Rust under front door seal

[Dave Elliott]

Hi All,

I have just bought a an early 02 MCS. It's fantastic to drive (the closest thing I driven to a well sorted original Mini).

Whilst looking for this MINI, I test drove and looked over a number of MCSs of the same era. The MCS I bought is void of most squeaks and rattles (boot latch rattle is the only one I've noticed).

What was worrying was that all MINIs I looked at had rust developing on the sill section of the door frame (where the door seal clips to). Lifting the door seal revealed wetness on all MINIs I saw. The amount of rust varied from very light surface rust to some perforation of the metal.

The MINI I bought had not been washed in over a week and there has been no recent rain, yet the door seal is still wet.

It seams that the door seal must be at fault. Does anybody know whether there is a updated seal that addresses the problem.

The rust is covered under warranty (I hope); but not sure how this is sorted out (has anyone had the rust fixed?).

Fixing the rust is only the cure; I would want to make sure that it doesn't come back (due to faulty seals).


Cheers,

Dave

[Mike Clarke]

Congratulations on the MCS Dave

Check out this thread in the Australian forum for more info on the rust issue.

[JG.26]

Hi Dave,

Congrats on your MINI.

If you do a search on here this problem was discussed at length. I don't think any new seal design has ever been sorted by BMW. If you look at the seal you will notice small holes which I assume is drain any water away, but as many owners have found when they have lifted the rubber it's saturated inside as well as along the metal sills. I know some owners have taken their MINI's back to the dealer and had any rust seen too but to ne honest I can't see the point as it will just rust again over time unless it's treated with rust preventative.

I checked mine last spring as like yours the rubbers were saturated and on checking the sills there was only very minor surface rust in one place, July 03 S. Rather than take the car to the dealer, I left the rubbers off the sills to dry out and cleaned the sills up and removed surface rust. I then used plenty of waxoyl and gease all along the expose sills spraying it where the sill is sandwiched and all around the door aperture. I used vaseline on the inside of the rubber seals. It's not a cure but at least there is a film between metal and water and will check again this spring. The problem is caused by poor design

Cheers.

[Mr G]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Clarke (original)

Congratulations on the MCS Dave

Check out this thread in the Australian forum for more info on the rust issue.

what its doing in the Aussie forum is a mystery to me, but there have been a lot of people had the same problem. I've had mine fixed twice.....so far.

It will end up being a major embarrassment to them unless they re-deisgn the seal.

[GCoopS]

Mine off to be expected on Fri by BMW, so will report back!

[trucker]

Dave,

It seems that this is a much more common problem than I realised !!

Here is my link :

http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fi...oor-seals.html

[mph999]

Quote: Originally Posted by trucker (original)

Dave,

It seems that this is a much more common problem than I realised !!

Here is my link :

http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fi...oor-seals.html

I've sot the same problem ... fortunately removed very slight surface rust with polish, will spay with WD40 and then apply grease I guess,

Martin

[Mr G]

Quote: Originally Posted by mph999 (original)

I've sot the same problem ... fortunately removed very slight surface rust with polish, will spay with WD40 and then apply grease I guess,

Martin

WD40 won't remove rust, Martin. Its like treating cancer with Clearosil. If I was you I'd notify BMW and have it fixed under the 6 year rust warranty.

[mab01uk]

This is how the BMW tsb tells the dealer to fix the rust:-
Door Seal Rust Repair

[mph999]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr G (original)

WD40 won't remove rust, Martin. Its like treating cancer with Clearosil. If I was you I'd notify BMW and have it fixed under the 6 year rust warranty.

It's in tomorrow, hopefully to fix the problem of the water collecting in the first place (drain holes behind A-pillar trim get blocked).

The polish removed the "very light" rust - WD40 was to dispel the water and then I spayed with grease as a temp measure.

Martin