For all of you out there with the problem: Print up the Tech Bulletin from MCT (post #512) and take it to the dealer. Get it fixed there. Even if they don't do a permanent fix, you now have it in your record as a recognized problem for that car and their work falls under the warrenty. If you do it yourself (maybe later), it will void the warrenty.

 

I've heard of this problem in the past and have been wiping under the seals ever since. So far, no rust.

 

when it happened to my car it was visible under the paint. the first time it was the passenger side and on the leading edge of the bottom. the second time on the drivers side it was along the bottom edge of the door.

 

Emphasis on 2fast2 and skip.irving's posts: BMW is just putting a bandaid on the problem. The issue is water infiltration, which they are not solving. I hope to have my coop long after 100K miles. So if there's a rust problem, it will be creeping well along after the "fix" and after the warranty expires. BTW, how many times do you think BMW will pay for the same repair to the same vehicle over the warranty period without hasseling the customer?

 

Re: Blue Agave's "BTW, how many times do you think BMW will pay for the same repair to the same vehicle over the warranty period without hasseling the customer?". Once. Reality sucks.

 

'04 MCS, damp, but no rust.

 

Got the MINI S back from the dealer, second time for sill rust repair. Got home, pulled up one little section of weatherstrip, and -- surprise -- it is wet under there. Yep, rained last night.
No way their repair will hold up when the weatherstrip's most effective function seems to be trapping water underneath.
Has anyone tried coating the entire inner "groove" of the weatherstrip with silicone grease to try to keep water from infiltrating?
Does anyone know how water gets behind it?

 

I think the water drains off the roof via the drain hole at the top of the A pillar down inside the frame and under the weatherstripping. You can try this experiment yourself-thoroughly dry the area under the weatherstripping, then pour a little water near the drainhole at the top of the A pillar and check for moisture underneath the weatherstripping. Has anybody checked the 07 R56's to see if this design flaw was corrected?

 

I think I'd try wiping that area down with a silicone grease then reinstall the weatherstrip. That would, at the very least, keep water from setting in that area.

 

I checked my 2006 at the dealer before buying it used 2 weeks ago, very wet, I can't see a good way to fix it, I will just bury my head in the sand and worry about curbing my wheels which I seem to have a talent for.

Peter

 

are on a roll today!

Good job!

Matt

 

Wow mine is an 04 and lives in Colorado. I pulled it back and found 2 very small apots on each door. They are just startting. wirer brush and some stuf i got at work to stop rust i painted and sealed the hole strip. I am glad i cought it in time.

 

I've had moisture under the weatherstripping since the first time it rained ('04 "S"). I put a lot of high-quality grease into the area under the weatherstrip and that has, at least, kept the constant moisture from causing rust. Hadn't thought to dry it thoroughly, then run a little water into that drain hole up top. If this turns out to be the source of the problem, how about putting a dab of silicone caulk in the drain hole up top - keep the water from getting into the drain in the first place. At worst it would simply sit up top until it evaporated, right?

 

Sounds reasonable. The water would certainly evaporate faster sitting in the roof sill area than under the weatherstripping.

 

Same 04 S and same problem. I looked for this drain hole. I don't see it. Do you have to remove the trim piece at the front corner at the top to see it? If so, does it come out vertically?

 

I'm not sure - been too busy at work and haven't had time to investigate this. There's something that appears to be a drain tube coming out of the "A" pillar - it extends a couple of inches below the beltline and is clearly visible when you open the door. I'm simply guessing that it drains water from the roof gutter in front - but will need to spend a little time exploring the situation this weekend. I have a feeling that the source of water under the weatherstrip along the bottom of the door frame is this little drain tube, but at this point I can't confirm that either.

 

In daylight the drain you referred to is indeed obvious. As is the large diameter rubber tube about mid point on the door. However, water poured in the top drain does not exit the tube. It appears this tube is only open on the bottom and only 3-4 inches long. Might be wind or noise related. Nevertheless, the water poured into the drain seems to follow a path under the black trim pieces to the sides of the windows. I saw them removed once, but I don't remember the clips well enough to pry on them. The bulk of the water exits at the base of the trim piece and a coupe of inches forward of the gasket from hell. If you think of the gasket as a u-shaped piece then it seems the most likely entry to the 'inside' edge of the gasket would have to be on the top horizontal section where the 'u' is facing up.

 

Well, it still seems the ultimate source of the problem is water that originally flowed from the front of the roof to the side gutter and then down the "A" pillar, from where it gets under the door gasket and congregates at the lowest point - the bottom of the door opening. Provided it doesn't rain at least one day this weekend, I think I'll spend a couple of hours consulting my Bentley manual in conjunction with an "eyes-on" inspection of the "A" pillar and roof gutter. There's just gotta be a simple solution to shutting off the flow of water - if only my simple mind is up to the task of figuring it out.

 

Last night I had some time to conduct a test. Unfortunately, I don't have photos to show this, but I'll try to describe what I did and saw.

