rust question?

[chrisbonnie]

alright lads and lassies

anyway, as ive said many a time, im gonna be buying a mini soon, and soon has now come(yippee)

anyway, i was looking at a 1999 mini cooper on saturday, a jap import, i thought that was funny, now, i noticed teeny tiny spots of rust on the seam, just under the doors, now, when i say small, i really mean small, about half the size of your little finger nail

so, should i stay away from it, i dont know how quick the rust will spread, or is there perhaps some kind of primer, or something to stop it? i havent a notion, so hopefully someone can help

thanks alot

[The Marcos Graveyard]

[quote="chrisbonnie"] i was looking at a 1999 mini cooper on saturday, a jap import, i thought that was funny,
thanks alot[/quote]

Not funny at all, Japan was one of the biggest markets for Minis, they got extras as well, like Air Conditioning, there should be 2 vents in the centre of the dash. down side is the AC takes up more room in the engine bay, harder to work on.
Quite a lot of Minis going into the States these days are frim Japan.

[chrisbonnie]

like they say, you learn something new everyday

what about the rust then? it looks like it developed where a bit of paint would have cracked off, if that helps

[irlmin]

Minis of that age were rusting leaving the factory , I remember replacing headlamp rims on a car 2 months old in 2000 . as Neil says Japan was a significant market for Mini and it's arguable that without the Japanese sales throughout the late 80s and early 90s we would never have had a re-introduction of the Mini Cooper as it was the 'kits' of engine tuning equipment sent there by John Cooper Garages that confirmed to Rover that a market for a re-introduced Cooper was worth investigating and the 'RSP' was produced with 1650 built and most sold before being built with 600 going to Japan . anyway as regards rusting be carefull and have the car checked by someone who knows thair way around Minis as I have seen what look like really clean minis hiding really terminal rust underneath , in fact I have estimated that for every 10 Minis we look at in UK we buy only 1 all the others are rusty , have gearbox problems , are tatty , poorly modified , stolen recovered and repaired with non standard bits . or of course just high mileage . don't be put off by small rust 'spots' in fact I would be looking deeper if they were not there and looking for shoddy touch up's . best of luck
Gerard