Hi, I bought a bran new Mini7 in March 2002, as soon as i got it home
hamerited the whole underside, including painting front and rear chassis,
emptied the boot and sprayed litres of waxoyle over that area, then did the
same to the rear sub, didnt bother with the front sub because i figured that
later oil leaks would keep that rust free, which it did and has, but every
year now, I use a wire brush and a rag to wipe the sills, then apply two
coats of hammerite to the sill flange deep upto the exhaust tunnel from the
wing/front panel flange all the way to the rear valance wheel arch.
This has kept the rust at bay, with only minor bubbles appearing, sometimes
i use semi-structural car body sealer, a paint on rubber to repair and chips
that have occure to the factory applied stuff. I always oil the door hinges
with 20/50 grade, this builds up in the bottom of the a panel protecting
that area, as well as applying wxoyle to the inner a panel, hinge panel,
seatbelt anchorage buckets and under the carpets.
I have also had to hammerite the closing edge of the bonnet as that had
become scabby, so do that every year now aswell, also regularly steam clean
the whole car.
Recently have removed the rover wheel arches revealing loads of solid mud
that had built up, and replaced the wheel arches with direct replacement
fibreglass ones using the same predrilled rover holes, these new arches are
open and dont accumulate any mud, I have also waxoyled underneath this area
to keep the rust from attaking the rivet holes.
Phew, and in this heat aswell!

Jono