[ONED]

This look familiar?





.........

Anyone?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Mullett?

[Paul]

All too much so.

How did that happen, did you notice it happening (BIG pothole or something?), or did you just find it like that? (As it what happened to me).

[I love MINI, Laura]

Oh dear! Its not looking good there!

[smason1111]

The clips seem to fail. At least, mine had broken. They just replaced the clips.

Stuart

[Goonery]

I've got two n the family now a Cooper and Cooper D, nothing untoward to report so far though, both running sweet and not a glitch anywhere else on eithe of them. One of them is a driving school car so its getting a hammering

[J1JPE]

Quote: Originally Posted by Goonery (original)

I've got two n the family now a Cooper and Cooper D, nothing untoward to report so far though, both running sweet and not a glitch anywhere else on eithe of them. One of them is a driving school car so its getting a hammering

Have you checked inside the tailgate to see if the paint is being worn away by the rubber bushes - a common fault ... ?

[Paul]

Quote: Originally Posted by smason1111 (original)

The clips seem to fail. At least, mine had broken. They just replaced the clips.

Stuart

Didn't realise you'd had this too.

They just seem to get hit and knocked off by the tyres in some conditions. Ones that appeared common in my area.

This is one of the reasons I decided not to accept a replacement when I rejected mine, as this happened on more than one occasion with two different MINIs I was driving around my local area.

[ONED]

hmmm....not sure when or how......

....just found it yesterday evening

[Paul]

Looks and sounds very familiar:





At least it should be a warranty repair, they shouldn't pop-out and fall off the way they can. And it's a "shared experience", so the more people who get this done under warranty, maybe it will be flagged up (if it isn't already), and they can attempt to do something to remedy it (although quite what could be done is beyond me?!).

[Hat]

should be a simple case of using stronger clips. i bet without knowledge of a series of instances this would be a real hard one to argue with the dealer - they'd just assume you hit something

[Paul]

Send them this way.

Seriously though, those grey clips are not exactly weak (which many of us have experienced changing side skirts, arches and the like), but for some reason the 2nd gen has a way (a knack, you might say), of knocking them off.

With mine (and the press car), it actually appears from the markings in the dirt, and "fold" of the soft wheel arch liner, that the tyre somehow manages to come into contact. I would guess with the weight of the front end, and the rotation of the (sticky) rubber tyre, even very strong clips might struggle to hold on.

[ONED]

Would it be from driving down off a kerb that the wheel would travel enough to hit it ??

or is it just the flex of the body??

[Paul]

No idea really, I didn't do that. But I don't understand it to be honest.

You've probably seen the abuse I've given first gen MINIs, including hump back bridge "jumps", country lane hammering.... This didn't happen once.

So not sure how or why it happens on the new cars. To be fair, it's not (as far as is reported on here anyway) a common issue.

[Harpo]

If it happens on my car, it will most certainly be a warranty claim.

Take no prisoners.

[ONED]

I will be getting it seen to ( when I have time)

TBH we were at MTI a few weeks back, and if the car was gonna get any abuse, it was then, but we had no faults. Then we return home and this happens during normal everyday use.!

Just wondering if standing water is an issue and has caused this?
Last week the weather was terible here, but I don't know if Michelle caught any water!

What was the road conditions on the day you took em off the Demo Paul?

[Paul]

The demo ones came off when it was (very) wet the first time, but on my own car it was pretty much dry as far as I can recall.

Now looking at the photo it must have been damp at least, but not heavy rain as it was wth the demo.

[Lordy]

it has also happened to a friends cooper R56 , while he went through water .

[Paul]

So it could be puddles, not bumps (or maybe both) you might have to avoid?!

In all honesty this does concern me. For example my Darkness run is supposed to be back this year, I WILL have to post a warning for 2nd Gen MINI Owners about losing trim, as it covers similar road to those where I had issues.

Just shows you can do all the extreme weather testing you like, our British puddles must be something special.

[ONED]

it's strange that the wheel liner is distorted too!

Perhaps it's too big and is forcing the trim off.

[Paul]

That was the same with all the times it happened to me, wheel arch liner looked crumpled/distorted, the first time on the demo was the worst. If yours is like mine, they're actually "popped out" of position too, so you have to tuck them back in. It LOOKS like impact, but surely the tyres (16" in some cases) wont be in a position to hit the arch/liner!?