Missing bottom door seal... and fix

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anima

Missing bottom door seal... and fix

Post by anima »

I read in a thread over at NAM that the driver side door seals are not applied to the R55 and R56 MINIs - dunno why. Look here

I checked my car and sure enough there is no seal on the bottom of the driver side door....... so I ordered one from Pelican Parts. :-)

The door seal fits with clips into several holes along the bottom of the door, it took all of about 15 seconds to install.

Here's the seal in packaging:
Image
From the front:
Image
from the back, you can see the clips that fit in the holes in the door:
Image

Here's the right side door with the factory installed seal:
Image
Image

and the left (driver side) without:
Image
Image

The seal just snaps in place in those holes (red arrow above). I suppose I could have gone to Baron and asked that the seal be installed under warranty, but I'm not sure if they would have honored that seeing that it isn't installed on any MINI. At any rate, I didn't need to drop the car off, I did it quickly and easily, and it only cost $14 ($22 with shipping). It just seemed easier to do it myself.

Here is the official MINI/BMW part number 51767146093

I ordered it from Pelican Parts. It took about a week to get here. :D

Jeff
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Post by Minidave »

Why do you suppose they don't put a seal there?
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'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
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anima

Post by anima »

Minidave wrote:Why do you suppose they don't put a seal there?
Beats me, to save money maybe?

Jeff
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Post by Minidave »

Did it make the car any quieter or?
Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
anima

Post by anima »

Minidave wrote:Did it make the car any quieter or?
Hard to say, I just installed it last night and with the rain this morning the whole drive was kind of noisy.

Again I have no idea why they don't put this on (and there may be a very good reason for it), but it seems to me that it should be there, so I put one there (especially since there is one on the other side).

Jeff
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Post by Minidave »

OK, I missed that part about one being on the other side, yeah definitely they screwed up at the factory!
Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
anima

Post by anima »

Minidave wrote:OK, I missed that part about one being on the other side, yeah definitely they screwed up at the factory!
Maybe it's not a screw up at the factory, evidently they don't put it on the left side door of ANY R55, R56 - just the right side. Weird. What about earlier models do you guys have one on both sides?

Jeff
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Post by Minidave »

I had to go look, but my R53 has them both sides. I can't imagine putting it on one side only.........I think they just screwed up.
Hi! My name's Dave!

'09 LB/LB Clubman S - "Max"
89 Mini "Racing Green"
94 SPi Project (The Hot Rod)
anima

Post by anima »

OK, I just found this over at NAM, evidently it is by design, doesn't make much sense to me, but there you go. :?
The Service Bulletin is from August-2007 and was written for the R56.


Mini DealerNet
TIS-Technical Information System

Subject: Lower Door Seal Deleted
Model: R56(Cooper and Cooper S) produced from 8/2007

The lower door seal, which runs the length of the left and right doors is located directly below each door panel, has been eliminated on cars produced from 8/2007.

Eliminating this seal does not have any negative effects on body sealing.
As these vehicles were not equipped with these parts from production, no warranty reimbursement will be made to retrofit these seals to later vehicles.
--end of service bulletin
anima

Post by anima »

I have a Clubman and the right side one is fitted due to the club door (supposedly). Coupes may need two.

jeff
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Post by Minidave »

Interesting........
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hctiev

Post by hctiev »

My car is an R53 and it has them on both side and they are horrible and don't really work.
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Post by dimini »

My R53 has both. Are they horrible? I have no clue. Part of my carwash routine is to dry the entire door sill, followed by a quick wipe of the chamois along the bottom of the doors, including the seal, and the door ends.

One would think if there are open holes or slots in the R56 left-side door to accomodate a seal, that would potentially be a spot for rust without the seal in place...
'06 MCS JCW daily driver & classic mini pick-up
anima

Post by anima »

dimini wrote: One would think if there are open holes or slots in the R56 left-side door to accomodate a seal, that would potentially be a spot for rust without the seal in place...
that was kind of my feeling too.

Jeff
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