Has anyone gotten the mushrooming banged out at a body shop and how much did it cost?

 

Well..... How bad is it? Are you replacing the strut tower mounts?? (you should be if your fixing the tower itself).

 

it is so simple I did in my driveway, Jack up the side of the car you are going to work on, undo the three bolts that attach the strut and let it settle down so the bolts drop out of the holes, take a hunk of 2x4 and lie it on the top of the strut tower, then bash the living daylights out of it with a 5lb sledge. It was super easy and all joking aside if you take care as I did you have no paint damage at all. Mine are now flat and have Craven STDs on them. The Craven plates allowed me to see how they should be when done, once they fitted nice and flat I bolted them up.

 

I had it bad on one side i replaced the mounts but instead of banging "the living daylights out of it "you may want to have it pulled back down into place.Then i got the m7 stb and plates and oh also got rid of the run flats
they may add to the situation as well.I have several thousand miles of the car tire wear is fine .

 

what is the biggest culprit to this becoming an issue? i see alot of talk about it but would like to know what to look for or avoid?

 

My mushroomed strut top was fixed (wood and mallet method) when camber plates were added.


Avoid any rim larger than 16", avoid runflat tires, potholes, speedbumps, railroad crossings, expansion joints, etc.

 

pretty much anything but a track lol

 

Well, with a light rim, a tire that has some give, and any kind of strut top plate, camber plates, and polyurethane control arm bushings, you can pretty much run over anything and come out of it.

 

Some of you must live in places with really wicked roads. I also think the combination of stiff suspension + big rims and low profile tires do not help the cause.

 

Mushrooming is a problem on the 1st Gen. cars. It's too bad that BMW won't own up to the fact. I took care of mine with the 2x4 and hammer method. It now has M7 plates and strut rod and non R/Fs.

 

mine is lowered and has 17" team wheels, our roads are not that bad, i been looking at those strut bars for under the hood, with those brackets that wrap around, would that be a good investment? excuse my lack of knowledge, new to the mini scene, just picked up my 04 with 26k on it, also found out the prior owner already did some mods. CAI, and suspension mods, not sure what mods the suspension went threw but it has green springs in the back with white #'s on it, fronts i cant tell. please be patient with me as i become addicted to the MCS!

 

Start here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ollection.html

Read all 17 pages; 400+ posts. Answers to all of your questions.
'Search' is your friend...
(Hi Nab!)

 

What amazed me is that I was fully aware of the STM problem and thus when I bought my car I looked at a bunch in the lot to ensure mine was like "all the others" and thus (I thought not suffering from STM) Well that was until I bought the cravens and saw when trying to fit them that the slight upward bulge that all the cars had on the lot was not stock!! In the UK where I live we travel tons of country back roads and they are horrid, thus I probably have more chance of having this problem than most folks. After our recent heavy snow and frost the amount of pot holes is incredible.

Peter

 

That really is the best place for mushrooming strut information.

(Hi A.Mariner! I should work on more drawings...)

 

Yes, you should. You'll never get famous if you hide your
light under a basket.

 

The best place to get mushrooms is a dark cool place.Yet for a Mini the streets of NYC is a good place to get some .In fact this time of year going into the spring is like mushroom season with new pot holes sprouting up where all you have to do in drop in and get them .Of course i would think if you hit curbs or like driving 60 over speedbumps you may pick a few as well .

 

I am going to attempt the 2x4 method to fix mushrooming. What steps should I take? And once completed what parts should I replace above and below? Is this expensive?

 

Basically, just whack them so they flatten down until you can place an M7 or some such plate on them and get the nuts a couple of turns down on the bolt before you encounter resistance. Then, when you tighten the nuts down with a wrench, the plate will basically finish the job of flattening for you.

 

There is also a 2-hour closed book exam at the end.

 

I went to unbolt the three tower nuts, place the m7 plate, and mines is about 1/4 inch off.. I take it that I will have to remove the strut before straighten it back in place?? Correct me if I am wrong, I am new to this, The plate should be flush all around correct? Should be fun. Thanks in advance for the help.