[kicksmithy]

I received my new Mini One in Jet Black on 1st September, of which i was very happy with till it's first wash. After washing the car, with a nice new cleaning mitt, and rinsing the car and all my cleaning stuff in between, the car is covered in scratches and marks. The light swrils in paintwork i could expect with it being black but these are right down to white paint and stick out like sore thumb. There is also a patch by the fuel cap which is a different colour to the rest of the car and there is a mark in the bonnet that looks like a dirt streak but cannot be removed. I showed my dad the car and he thought the scratches were just chamois marks, upon which he tried to rub off my perfectly clean car and its scratched it!!! surely rubbing a clean car with your finger should not scratch it, regardless of it being black! I took the car to the dealer today and the warranty man tried to fob me off with the usual "it is black" rubbish and "you have to be extremely careful when washing blah blah blah.." i argued that it shouldn't scratch as it has, right down to white undercoat and he has offered to have it back on wednesday to have the car polished. He says it will be good as new when it returns but I am sure it will be exactly the same when i come to wash it again. Any help or advice on what i can do anyone?

[Eelke]

Get advice from a professional car painter (damage repair). They will be able to tell you whether what you are getting is in any way normal. It certainly doesn't sound like it.

[MINI-Morgan]

sounds abit weird to me....to even get anywhere near the paint you would have to get throught the clear coat which isnt easy and you will no way do with a chamois unless its got a big stone in it! I'm sure when one of the experts come to polish it and notice somethings not right it will all be sorted.

[kicksmithy]

Quote: Originally Posted by BOYR4CER

sounds abit weird to me....to even get anywhere near the paint you would have to get throught the clear coat which isnt easy and you will no way do with a chamois unless its got a big stone in it! I'm sure when one of the experts come to polish it and notice somethings not right it will all be sorted.

Thats what i thought. The scratches are defintely showing white, although when you run your nail over them there is no rut to suggest that it has gone through the clear coat, its just like they've forgot to put the clear coat on! I had a go at polishing a couple out, thinking it may indeed have been me washing it, but no good, they are still as visible. If it had have been light scratches from washing surely these would have polished out with a bit of elbow grease

[jwardell]

Ouch. I will be the first to say the paint quality is not great, and scratches easily.
But to go through the paint and see white you would most definitely feel a rut with your fingernail.
It sounds more to me that something has scratched onto the paint, which means you should be able to removing it maybe by scratching it off with your fingernail, or maybe some wd-40 (try this all in an unnoticable spot first).

This after finding new scratches on my car this morning as someone taking out the trash last night dragged the cans against my mini...grrr!

[kicksmithy]

Quote: Originally Posted by jwardell

Ouch. I will be the first to say the paint quality is not great, and scratches easily.
But to go through the paint and see white you would most definitely feel a rut with your fingernail.
It sounds more to me that something has scratched onto the paint, which means you should be able to removing it maybe by scratching it off with your fingernail, or maybe some wd-40 (try this all in an unnoticable spot first).

This after finding new scratches on my car this morning as someone taking out the trash last night dragged the cans against my mini...grrr!

You would expect it to be good quality paint when purchasing an apparently good quality car but this is obviously not the case. There is definitely no rut with the scratch but i have polished a couple in a discreet area and they are no better. The scratches won't come out with my fingernail but i'm so scared to touch it now because when i do it just get's scratched! I'll see how it returns after its polish on wednesday, i'm sure they're gonna have to do some serious work to it to get it to look new again but that is what they've told me so i'm holding them to it! We shall see!

[Baggers]

Yikes, that doesn't sound normal at all, unless you've used something very agressive to clean it with, which I doubt. For the record the paint is generaly good on MINIs, at least to the same standard as normal BMWs (although apparently most German cars use a fairly soft clear coat). If you've got scratches down to white undercoat then something must be wrong.

Eelke is right, get it to a professional detailer and/or paint sprayer before you take it back to BMW/MINI, as something is wrong here, but it's hard to understand why without several opinions and seeing it in person.

[MaTTy_P]

I have a Jet Black mini One, and have no paint problems at all (the car will be 2yrs old in march). Your car's paint does not sound normal at all. I find the paint quality of MINI's a hell of alot superior to models in the same price band(ford, citreon etc).

After a good waxing, my mini's reflection is neigh on mirror quality.

Hope you get sorted. Keep us informed.

[AndytheScientist]

Being a new mini owner myself and a black one at that (although mines metallic so slightly tougher), i've done a lot of research on polishes/waxes the last few weeks.

In the end i've ended up going for zaino products as these are supposes to be great on black, and from my first go yesterday it is. I've went for Z2pro with the accelorator and the finish is fantastic. zaino is a synthetic polymer and from what i've read is supposed to last for ages, and as such forms a strong protective layer from multiple coats.

