Do all convertibles get roof wear?

[rentagas]

Does your car have white marks above the hinges?
Anywhere else -have BMW tried to fix this? has it returned?

Right from the earliest press demonstrators there have been problems with roof wear.
In fact Paul Mullett seems to have been the first to mention it in June last year after his Spain Trip.

"Roof wearing at a few points due to rubbing/folding "

There have been several roof revisions and at least one entirely new mechanism.
The problem is reportedly worst in blue and green roofs. Wear becomes apparant as white marks at rubbing points in the canvas (the first sign is marks at the hinge on passenger and drivers sides). In some cases wear has worsened to thinning of material and loose threads. I have never seen a mini convertible of any age without some sign of roof wear.
Roof wear gets worse with time and can be slowed by adjusting the roof stops (so the roof does not go down as far) and padding the frame. Some owners have had their mechanisms replaced but the wear still seems to happen. Dealers have responded to this problem in a variable way some generous, some evasive.
There have been a number of roof modifications including a new mechanism introduced at the factory ?in the last couple of months?.
So do you have roof wear?
Is it getting worse?

[mxyzptlk]

my mini was built in august, but i didnt buy it until december. Its got some light wearing, but i dont think its too bad yet.

[rentagas]

mmmm......
a pattern is emerging!
please vote!

[hogg88]

I got my MCSC in February and by end of April i had to get new hood and mechanism because of wear, this NEW hood has only been on a month i already have wear starting in exactly the same places.

[AlanR]

Hi,
I managed to get my roof changed by Mini. It was changed last wednesday or so, and when i turned up it was lovely and blue. I picked the car up on Friday and since then the roof has been up and down about 12 times (the weather in britain isn't predictable!) and in that week there are already the white marks, and the rubber line that follows the back windows has started to deform!!

It is pretty obvious too!!! I'll try and get some pics and put them up but this just shows how bad the situation is!!

Also while my car was in 2 new rattles, 1 hole in gear stick gator, and they still haven't stopped it from drifting to the left....but they have found out it needs a new gearbox!!!!!!! luckly its a warrenty thing again some noise (one i've never noticed...but its getting changed anyway!!)

[gaminicool]

I have a March '05 build with a black top and I do have marks in all the known spots. I think I have a newer modified top. Although the marks are not as white and prominent as others - you can still see the wear areas. My dealer calls it "normal wear". I'm wating for a U.S. fix then calling MiniUSA. My dealer is no help.

[Binks]

had roof changed, white spots appeared within 3 days, reported to garage who in turn reported to MINI/BMW who replied with a query for dealer to ask customer to return (again) to see if roof number 2 was an original or a modified one, they don't know which was supplied (!) The way to confirm this is to measure the distance from the bottom of the hood, by the boot, to where the stitching goes into a fold, old roof being 15mm new roof being 40mm. Guess which one they fitted to mine I will say at this point that my dealer has been very helpful and sympathetic. I did make the suggestion that on the PDI of all new convertibles the roof be fully opened and a piece of A4 paper slid between the canvas, if it slides without resistance then I would suggest that the new owner will not get the dreaded 'white spot' (I thought that was a disease that tropical fish got !) and if it doesn't then adjust the dam thing and everyone is happy including MINI as hey will no longer have to shell out for new roofs.

Just a thought.

[rentagas]

Crikey! When I said "I have never seen a convertible of any age without roof wear" I thought others would demonstrate this was untrue. One person out of 27 to date has not had roof wear (and that is on a new roof).
More votes please!

[EV Mini]

I'm on my 2nd new roof, wear already started, I think your measurements may be round the wrong way, the old roof is 40mm from the boot to the stitching and the new one is only 15mm. Anyhow keep complaining, like all manufacturers they will only react if you complain, if you have roof wear and don't complain they will not rectify it!

[DJW]

Although I've sold mine now, it did have the wear marks on the Blue hood within weeks of getting it. When I complained to BMW they tried to fob me off with "it wasn't bad enough yet". By mistake a junior in the dealer printed off the document relating to problem. Ref for others is 54 34 90 69 00. Underneath Remendy it has listed " The following measures are only to be carried out in the event of a customer complaint if pressure & chafe marks are apparent in certain areas". It then refers to diagram showing 3 areas that most of us had experienced.

It was only when I got the Manager out & showed him I had the printout & threatened using a solicitor that he backed down & agreed to replace. Lesson for others , do not give in & ask for doc ref above with title " Chafing and pressure marks on convertible top cover".

Good luck

[dalboyne]

I was suffering the same white marks as everyone, until I used 303 Aerospace on the fabric. That was about 2 months ago, and the white marks have gone...I haven't been to the dealer or anything, and have had the roof up and down lots as the wether has improved. Coincidence or what?

[My Cool Car]

I've got the same problem with wear on my roof and my dealer took photos which were passed to the regional technical manager. Coincidentally there was another custoner in at the same time complaining about his roof. They've said that apparently Mini UK aren't aware of the problem. When I cited all the cases from this site they laughed it off as Internet nonsense.

Has anyone else been given this line of fob off?

My dealer has said that they've posted the problem on their "PUMA" site, which is MINI UK's internal network, to see if it comes back as a known issue and to see if there's a modification in the pipeline.

[AlanR]

This is similar to what my dealer said, but a bit worse!

My dealer has refused to changed my hood again (2nd time) untill the BMW technical specialist see's it.

Basically the 2004 hood was revised and replacement hoods are now the newer 'BMW fixed' hood....But as mine started to wear again within a week its obviously not well engineered.

What I did was make sure the dealer told me my hood needed replacing, and he did! But like i said to him I find it highly inconvenient to keep leaving my car with them, while I drive a ONEd (no disrespect intended)....and he thought it would be a waste of time replacing it for exactly the same model hood.

The BMW techy has the chanllenge of overcoming this hood problem, without ruining the lines/style of the car...not an easy task, but one that they should have done before releasing it in 2004.

This BMW Techy ordered MINI to replace my gearbox, and I had never complained once!! So it can't all be bad news!!!

*Mine goes in early July...I'll keep you posted with any information!

BEST OF LUCK TO US ALL!!!!

[DJW]

Quote: Originally Posted by My Cool Car

I've got the same problem with wear on my roof and my dealer took photos which were passed to the regional technical manager. Coincidentally there was another custoner in at the same time complaining about his roof. They've said that apparently Mini UK aren't aware of the problem. When I cited all the cases from this site they laughed it off as Internet nonsense.

Has anyone else been given this line of fob off?

My dealer has said that they've posted the problem on their "PUMA" site, which is MINI UK's internal network, to see if it comes back as a known issue and to see if there's a modification in the pipeline.

See my post above. Quote the number to your Mini dealer, as they are lying !!!

[Rakey]

I noted that there was a letter in this months GoMINI about roof wear, and that there was no problem

shows they haven't a clue about the car they write about

My new roof, is slightly marked, but no where near as bad as the original, but since the new one, its gained rattles and squeeks