From my understanding, Bulging tower tops do or will eventually contribute to...
1- additional camber (aka tire lean)
2- Alignment issues (meaning poor tracking and possible eventual crabbing. Chassis appears to be diagonal while car is driving straight. often seen in poorly constructed 4x4 lift trucks)
3- Uneven tire wear
4- bent metal stress of the strut tower will eventually fail leading to a torn tower mount or separation of the strut tower from the frame. Serious and costly chassis damage/repair.

 

the change in direction is upward more than anything else. This leads to changes in ride height more than anything else.

Camber and toe could be effected, but only in the second order. Not a big deal.

Really severe mushrooming has been reported, but no separation has been, to the best of my knowledge, and I've been aroudn for a bit. That's not to say that some dealers have reccomended replacing the strut tower top. I just don't know if it was really needed.

While metal fatigue is an issue, it's not a real big one. This goes into the "theoretically possible but not a real concern" category for me.

Also, did you know that the rubber in the strut guide sags over time? This means that for street Minis this is a "soft" dimension anyway.

Anyway, I"m just not in the alarmist camp on this one. If you're really worried, get some aftermarket fixed camber plates and slap those suckers on.

If you've got some shrooming already, drop the struts, (or at least loosen them and let them sag down), get a 2x4 and a four pound sledge, and have at them till "restored".

Whatever you do, NEVER have a dealer repair them if they are going to charge you. It's an afternoon of work with about $20 of tools ($1 for the wood and $19 for the hammer).

Matt

 

I dont understand why I have to be worried about this. If this is a flaw in the car shouldn't the dealer take care of it? I mean im not spending money on fixing mini's design flaws. My mini is sitting at the dealer right now, and i have not picked it up, things like this really just make me angry!

And i want to thank you digital for starting this thread to catch my eye. I have read about it but i didn't think this was such a big issue, just like the mini randomly catching on fire issue.

 

there are a lot of things that customers think are issues that the manufacturer doesn't think are that big a deal. A bit of a matter of perspective.

Also, the notion that all ills will just be magically embrased by the dealer/manufacturer is a bit nieve.... There are tons of issues that have happened over time that fall into this category.

Matt

 

This is the most important quote of the thread IMO.
Incidentally, My dealer reported seam separation to BMW NA over this (an outright lie BTW)

One last thing Dr. I know metal fatigue isn't a big issue thus far, But for those of us who have owned e36's and e46's we know how much of a hassle/expense it is to repair torn strut mounts that can eventually occur. It actually took about 4 years to manifest itself in bigger #'s for those cars.

Finally, BMW recently released a strut mount support kit on BMW Mz3's as the initial chassis was only built to handle the weight/torque of the orig 4 cylinder BMW euro release builds. Those cars were never intended to support the 6 Cyl s52 motors. Only after a long drawn out class action did BMW finally support a recall. So BMW has made good on some defects.

 

. . . and all it took was a long drawn out class action.

 

I never said it was easy.

 

i'm sorry, i meant to say PREVENTATIVE

[i had my strut installed after 20K, no 'shrooming then, and nothing now]

 

Dude I love mushrooms, you have a good connection?

 

so, you're saying you give it the mushroom stamp of approval?

 

if i had one with which to stamp.. then yes

 

yeah! drive fast repeatedly over badly and heavily pot-holed roads for a 3 days nonstop and you might see the effects of 'shrooming

 

I think a sense of humor is lost on this thread

 

Hey wait just a dern second there pal, are you saying this isn't just a thread about magic mushrooms, but pot too. Wow NAM is starting to get cool again

Anyone wanna buy my book?

 

lemme get this straight... if you drive on pot-holes, you can see the effects of 'shrooming.

is that like a contact high or something?

oh, and i think this might help:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=137486

 

Why all of a sudden the song "White Rabbit" is playing in my head?

 

dunno, maybe you should 'ask Alice, when she's 10-feet tall'

 

I've been on NAM a few months now and this is the first I've read of it. Thanks for reviving this so I can check into it.

 

^ I have not heard of this being an issue on the R56 -- for what it's worth

 

People like you are the exact reason I decided to create a must read thread in general forum. My next step is to get a short youtube diy of an actual repair and m7 plate install.

True, but the engineering design is virtually identical. IMO it is just a matter of time until these start to show up on the R56's.

 

hmm, how long has the R56 been around now?



https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=103577

 

Not true: This a quote from the same thread in the second gen problems forum.

"I have recently taken the time to closely look at the R56 strut tower mounts. They appear much stronger than the previous version. They are more "squared" and consist of 2 sandwiched sheets of metal. There are also channels which seem to create a counter to the upward stress. I doubt mushrooming will be a problem on the R56."

The same thread I believe says that MINI was aware of the problem and had taken steps to correct it. One is noted above, another one is a little more play in the suspension. To date after a more than a year of service not one R56 has reported this an issue.

 

I guess I stand corrected, thanks for the info Kelly.

If that is the case, I wonder if the plates they sell for the r56's are a waste of money. But I guess better safe than sorry.

 

This implemented engineered, design adjustment only reinforces my first gripe that the issue on the R50/53 is a flawed design and should be made good under the original BMW manufacturer warranty.

 

Additionally, others have noted that the R53's suspension was not originally designed specifically for runflats. One of the reasons for a more forgiving suspension in the R56 is that it is designed to run on RFs.
Just another factor.