yeah, but there has not been an official recall on the 'defect'
however the leaking motor mount is 1000% covered by BMW warranty

 

My friend's car had this problem too. The dealer wanted $1900 to replace the strut mount on both sides.

Was anyone able to get this problem fixed by the dealer under warranty?
Any success?

Thanks in advance.

 

We are currently pursuing litigation against our local dealership as well as BMW NA for their handling/mishandling of the dealerships erroneous claims of a cracked strut guide bushing and false claim of strut tower mount separation.

Anyone who has had this problem diagnosed or fixed at a local "ATLANTA" area mini dealership is encouraged to PM me (your name, year, model, service dept diagnosis, dealership name and the repair cost) as we are preparing a class action claim against a regional dealership service department.

I love Attorneys.

I will keep you updated as to our progress.
I am certain a certain service manager is in jeopardy of losing her job over this one.

Cheers!

 

Well i talked to the service advisor, what he said was "mini was designed to drive on "normal" road conditions" So therefore he said the factory warranty didn't cover it.

 

like others said, this topic has been beat to death and more importantly,
there is a sticky on one of them with polls as well.

bottom line is, the strut tower plates do help preventing the towers from mushrooming, but to completely eliminate it, you need camber plates as well.

and no, most dealers won't fix it under warranty so do a search and do your best to prevent it from happening.

 

That means not North America, Central America, South America, most of Asia, the former Soviet Union, lots of the Middle East, all of africa, and tons of Great Britain!

What a crock of craap...

Matt

 

All is not lost.

Alot has transpired since my last post.

At the request of BMW NA, I did get an evaluation of my strut tower mushrooming from a second dealership service department.

Their written findings were in direct contradiction of the Global BMW /Mini service departments findings(AKA severe mushrooming in need of a $1600 weld in shock tower replacement with 0 warranty coverage)

So now a BMW/Mini North American technical engineer will be dispatched to evaluate our vehicle.

BMW NA customer service has done a complete 180 on this and is now calling me weekly with status updates.

Has anyone else taken their dispute with global this far or paid for a $1000-1600 weld in replacement? If so please contact me via PM. (I will be pursuing this with Clark Howard and The better business regulatory agencies)

 

I'm having one fixed next week, I was quoted at around $500. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Wow dude $1600!!
Dudette $500 bucks!!

Maybe, ya'll should sticky this somewhere, I am sure there are still gonna be "NEW" R53 owners that are also NEW to sites like this, and mushrooming is gonna be NEW to them like it was NEW to us several years ago, I'm a rehabed veteran shroomer now. I just hate to see these people pay $500-$1600 big ones to fix this.

 

I have a 2009 JCW and when I picked up my car I bought the JCW strut bar that goes from shock tower to shock tower. Does anyone think this would prevent the problem of mushrooming? The bar attaches with the three nuts on each tower.
Ronnie948

 

I totally agree. see the thing is, they tried to pull the old "mushrooming is dangerous, gotta get it fixed right away" with my fiance. I was having none of it.

I have been at odds with BMW NA since April.

Interesting fact. A lil birdie at a different dealer than Global basically told me there are alot of individuals quoted $1600 from Global for full weld in when it really just entails a $350 bang back and a good set of $100 plates for full correction.

 

Hey Ronnie,
I'm not very versed on the O9. But this is what I have gathered (senior members correct me if I am wrong)

A) A strut bar will NOT prevent mushrooming.
B) In the r50 model minis, mushroomed towers actually tended to manifest thru broken strut tower bars. (i.e. the bar will get a crack, bend or break upon mushroom creation.
C) The only known (theorized) preventatives are strut top plates/defenders etc. (specially engineered plates designed solely to prevent mushrooming try craven or M7)
D) I am not even sure if there are documented cases of strut top mushrooming in 08-09 models. So you may have nothing to worry about.

 

Nobody has reported this happening to R56 (07 on models) problem is with 02-06 MINIs.

 

A few questions [well more than a few, but you did post a lot of info since April]:

You said back in April that you intended to get the MINI fixed at some point, then sell it. Are you still going to sell it.

You said you were not going to drive your MINI until the issue was resolved. Have you stuck to that, not driven the MINI for four months?

