38 replies to this topic

[mini_lover]

Hey all,

I need some advice if you don't mind

Il try and keep this simple.

About a month ago my car was pelted with fruit for height. (dont ask!) This has caused slight dents and waves all over my roof. They are only really visible if you really look for them, if the light bounces off them or if you get on eyeline with the roof and look across it. You can also feel them when I wash the car roof.

Ive taken the car to 3 mini related garages. Two out of the three are saying put a new roof pannel on and the third is advising against this.

The two garages who want to replace the roof are saying that the roof pannel can never be fixed to a good enough standard and that I would always notice the dents. They say that as the roof is such a large panel and as the dents are so shallow and theres so many of them that it would be impossible to repair so that it is perfect, and so that I wouldn't notice or know that they are there, which is why they want to replace the roof. I am concerned about this as it is such a big job, removing the old roof and welding on another :s

The third garage is a specialist bodyworker. His advise is that he would attempt to repair the dents on the basis that he doesn't think replacing the roof on a mini is a good thing to do, he thinks it will cause problems and il have issues relating to the structure of the car and its stability. He basically thinks that the car wont be the same after having a new roof welded on, that it will disturb too much if the car. This guy seems to be very good at his job and has been recommended to me and I do think he would do a good job on the roof, but he cant gaurentee that it will be perfect with no dents in it once hes finished which I am obviously very concerned about

So basically i'm kind of stuck with what to do - do I end up with a car that possibly has an inperfect roof which would annoy the hell out of me or a car with a new roof welded on that possibly wont ever be the same structually...

I'm very annoyed about all this, and just want by car back to how he was before... but atm it sounds like thats not going to happen..

What would you do? Any advise?

Thanks in advance

Jo and Billy

[Bungle]

a specialist bodyworker should know more than a body shop

yes the roof is very hard to weld on

there are a few other alternatives if you don't mind your mini not being stock

first is fit a full length sunroof as it covers most of the roof a electric roof new and fitted will set you back some where around £1000

or you could buy second hand for £200-300

next is cut most of the roof off just leaving around 6 inches around the edges and fit a carbon fibre roof skin

lastly is go for that 70's look and fit a vinyl roof kit

[mini_lover]

Thanks for your reply

The third garage suggested that I think about the sun roof and about the graphics, (hes really good like that, suggested altenatives that are realistic) but I really don't fancy either to be honest.

I don't particarly want a big black sunroof on my nice (well it was) white roof.

If my car was a different colour (red or blue) then I would consider having a union jack on, but I dont really want one on my BRG cooper and I dont really want any other on my car.

Im not trying to be difficult, but i know what i like and what i wouldn't like on/doing to my car.

Its a pretty much standard cooper and i dont want to mess about with it to much, but im probably going to have to have a serious think and reconsider all the above options...

[bert998]

If he's that good im sure he will do a decent job of it. Good news is that white is probably
the best colour for hiding imperfections in the body.

[Bungle]

maybe one of the photo shop kids could do you a picture of what your car would look like with a sunroof or union jack etc

we didn't like the look of a black sun roof on a white roof on Mrs bungles mini so we sprayed the roof black to match

[mini_lover]

Theres so many small dimples in it though, i'm not convinced that il be happy with the results... If I can still notice or feel them then It will annoy and irritate me...

Yeah he also pointed that out as well, bright white reflecting will hide them slightly...

my poor car

[mini_lover]

maybe one of the photo shop kids could do you a picture of what your car would look like with a sunroof or union jack etc

we didn't like the look of a black sun roof on a white roof on Mrs bungles mini so we sprayed the roof black to match

Hmm... black roof on a brg mini.. hmmm...interesting

Yeah thats an idea... I can have a play about in photoshop later, dont think il be sold on any of them but i might change my mind when I see it... no point writing them off just yet..

[Bean]

i remember reading about what happened to your car! And thinking.... 'what the hell!?!?'


IMO I like the look of sunroofs and i do quite like them on light roofs:




And they're gorgeous in the summer!! Miles of headroom and you get the sun in!! Can't wait to get mine back on the road, lol

Perfect opportunity to treat yourself to one, lol


Anywho, I hope you manage to get it sorted

[Matt]

as above.. you dont know what your missing until you get a sunroof.. mines only a popup one but its like heaven when its roasting hot... you come back to your mini after it being parked and getting into it and its cool not fuming hot.

[mini_lover]

Hi Bean!!

That mini does look alright with that sun roof but i cant say that I really really want one put on my car.

Will investigate about this further thou.. what type of sunroof is this? and any idea how they fair in winter? do they leak at all?

Oo questions questions!


Do you all think replacing the roof is out of the question then? Will it cause too much distruption of the car?

[lewis]

ive heard of people replacing the roof and not having a problem, but then again im sure ive heard of a couple disaster storys, it really matters on who is doing it and hows its being done and how the replacement roof is fitted. a private body specialist wanted to charge me a bomb for replacing it, they said it involved alot of struts and braces to stop the car trying to fold in on itself, sounds about right.

the other pain is that dk lawson on here has said about the acoustics of the roof being a serious pain in the backside, and if you were to pull out the dents and fill them slightly that the vibrations could ruin the fill work done.

i have exactly the same problem as you, and may just go down the fill route to be honest

[mini_lover]

ive heard of people replacing the roof and not having a problem, but then again im sure ive heard of a couple disaster storys, it really matters on who is doing it and hows its being done and how the replacement roof is fitted. a private body specialist wanted to charge me a bomb for replacing it, they said it involved alot of struts and braces to stop the car trying to fold in on itself, sounds about right.

the other pain is that dk lawson on here has said about the acoustics of the roof being a serious pain in the backside, and if you were to pull out the dents and fill them slightly that the vibrations could ruin the fill work done.

i have exactly the same problem as you, and may just go down the fill route to be honest

So music for example could slightly crack the filled in parts?? Hm.. never even thought of that, something else to think of.. argh! lol What happned to your roof??

[wwinstanley]

if you dont mind me asking, why was your roof pelted with fruit?

[mini_lover]

if you dont mind me asking, why was your roof pelted with fruit?

My supposed friend and her boyfriend has a huge fight where she locked him out the house. They were both drunk after a night out and he was throwing fruit up to her window on the 3rd floor to get her attention and my car was below the said window... obviously if it goes up, it has to come down, all over my roof and bonnet for, according to the next door neighbour who heard it happen, for 10-15 mins.

They managed in about 20 mins, to dent my bonnet, dent my boot and shallow dent all my roof as well as scratch it all over, bar the side against the wall... and they tried to clean up the mess whilst still drunk, which resulted in lots of carp being ground into my nice paintwork.

Over a month later and i'm still fuming and very upset by it all!

Edited by mini_lover, 15 November 2007 - 04:21 PM.

[lewis]

some prat decided it looked like a suitable dance floor

its just the problem of it being such a large panel and so has more freedom of movement

i think your best bet is to ask the last body guy how much, whats involved and if he does use filler if it would crack, if he does a good job i.e lets the filler shrink and dry well, shapes it properly and does a good job of the spraying then it should be fine

good luck getting it sorted mate and if it doesnt get sorted in a months time have a look at my project thread, i will be updating it at christmas time and tackle my roof.

edit: what an idiot! your poor mini, sounds like more of a mess than i thought, have you got any pictures?

Edited by lewis, 15 November 2007 - 04:32 PM.