With the passenger-side door wide open, I took a small measuring cup with a little water in it and slowly poured it into the rain gutter about an inch behind the “A” pillar. About half the water flowed into the drain hole at the front of the rain gutter. A few seconds later, at least some of the water exited the “A” pillar about in the middle of the bottom of the pillar, crossed the gasket and chrome trim there, and flowed slowly onto the fender about two inches in front of the seam between the front body panel and the door. From there, the water flowed down the side of the car until it reached the seam just above the side-marker light. At that point, it went into that seam and followed a path ending in a slow drip onto the black doorstop – the black piece that hold the door partially open or keeps the door from opening wider than it’s supposed to. From the doorstop the water dripped onto the inside of the door frame, only about half an inch from the problematic door gasket. It then moved down that face of the door frame and trickled off the door frame just about halfway through the corner as the door frame becomes horizontal. From there it dribbled down the black exterior side molding and to the floor of the garage. I pulled the door frame gasket and there was no water under it.

My conclusions:

1) What I had thought was a drain tube coming out of the “A” pillar is really a gasket that is hollow to allow compression and good sealing around something concealed by the trim piece on the pillar. It’s not a drain tube.

2) Water entering the drain hole in the front of the roof gutter does flow down the “A” pillar and eventually does get into the door frame area where it conceivably can get under the door frame gasket.

3) I used only a couple of spoonfuls of water; during a rainstorm, a lot more water will be involved and so there will be a lot more water getting into the door frame area.

4) When you’re driving there’s going to be some wind moving through the door frame area, though I don’t know how significant that might be – but it could be enough to blow some of the water against the door frame gasket and force it underneath.

5) This is only part of the problem – I get a considerable amount of water under the door frame gasket every time I wash the car. The gasket is dry underneath when I start, and by the time I finish, there’s probably an ounce or more of water under each gasket (I pull both gaskets and dry things off with a towel).

I’m going to caulk up the roof gutter drain holes at the “A” pillars to see what impact that has on the amount of water I find under the door frame gasket the next time I wash the car. If, as I suspect will be the case, I still find a fair amount of water under the gasket, it’s getting there from some other location and at least for the time being, I’m out of ideas.

 

Well, I'm out of ideas.

I caulked up the roof gutter drain holes at the "A" pillars and allowed the caulk to cure (clear silicone bathtub caulk). Then I parked the car in the driveway and did a badly needed wash job - by hand, with a garden hose to rinse the soap away. Before I started, I pulled the door gaskets to verify they were, in fact, dry underneath. They were. After washing and drying the car, I pulled the door gaskets again and found the usual amount of water under each of them. Where's it coming from? Damned if I know. Unless I can figure out (or someone else can tell me) where the water is coming from, I guess I'll just make pulling and drying the door gasket part of my routine when washing the car - and I'll try to do the same after I've driven in the rain. To assist in preventing rust, I'm also going to keep the seam covered by the gasket well coated with grease.

Anybody out there have any good ideas about the source of the water? It seems a lot more sensible to me to shut the water off at its source instead of having to mop it up after every time the car gets wet.

 

I guess this is why MINI doesn't have a fix--other than re-paint. Thanks for going to the trouble of trying to figure it out.

I pulled my gaskets up a year after POR-15 and was bummed that it wasn't a cure either. The rust will come back.

 

That's the approach to which I've resorted. They're so easy to pull up and reinstall that just leave them draped over the side of the front seats and leave the doors slightly open for a while while drying in my garage (I have ceiling fans in my garage which also helps the drying process). Seems to be working so far.

I'm so OCD when it comes to detailing that this extra little step doesn't seem like that big of a deal. In fact, when I go back to replace the door seals it gives my waffle weave another crack at any new drips draining from the grill and boot.

 

I haven't read all the entries here, but we had rain last night and I checked the gasket. It appears to be coming from the front part of the door jam. Wet halfway up the gasket and on the outside of the gasket. I have a little bit of rust on the weld points that I'll have to clean and coat with a product from Hemmings. I intend to check under the sillplate and paint and calk if needed. The fix I'm trying is simple; I placed a short thin piece of rubber on the outer side of the channel where it levels off and reinstalled the weatherstrip. This will break the ribbed weatherstripping seal and hopefully let the water escape. I don't think trying to stop the water will be productive. If you have good paint and an escape route at the lowest point, the problem should go away.

 

i had rust problems with my mini. 1. the screw in the rear wiper is rusting. it was replaced by the dealer. 2. the door latch was rusting it was replaced by the dealer too and the report sheet they gave me was that the striker was misaligned so they have to replace the left or right striker.

here is the pic:



what does the misalignment has got to do with rusting? my mini was an 06. i bought it last year, 07.. so it has been sitting on their lot rain, shine, snow, storm. now as i was inspecting my car. i noticed an itty bitty rust in the bar grill of both the seats:



see those grills on either side of the seat? there is like an itty bitty punched/indented area and that's where i see the rust.. can i tell the dealer to put anti rust black paint in there since it is painted black anyway.

and lastly are all these rust spots i see "normal" coz the 2 dealers i went to said it is normal that corrosion is inevitable... seriously?? opinion will be appreciated.

 

Among more than a few others, I owned this car:


and this car:


I think it safe to say I know a thing or 2 about water and rust. Here's my take:

1. Water will continue to find it's way into an area that has been designed to accept it. It is obvious this is the case here.
2. The dealers will only put band-aids on the problem. It will recur.
3. POR-15 will solve the problem permanently. Period. Use it and move on.