I washed my car on Monday and all was well.

Today (Wednesday) I noticed these paint bubbles by the passenger tail light .



I obviously have a problem.

Has anyone seen this before ?

I've never seen rust on a MINI ...but it looks like I soon will.

My hands are too big to remove the tail light, but I was able to get my fingers in there and I felt some slime underneath.

Seems like I aggravated an issue that was waiting to happen.

Dean.

 

Hate to speculate. That looks typical automobile sheet metal rust that started from the underside. Are you in the rustbelt?

 

I'm in Connecticut.

Weird thing is, I washed and dried that area on Monday and there was absolutely no trace of the bubbles. I surely would have noticed it.

But today ...surprise !

Dean.

 

Do they salt the road in winter? That is what I mean by rustbelt. If not it is likely more manageable that it is likely more localized moisture that worked thru.

All steel sheet metal will rust in the rustbelt once the sacrificial anode protection is used up.

 

More sand than salt ...and that mystery stuff they spray on dry roads to help keep them from freezing.

But, yes, some salt.

Thankfully, it *seems" like a small area ...hopefully its as small as it looks and it can be stopped.

I'm planning on keeping this car forever and wasn't expecting rust ever, let alone this soon.

Dean.

Edit: My 1999 Accord, with over twice as many miles, has no rust and is not garaged.

 

The 05 rust warranty is 12 years, what is the build date of your car?

 

November '06.

 

Suggest you take the car to a MINI dealer. The door sills and tail lights are know rust areas.

 

Thank you.

It would not have occurred to me to start there.

I'll look for paperwork on the rust warranty in '06.

Thans again. I appreciate the help.

Dean.

 

Update -

As advised, I checked the sills on my car and they were rusted.

I brought the car to the local dealer who took pictures of it all and sent the info to BMW USA, who after doing a CarFax report on the car, approved the warranty claim. Apparently if the car has had previous bodywork in the rusted area, the warranty is void.

The dealer told me to get two estimates, one from their shop and one from the shop of my choice. I presented the estimates and BMW chose my shop, likely becasue he was cheaper ...and didn't know what he was getting into.

Long story short, after he discovered it was worse than he thought and submitted his new estimate my car was taken (flatbed) to their preferred dealer, where the car received a new rear quarter panel and new sills.

Here are before and after shots of one of the sills ...





Needless to say, they did nice work and I am pleased.

Total turn around times was about 5 weeks ...which obviously would have been less had the car been taken directly to the more MINIcentric shop.

Dean.

 

So out of pocket cost was $0.00?

 

Yes. Zero cost.

 

$0.00 =

 

Thanks for the update, looks much better.