Did you actually file suit against the dealership and MINI USA?

If you did, was it only then that MINI USA decided to check your car out?

If you did file suit, was it a class action?

If a class action, what is the case name, who is the law firm handling it?

Did your lawyers take the case on a contingency or are you paying attorneys fees?

If the lawyers took it on a class action basis, did they file in fed or state court and what did they say about the alleged defect? What laws were violated [safety issues, consumer affairs, warranty?] In other words, why did the lawyers say you had a case.

It's important for people to know all this because as you can see from many posts throughout NAM and the Net, MINI owners have been told to take a hike and have had to pay for repairs themselves.

A class action on this issue is significant in establishing precedent. So members need to know about what happened in your case, if it is an actual case or lawsuit, even if it's an individual case and not a class action. I'd like your lawyers names so I can contact them directly to discuss the issues and the civil suit.

Did anyone at the dealership get fired over this, as you opined someone would be fired? If someone was fired, why were they fired, because they gave you false information?

You [or someone] said that the dealership was acting criminal, did anyone get arrested?

Lastly, do you have a resolution date on your issue? Has your dispute been going on for four months?

 

Can you post the name of the law firm handling this [potential?] class action please. Also, is it a federal or state case? Thanks.

 

Hello Michael,

Thank you for taking the time to address this post.

Unfortunately, I am unable to address many of the questions you have posed not only from a disclosure aspect, but also because there are individuals (without the communities best interest at heart) lurking among the forums.

In regard to vehicle repair: I am optimistic of BMW's ability to resolve my claim.

In Regard to selling the vehicle: We are still in possession of the car and will be until the situation is resolved. (At which point the car will likely go on the market)

As for driving the car: We have drastically limited vehicle use and have only used it for dire necessity and trips to service depts for evaluation. (pictures and mileage documentation has been chronicled). Additionally my argument is not that damage isn't present. Simply that a dealer/dealer service dept in the BMW NA dealer network has made service recommendations to vehicle damage and inflated repair costs

Filing Suit: I am poised for action pending the resolution proposed my BMW NA and its technical engineer recommendation. But As stated earlier, I am optimistic.

BMW's Action in the matter: I can honestly say that my tenacity and resilience are the only reason there has been any action over the past 7 months.

The Claim: If it come to a head, a claim will be filed both state and federally and will certainly point to documented evidence of pattern failure.

Lawyers: A family friend has taken a personal interest in my fight and hasn't advised me incorrectly thus far.

My fight began in early Feb 2008 and has continued to date.

I am unable to comment on criminal allegations.

 

I wonder what needs to be done to convince MINI to issue a recall on this issue and finally put an end to this problem. Maybe a federal lawsuit?

 

To clarify the $500 is to replace my strut mount.

 

BTW, if you want massive metal fatigue, pound the tower top back toward flat - that will do it for sure...

 

Although it has been said repeatedly that the R56 has not been yet affected, thanks for this thread. For $200 and a torque wrench I think i'll be making this my first mod, with M7's strut brace that includes the bolster plates. Not a bad deal.

 

I've been reading several threads on this issue throughout the day.....seems that camber plates and craven or m7 defenders should for the most part prevent mushrooming of the stut towers however they don't correct the real problem which is failing strut mount bushings. What I haven't read is if someone was to replace all the suspension with coilovers with camber plates attached like Cross or BC wouldn't that solve it? By changing everything doesn't that basically eliminate all of the defective parts that BMW so kindly supplied us with and our inferior suspension components?
Thanks,
Steve

 

I have a rather beat 02 MCS with 99k+ miles on it. I've had camber plates longer than I can remember, as they were my first mod. As I've gone over the full mod spectrum for the suspension, I have had a bottoming at times and the like, and for the most part, I don't have much of an issue at all.

No, not total elimination, but almost.

Matt

 

Ok Matt so maybe I went a little overboard when I said "eliminate all of the defective parts", but as far as any mushrooming/failure of strut mount or bushing is concerned those issues should be resolved no? Oh and your experiences are worth much more to me than you may realize as I'm well aware of your positive contributions to the Mini community so thank you.

Steve