I was washing the mini today and desided to do it very well. When I took the panel off and found RUST!!. Its actually quite shocking. This is a 2005 car. WtF. Is this a common thing on the MINI?
Is there any warranty? The car has been taken care off very well. Wax it every 2 weeks. What are my options here?

 

10 year rust perforation warrenty...must have been regularly inspected by mini to quailfy..look in the warreny book for rust...it is seperate. Very common location.
.Moisture ...little airflow....no cleaning in threa behind the plate....

 

10 year rust perforation warrenty {sic}

surface rust is not perforation . . . but you may have friendly dealer

 

Areas to keep an eye on. R50/52/53.

1- Area behind rear license plate.

2- Bonnet - where the bottom part of the chrome trim for headlights meet the Bonnet.

3- Both left and right sides under the bottom of doorway's rubber trim The whole length under there where the metal sections are pressed and sandwiched together and spot welded.

4- Check body area below each tail light. Water can sit in there and if there are any paint chips moisture gets under the paint.

There are some tiny holes at the bottom of each door. Keep them free and open for water drainage.....

Weird is that I have some of the usual road rash up front for a daily winter driver with 130K miles, yet no chips have even shown a sign of rust. Seems to be just where water can sit for periods of time.

 

It doesn't have to be rusted through for the warranty to cover it. If the rust is comming from the inside out it should be covered. I just took mine in because the driver's side door at the bottom was starting to blister. It was rusting from the inside out. Mini replaced the whole door for me under warranty.

 

Could you give me more info?
The problem is I bought the car used and it has no history of beeing servised. Does that matter?

 

I bought mine used too. That should not matter as the warranty is transferable to the new owner. They will test the panel to see the paint thickness, to make sure that panel has not been repaired. If it has been repaired previously, then the warranty will not cover it.

 

I kinda doubt you will get coverage...
If I remember right you imported you car on your own, and you have not national dealers...
The warranty we are speaking of is provided by MINI USA...
I suspect other area's have their own corporate entity that provides warrenty service for their distribution areas...(my 5 year old wanted me to use that icon)

 

I have rust above the trunk handle too. It took about 5 years to form, since mine is not the original trunk lid. A new trunk every 5 years is not cool so I might go with a carbon fiber one and add a ground strap for the defroster grid.

 

Can you get carbon ones?