Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs

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Sat 6 Oct 2018 12:09
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - James0075
I love my Mini but the paint is so brittle and delicate that after every long drive I’m finding dents, scratches and chips.

The main dealer and head office do not want to know.

My first drive home 4 miles and my bonnet was chipped.

My old E39 BMW 530i from new and 120,000 miles later still looked dashing.

My mini is over a year old and looks wrecked.

Mini dealer said it was bad luck and had the minimal amount of paint.

I’m tempting to get the repairs and then a full wrap.

I love my car but wish I bought something else if the paint work is that shoddy.

Edited by James Rai on 06/10/2018 at 12:12

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Sat 6 Oct 2018 12:13
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - skidpan
after every long drive I’m finding dents, scratches and chips.

Driving will not cause dents and scratches but its inevitable you will get chips. If Mini won't help you will need to get an independant expert to carryout a report on the paint and use this against Mini.

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Sat 6 Oct 2018 13:10
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - SLO76
Not surprised really. Everyone I know who’s owned one has a list of woe they’ve suffered. Badly made and overpriced in my opinion. Wouldn’t touch one.
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Sat 6 Oct 2018 13:26
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - skidpan
Everyone I know who’s owned one has a list of woe they’ve suffered.

Ours was not unreliable but BMW had carefully copied one aspect of the original Mini that should have been avoided and that was persistent oil leaks. Never cured, still there when traded after 3 years.

Even though the car was not cheap the money lost was actually small. We paid £15000 new including a few "essential" extras such as Air Con and a glove box and fter 3 years we got £12000 in PX. Not had such low depreciation since then over a 3 year period, the Note lost £6000 over 3 years.

Should add that after 3 years the body was fine but it did have the inevitable chips on the bonnet, show me a car that doesn't. But it did not dent and scratch in normal use. My guess is the OP is parking in supermarkets close to careless parkers for that type of damage on a regular basis.

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Sat 6 Oct 2018 13:28
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - Manatee

One would think the number of chips would be proportionate to the number and severity of stones hitting the bodywork, but I can believe that some cars actually hit more stuff and/or have more fragile paint.

My MX-5 has done 12,000 miles and whilst it looks OK generally, the bonnet must have a dozen or more tiny patches of white primer or metal (it's aluminium) showing on the upper surface. These are less than 1mm in size so not very noticeable. So far I have chosen to leave them as I could easily make them more obvious by dotting touch up paint on them. I'm not surprised at some more noticeable marks on the vulnerable forward-facing lower parts of the front bumper, but these chips on top of the bonnet are baffling.

There's a common view among owners that Mazda paint is thin/easily marked.

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Sat 6 Oct 2018 14:54
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - Miniman777

Had three Mini's in the family - two R56s and an R57, and while not the F56, we've had no dent issues, but all three have suffered paint chips on the bonnet. Had a silver MX5 with similar problems.

A BMW tech showed me how to touch these chips using a pointed and twisted piece pf paper you find in washrooms.

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Sat 6 Oct 2018 19:13
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - focussed

If you are suffering from stone chips on the bonnet and front surface of any car, spare a moment to think what could be the cause?

Could it possibly be that you are following the car in front too closely - ie not allowing a two second gap?

Try it - you will find that your stone chip damage is much reduced.

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Sat 6 Oct 2018 22:03
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - Manatee

If you are suffering from stone chips on the bonnet and front surface of any car, spare a moment to think what could be the cause?

Could it possibly be that you are following the car in front too closely - ie not allowing a two second gap?

No. That is one thing I don't do. I think I've hit more stones thrown up by oncoming traffic than vehicles I have been following.

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Sat 6 Oct 2018 22:08
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - Ethan Edwards

Get the bonnet covered in one of those clear paint protection films. Your local vinyl wrap place should be able to hook you up.

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Sun 7 Oct 2018 12:40
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - James0075
I tend to follow a minimum of 3 seconds or more!
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Sun 7 Oct 2018 19:38
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - TheGentlemanThug

I think I remember reading that the paint on the Mini bonnet isn't galvanised, hence why it's prone to chips.

Edited by Bicycle_Repair_Man on 07/10/2018 at 19:39

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Sun 7 Oct 2018 21:58
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - SLO76

I think I remember reading that the paint on the Mini bonnet isn't galvanised, hence why it's prone to chips.

Paint isn’t galvanised, metal is. It’s down to the poor quality paint and a low bonnet line. You can probably tell that I don’t rate BMW Minis at all.
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Mon 8 Oct 2018 10:50
Mini JCW F56 2017 - Frail paint on Mini F56 costing me monthly repairs - skidpan

Paint isn’t galvanised, metal is.

Car bodies are not galvanised, they are simply dipped in zinc rich paint.

Two simple reasons.

True galvanising requires the metal to be dipped in moulton zinc and this would distort the pressings. If the sheet was galvanised before being pressed this would leave ungalvanised edges etc where rust would start.

Paint does not stick to galvanised coatings without specialised and normally toxic primers. Considering the laws relating to paints these days this would simply make it illegal.

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