My better half gave me a floor jack and stands for Christmas, so, naturally, I had to go try my new toys out. Whilst looking over the procedures involved with lifting Maggy, my 06 CR/W MCS, I noticed this damage to the left front strut boot.

Trying to remain calm, I took these snaps and submit them for ya'll's review and comment. I'll be waiting for the dealer to open tomorrow to correct this immediately. However, I'm interested to hear if this is a common or not occurance.

Background: Original owner, just went over 10k miles since 30 June. No hard bumps, hits, runs or errors. Do work the roundabouts vigorously (it is Holland, after all!). Only other driver was my wife who drove all of 6 miles, very carefully!

Cheers!

 

What is that thing protruding where the boot used to be?

 

Gromit801-- Dunno. I'm guessing its a compression dampener of sorts? It seems to still be attached inside the boot and I didn't wanna make it any worse. If that's possible! The SHORT drive I took in Maggy after noting the damage did not show any abnormal characteristics. Regardless, I've only taken that one test drive and will be doing the Wal-Mart opening chant at the dealers tomorrow...

 

This is a duplicate reply to a duplicate post. Those are strut shims used when shipping the MINI; they are supposed to be removed at the vehicle distribution center or at the dealership during make ready. I also had these as well; there are not supposed to be there.

I took the vehicle in a week after ownership and told them it was pulling to one side under hard braking and they told me to upgrade my brakes. When I swapped springs I could hardly believe I didn’t see them myself earlier.

It's okay to remove them, taking matters into your own hands will not void the warranty.

 

QC rears its head

 

yah, just remove that thing and either clean and tape up your boot with
e-tape or have the dealer give you a new boot.

 

Cool! Thanks for the input. Now I'm not so worried. Only problem now is to try and convince the dealer that this should be covered under warranty. Well, like I said, that's what I've got for however long it takes tomorrow!!

Cheers!

 

theres no reason why the dealer would not replace under warranty. it's supposed to be removed when prepin' the car before delivery.

 

One would think that; however, things are a bit different here, to us Americans. Customer service is not what we'd expect from a State-side dealer. For example, the first oil change cost me €190 (~$250USD)!! I’m glad I won’t be doing that every 3k miles!! As for the shims, on Wednesday, 27 December, I made an appointment to bring Maggy in for the repair work on their first available appointment: 11 a.m. on 5 January. They assure me that Maggy is safe to drive in the meantime. And such is life in Europe!!

Cheers!

 

Still, those shims are for shipping and should have been removed before delivery.
OT, where are you in Europe?

 

I had my wife's car drop shipped to our house (from TX to FL) and removed the shims myself. No big deal. I would take those Pix and go to the Manager of the dealer you bought the car from and raise a stink! They totally screwed the pooch on doing their job.... maybe you will get some free goodies or at least new strut boots.

 

Norm03S: I'm stationed at Brunssum, Netherlands.

CARdiac: I'm gonna try but don't have high expectations. Its that whole "Europeans are from Mars, Americans..." thing kicking in again. Dunno, we'll see!

Cheers!!

 

Lots of nice motoring over there! I spent time with MSC in Rotterdam. Wish I had my MINI then.

 

I'm trying to not compare the cultural differences between the United States and Europeans; however, I'm really thinking that we're from Mars and they're from Venus!!

Being that I'm in Europe, I made an appointment for Maggy to be seen about her shims problem. No drama with that; would have to do the same in the States. I explained to the person behind the service counter (not an SA as we know it because there are NO Mini dealerships here, just BMW shops) that I needed to schedule warranty work for the destroyed left front strut boot, to remove the shipping shims and to inspect for any other possible damage. Earliest he had was for today and that Maggy was safe to drive in her condition. Fine, off we go.

I dropped Maggy off this morning and was called back almost four hours later that the work was done, come and get my car. Once I get there, I am told that I'll have to schedule another appointment as the shop will have to order the replacement boots. So, there goes another Friday burned up shuttling cars...

Now, to the point. Is this typical of European service? Make an appointment to see the car, spend four hours to confirm that what the customer has said is true, then schedule another appointment to fix the problem? Keep in mind that this "should" be under warranty; however, oil changes are NOT included here and cost me 180 euros (~$250 USD)!!

Again, I am desperately trying not to compare but to understand the differences but this seems pretty bizzare even for Nederlands!! What're ya'll's thoughts?

Cheers!

 

It is the same here in Germany. The main reason for us is the tax that ie levied on the oil. Germans pay a HUGE amount for a liter of oil (19 Euro for Moble 1).

Because of this, the dealers can't afford to give free changes.

As for the other service issue, German BMW is a little better than that.

 

I had excellent service for my A4 from the Audi dealer in Heidelberg as well as excellent service for my MINI from the BMW/MINI dealer in Heidelberg. When we lived in France, service from the local Peugot dealer was also good for my 505STI. When we lived in Belgium I used to wait for trips to Germany for services! I would think the Dutch would be more like the Germans.