just one of Enterprise's rentals. I don't drive my Mini everyday, it's mainly a weekend twisty ride, with weekday driving if I'm not working. I didn't mind not having it until about 2 days ago. Then I was really getting impatient.

 

Sounds like they treated you well. Those green parts of your fog lights, were they more noticeable in real life compared to the pics? They didn't look that bad in the pics and i'm not sure that an average person would have even noticed.