Hey NAM,

I've had my mini for about 3 weeks now. I was showing her off to a few local family friends and looked under the hood and I noticed there were brown marks on the intercooler. The brown was noticeable on the left, right and bottom edges of the frame around the "grill" of the intercooler. I took a quick wipe with my finger but nothing smudged or came off.

I drive the car normally, still in the break-in period so I've been very cautious. Is this just normal burn off of the new parts? Maybe the heat insulation on the bonnett is just getting a little warm and causing the discoloring?

Any ideas?

-Nick

 

Actually, we all get that smudge. It comes from the foam gasket on the bonnet above. It creates a nice seal against the cover, but it is impregnated with some oily substance, which creates the smudge.

Eventually, the foam appears to dry out so as not to cause the skidmark. It is especially noticable on the JCW emblem and silver intercooler cover. Every time I wash my car, I wipe off the foam gasket, and over time, it seems to smudge less and less.

And you already discovered that it does clean up easily...

 

do you mean the intercooler cover? I know many JCW silver covers get discouloured from the sponge gasket fitted to the bonnet. This rubs on the intercoolercover and marks like you suggest. Try polishing it out but other than that it wont affect the performance of the car in anyway



edit...tarzan u beat me too it

 

I have found that WD40 takes it right off and reduces the amount that ends up on it...