5 replies to this topic

[Moosie]

I noticed a small area of paint bubbling on my bonnet on an area that had a tiny bodywork repair done on it 5 years ago (work carried out by mini) The repair work is guaranteed for 3 years but says it does not effect the 6 year ani-corrosion warranty which my mini is still only just under. After looking at it with a magnifying glass they said there is a tiny stone chip on it and have refused to do the work under warranty. I have quite a few much larger and deeper stone chips in the surrounding area (where the original repair work had NOT been done) and there is no bubbling around any of those. The 'stone chip' in question has to be looked at under a magnifying glass! Can this really be the cause of the rust when all the other chips are fine. It seems a bit of a coincidence that it is on the small area of repair. Does anyone know if I have a case?

Thankyou!

[JohnGordon]

Yes a stone chip can be the cause of the rust! If the chip has gone down to the bare metal and has beeen left open to the elements then this will bring on the rusting process, I'm not very clued up on the new mini myself but I would assume (assumption being the mother of all **** ups) that they would not cover 'stone chips' under warranty.
Do you have any paper work regarding your body work guarantee? This may hold some clues.

[biggav]

I worked for Rover Customer service, dealer service, warranty and Mini Brand before changing to BMW Mini production which i left in 2003. i'm afraid there is no way that the corrosion warranty will cover it.

corrosion warrantys usually only cover the structure of the vehicle for any issues which are purely manufacturing flaws. bmw have lots of car bodies left out in the rain to see where rust appears first... usually a water/dirt trap, somewhere that hasn't been painted/ sealed properly etc. issues arrising from "paint break" damage are classed as cosmetic and unless they are a known manufacturers issue, they won't want to know. As far as the manufacturers warranty goes, there is no way that the manufacturing process has caused the problem, whilst the repair carried out didn't affect the warranty, any fault arrising from the repair lies with the repairer and not BMW... i honestly don't think a problem with the repair would have taken 5 years to show itself.

[998dave]

As above, I don't think you'll do too well, can you find a replacement bonnet?

All manufacturers nowadays put their vehicles through lots of abuse to see what happens and try to make the vehicles resilient to it.

Ford drive through gravel and dust tunnels, mud, salt splashes and all sorts for the equivalent of a life times abuse, we also
park some of ours in the rain and in a pine forest to see what gets attacked and eaten by the local wildlife, and find ways to protect the vehicles.

[Moosie]

Thanks for those replies. The repair was carried out by mini/BMW and the 'stone chip' on the repairwork isnt visible with the naked eye! Why would the other more obvious bigger, deeper chips not have caused bubbling? .Can that really happen? It just seems a bit wierd.

[Moosie]

I also thought I would add that the 'chip' does not appeared to have even gone through to the primer whereas all of the other ones have. Could it be that the rust could be due to poor/thin paint application when mini did the work on it or something getting under the paint before they sprayed it?