I have minor rust perforation on the top part of the flanges on both sides of the vehicle. Now that there is a TSB I'll get this taken care of at Insp. II. As seen in my sig I have a 12/02 build 03.

 

...

 

Well...even though I have not purchased my mini yet..I was dismayed by the contents of this thread. I therefore emailed Erikluchsinger...this
to ErikLuchsinger

Dear Sir,

As a member of North American Motoring.com, I was dismayed by the vast amount of posts in this forum https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69139&page=6 concerning rust on the lower door sills. I had planned on purchasing a MC S this summer. However, until I see some acceptable response from BMW on this issue my money will remain with me. I am a member of PCA Porsche Car Club and am involved in other motoring forums. I can assure you that only an acceptable fix from BMW will squelch my desire to spread the word.

 

Now that its the rainy season in Florida, it rains just about EVERY night. I dread the thought, I have to pull the molding and dry the door sill area everytime I get cought in the rain. Now its become work to drive the MINI during the summer season here in Florida. Excuse me now, I have to go and dry the sill area. Just got home from dinner and it rained on us on the way home ...

 

Mine still gets wet but now that it's painted, it shouldn't be much of a problem. I still keep tabs on it to make sure the rust doesn't pop up again.

 

I have a '04 chili red/white cooper here in Houston. Over a year ago, I pointed out the water under the seal and no fix was offered. When I click on links to alldata, I get the login page. Do you have to join/pay to see the info?

 

To anyone who had the rust taken care of, how long did it take? Did you had to leave your car at the dealership? I just made a appointment to have the brake fluid flush. I mentioned the rust while making the appointment.

 

It took me 6 months to get the dealer to fix mine. I was given ALOT bs why they would not fix my car. FINALLY they fixed it after "I" showed them the fix process from BMW/MINI USA. I was then questioned where I got the info. It took them 2-3 days to fix my car. 2 months later there is rust starting to appear again. The rubber seal is such a bad design, I dont think there will be a fix. In the mean time, after EVERY WASH, after EVERY DRIVE in the rain, I have to pull the seal up, dry the door sill, then take a air compressor and blow out the rubber seal. This is a royal pain the the rear end since it rains in Florida just about every night during the summer months.

 

If it's still rusting, why don't you just sand off what's there and paint it with POR-15? That stuff won't have any problems with water breaking through. I showed the rust to my dealer and they quickly made an appointment to fix it. It was a while ago so I don't remember how long it took. I still get water in there but since it's painted, no rust has shown up. If it ever does, I'll go the POR-15 route.

 

Googled POR-15 and took a look at their site.
They make a nice starter kit with a degreaser, cleaner/etcher, and 4 oz of
rustproofing paint for about $17 plus shipping. I think I'll try it later this summer.
http://www.por15.com/s.nl/it.A/id.1404/.f

 

Yep.....alldata is now a subscription site only. I have not been able to find a free database of TSB's.

 

Technical bulletin can be found here:

http://www.motoringfun.com/2007/07/1...ical-bulletin/

 

We've got an 02 LY and 06 BRG. Last summer we brought the 02 back to the dealer as it had rust on both door sills. They looked at it then said we'd have to bring it back again for the regional tech rep to look at. After regional review authorization was given for repair. So we brought it in, 3d time, and they had it almost 2 weeks. Delays at repair shop and MA returned to body shop for not being fixed right. One side still fine, the other rust started to reappear. I then went the POR-15 route. Ordered the starter kit, followed the directions, worked beautifully. Now like others I pull up the seals and dry the area after every wash.

 

Saw this thread for the first time about a week ago, but SHADOWFAX has been at the body shop for repairs and upgrades so I've had to wait until pick-up day (today) to check out my door sills. I've been anxious to check it out, so the door sill inspection was the first thing I did when I arrived at home this evening.