I hope the car comes back fine for you. If it does it might be worth getting 2 or 3 coats of something like zaino on there straight away.

Good luck

Ps took me a while to find but zaino is available in the UK from advancedcarproducts

[kicksmithy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Baggers

Yikes, that doesn't sound normal at all, unless you've used something very agressive to clean it with, which I doubt. For the record the paint is generaly good on MINIs, at least to the same standard as normal BMWs (although apparently most German cars use a fairly soft clear coat). If you've got scratches down to white undercoat then something must be wrong.

Eelke is right, get it to a professional detailer and/or paint sprayer before you take it back to BMW/MINI, as something is wrong here, but it's hard to understand why without several opinions and seeing it in person.

I just used some run of the mill car shampoo and a brand new cleaning mitt. I can only think something is wrong with the finish and that when they come to polish it all on wednesday they will have problems with it. I'm not going to accept it back unless it hasn't got a mark on it anywhere. These scratches are gonna take some right old polishing to get out i'm sure and that will just mean my paint finish will be even thinner and more likely to scratch. Thanks for the idea of taking it to an independent person. I know a classic car restorer that should know a thing or two about paintwork, i'll pop in on my way home i think

[MINI-Morgan]

run a cloth over the paintwork. It should glide with no resistance as the clear coat and wax should be almost brand new still.

Now that run of the mill shampoo doesnt say "Thick Bleach" on the side does it??

[kicksmithy]

Quote: Originally Posted by BOYR4CER

run a cloth over the paintwork. It should glide with no resistance as the clear coat and wax should be almost brand new still.

Now that run of the mill shampoo doesnt say "Thick Bleach" on the side does it??

A cloth does glide over it so that would suggest that the clear coat and wax is still brand new, i'm really confused as to why it scratches so easy. May be seeing a two week old black Mini One for sale soon

I knew i should have kept the toilet bleach somewhere other than the car washing bucket!

[simon51]

Did you polish the car after washing it? the white might be just polish that has got into a tiny surface scratch and making it look far worse than it actually is.

I have a black mini and it does have quite a few swirls from where I presume the previous owner had taken it through a car wash. Let us know how you get on with the polishing as I'd like to get mine mopped over soon too (in a hope to remove the swirls)

[kicksmithy]

Quote: Originally Posted by simon51

Did you polish the car after washing it? the white might be just polish that has got into a tiny surface scratch and making it look far worse than it actually is.

I have a black mini and it does have quite a few swirls from where I presume the previous owner had taken it through a car wash. Let us know how you get on with the polishing as I'd like to get mine mopped over soon too (in a hope to remove the swirls)

I didn't polish it, was too upset after cleaning it and finding all the scatches light swirls i would have expected after time but not scratches that are highly visible all the time after one wash. They obviously tried to say that it'd probably been scratched by me or someone else but i know this is not the case, one scratch i would have maybe thought someone may have caught it with a zip or something but there are a dozen scratches which are easily visible and i haven't even left the car anywhere yet!!! i'll let you know how it looks after they've had it back tommorrow, like new they have assured me!

[kicksmithy]

Quote: Originally Posted by simon51

Did you polish the car after washing it? the white might be just polish that has got into a tiny surface scratch and making it look far worse than it actually is.

I have a black mini and it does have quite a few swirls from where I presume the previous owner had taken it through a car wash. Let us know how you get on with the polishing as I'd like to get mine mopped over soon too (in a hope to remove the swirls)

Got the car back yesterday evening and the paintwork is no better than it was before! Still scratched to the same extent possibly more! got dull areas in the paintwork now where they have polished it as well Told the only way to sort it is to get it Permaguarded which costs £300! Been told to contact Mini GB to see what they can do, fingers crossed

[Eelke]

This is a new car?? I would think a respray under warranty is the answer...

[kicksmithy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Eelke

This is a new car?? I would think a respray under warranty is the answer...

It is a new car, only two weeks old to the day. I've just spoken to Min Customer services so i'll wait for there reply and see what they say

[andyupnorth]

Quote: Originally Posted by kicksmithy

It is a new car, only two weeks old to the day. I've just spoken to Min Customer services so i'll wait for there reply and see what they say

On no account take the Parmaguard option - it is merely £20 worth of polish sold under a £300 price tag. It won't make any difference to scratches. I think you may need to speak to a professional paint consultant on this who will be able to measure the thickness of the paint and give an independent verdict.

[simon51]

Do you have any photos of the scratches? seems really wierd, it's got to be fault and they should sort it under warranty. Isn't there a paintwork warranty?

[MINI-Morgan]

There sure is many years of paint warranty.

If the paints really that bad just reject the car and take it back.