[Garyg1961]

Morning all
Our 2009 Mini Cooper convertible has succumbed to the persistent rain with the back seat being wet through and unlikely to dry if it continues. The roof section seems to be watertight but maybe there is perishing on the corner pillar seals to the body, I cannot see though how rain would get from there to the backseat. If the corners are the problem is a repair possible and if so would it be a reasonable price?
Cheers
Gary

 

[Scudder]

Rain onto the back seat usually occurs due to the side panel (between the door window and rear corner) being slack. The body pin with a clamp holds the hood taught and in place but the hood has a weak spot, the metal/plastic hole deteriorates and allows the fabric to move about. There is a repair kit on ebay which is a DIY.

Genuine MINI Convertible Roof Fabric Repair Kit Set R57 Cooper S One 54347276922 | eBay

Part number 54347276922. This kit suits the R57 and R57 LCI model MINI Convertible. Genuine MINI Convertible Roof Fabric Repair Kit. Genuine BMW & MINI Parts.

www.ebay.co.uk

It is unusual to get rain in any other way as if the hood is correctly fitted, all rain runs into a channel above the wheel arches and to the ground, this channel is quite large and copes with a lot of water. The rubber seals on the chrome is not exactly functional even when new, some rain always gets through. Hope this helps.

 

[Garyg1961]

Many thanks Scudder for your reply, is the repair kit easy to fit for a non petrol head like me and would you know if any videos are you tube
cheers
Gary

 

[Scudder]

No videos that I could find but I can talk you through it now.
Tools required -
Drill and bit suitable size for the rivets
Pop rivet gun (manual type)
Strong scissors/cutters
Headtorch
smallish hands

Technical bit -
So, begin in the boot and put the roof into easy access mode using the two handles.
Using your headtorch, locate the body pins - these are midway long the bottom of the fabric and have a clip which you have to carefully remove. Looks like this and slides off one way,

BMW 10 mm Shaft Retaining Lock Circlip Plate Clamp Clip 07129904567 7625711999264 | eBay

Other relevant part numbers:-.

www.ebay.co.uk

Make sure you have a good hold of it so as not to drop it! This is the smallish hands bit. Do both sides.
Now the fabric and broken plastic/metal bits should pull free of the pin. Even if it does not look broken you should still attach the new parts to both sides as it will fail eventually.
Standing at the side of the car, put your hand down inside the channel and pull the fabric up and out and fold it up so you are looking at the inside of the fabric. You'll see if it is broken. You need to cut out the broken part around the hole and take out about one centimeter of the plastic/metal with your cutters.
Place the new part over the old and mark the holes as you are going to drill though the existing plastic and fabric.
Note when drilling put a block behind the old part, you do not want to stick the drill through the hood fabric behind it!
So, with the riveter ready, hold the new against the old, this time the new will be held to the inside of the hood while you push the rivet through the holes from the exterior aspect of the hood (you do it this way so that the new part will push the hood more towards the rubber seal and also so that the rivet's flat head is on the outer aspect and the fat part of the rivet will be inward facing to avoid snagging.
Do all rivets and go back to the boot and slide the fabric onto the body pin, slide on the clip and you are done. Repeat on the other side.

It looks more complicated that it actually is.

 

[Garyg1961]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply Scudder, I did find a brief video video on you tube in which they removed the rear seat to make space to work in, At least it is repairable one way or another, I was thinking it was a new roof or at worst trading it in!
Cheers
Gary