Everyone is right -- the rubber seals pull up and replace with ease. The sills on both sides of my '05 MC PW/B are completely painted, i.e., no susceptible bare metal spots. The driver's side look as good as new; the passenger side shows a couple of tiny spots just starting to form on the outboard metal edge and it looks like a spot of surface rust has formed over one of the forward spot welds, again on the outboard side. The whole length of the door sill under the rubber seal was damp, but I expected this since it was just detailed earlier today.

Nothing to panic about yet, but I'm sure thankful for the valuable information in this thread! From now on I will always dry these areas after a wash or rain. Thanks much to all of my rust-averse forebears...

 

I just took mine to the dealer this afternoon. The rust is only on the top of the flange on the passenger side. The driver's side is OK, no rust.

My SA looked at it and told me to stop by first thing tomorrow morning. He said they'll sand the area and apply some touch up paint. I don't think all the steps outlined on the TSB will be necessary since the rust is on the top of the flange and there's no signs of bubbling. My car is a July build 2005. The funny thing is, the flange on my car is completely covered with paint, no bare spots on the sides.

I don't think my dealer knows about the rust or the TSB b/c my SA asked me how I found out about the rust. I told him that I learned about the issue on a message forum.

 

I just took the time to read through this thread the other day and did a quick check for water before I washed my 06. It hadn't rained for a week and I hadn't washed the car for over a week but a bit of water leaked out as I moved the seals a bit. After the wash I pulled the seals up completely and water pretty much poured out of them on both sides, moreso on the driver's side, though.

My car is an 08/06 build and my driver's side had one or two very small areas of surface rust even though the entire area was painted, but nothing major at this point. Still, the car is only a year old and it has seen little rain (we're in a drought after all!) and I wash it about every two weeks, so any rust at all is pretty alarming to me. I used my touch up paint to cover a few spots where the paint coverage didn't seem to be very thorough.

I'll be keeping close eye on this. Thanks everyone for posting your experiences. I never would have thought that this could be a problem otherwise.

 

I looked under my weatherstripping for the article (I'm sure all you will love reading) in the next MC2. My car is an Aug 02 build, and it's not bad at all. A bit of surface discoloration, but that's about it.

Sure it's dissipointing that it happens, but fixing it is pretty easy, and it's not structural.....

Matt

 

I just read in the manual 12 year/100K mile warranty against rust.

 

Just checked mine too. Looks like the pass side is pretty advanced, missing a bit of the metal and can see several spots along the rail. Shouldnt be a problem now that I caught it and will remove and repaint with por-15 this weekend. Glad I read this thread too!!!
Oh btw- por-15 rocks! Been using it for several years during a 70 buick and 59 chevy resto projects I've been doing and the stuff work very well. I painted the 59 frame about 2 years ago and set it uncovered next to my house, still no rust!!!

 

Por15 is awesome. I haven't had to use it on the MINI yet, but I've used it on other cars. Once you paint Por15 on something, its sealed for good. They should use this as a primer.

 

both my doors got rust on them. they were both on the bottom and leading edge of the doors. all fixed under warranty.

 

Anyone with 07's out there-have you checked to see if the design flaw is still present???

 

I am having mine looked at by regional rep in a week. I will post an update.

 

My rust is being fixed under warranty. Rep from MINI USA approved it today.

 

Took the 06 in today to have the sills looked at again. They already "repaired" one side less than a year ago, but both sides have small areas of rust bleeding through the paint.
The service writer had "never heard of that before" (good GOD, are they trained to act ignorant or does that come natural?) but I kindly noted that it has been an ongoing issue which MINI has even acknowledged with a service bulletin. They printed it right up and took lots of pictures and made the first available appointment with the body shop (NEW YEAR'S EVE!) which we kindly declined. It will be going in January 2, 2008. The rust should be "maturing" nicely by then.
Moral: even once MINI repairs it, it might come back. Once they get done spending their money (necessary to inflict the financial pain to motivate them to redesign a real fix) then I will go ahead and buy the POR 15 and fix it right myself.
You can guess which dealer I went to. It is in a very large NC city.