I bought an M7 air plate diverter last year from an authorized M7 dealer. Was very careful putting it on. Checked later that day, several small chips in the front of it. It looks like the nuts from the bracket to my dealer installed MINI driving lights are rubbing when I close the hood. A resolution kinda went by the wayside. I'm told M7 was told of my situation, nothing ever happened. If you have driving lights, think twice about putting this product on your MINI. Don't get me wrong, it is a very nice product, looks great, just not good looking with chips in it.

 

Hmmm.... odd.... I have driving lights on the OEM brackets, and nothing comes close to hitting the APD, as far as I can tell. Maybe it's the hardware I'm using on mine...

 

To quote another NAM vendor (who shall remain nameless):

"M7 stuff looks really nice..."

I've only had the strut tower reinforcement plates... which were removed with great difficulty after one of the towers mushroomed again.

I commend M7 for developing new products for the MINI... The semi-auto shifter, for example... very neat... not saying I'll personally ever see the need to buy it... but they deserve props for forging ahead with such a wild idea...

In general, however, I wish a little more time was spent in the engineering/developement dept. as some of their products seem to hit the market too quickly and slightly half-baked...

 

I have their CAI, OCC and STB. All 3 items are of high quality, fit beautifully, look great and do what they are supposed to do. I am very satisfied.

 

I have the m7 USS on my 06 Cabrio and it wildly exceeds my expectations. Shame on Mini for not offering this as standard equipment. I also had prompt and curtious service from the company too.

 

I have three M7 items on my car.

STB: Fits fair, does not lift the hood but does leave an imprint in the hood insulation. The benefits of any STB are always up for debate, and consensus is that the mounting plates will prevent mushrooming of the strut towers in all but the most serious of bottoming occurances. I give it a and a

Oil catch can. Works as advertised, but I had similar problems with rusty hardware. I replaced the hardware with stainless socket head screws as a solution. It gets a , and a for the crappy plated hardware.

Air diverter plate: I got this not because of it's supposedbenefit of 'ram air into the radiator and prevention of airflow over and around the radiator' (which would not happen anyway unless I removed the rubber seal from the radiator brace/MFE), but as a dressup piece and to prevent tools and stuff from falling into the space between the bumper and the radiator/condensor. For that, it works well, albeit very expensive. What da hell, it was mostly a souvenir from MOTD anyway. I also have two small chips in it where the driving light brackets hit it when closing the hood. Live and learn. I give it a , and a for doing what *I* expected of it rather than what it's prime selling point is.

 

Ok I know M7 gets slammed on the forums and no I am not a "fan boy".
I have spent a fair bit on my mini and have items from various companies (hindsight is a wonderful thing...and given my time over would probably do things differently but...)
I have a few M7 products including pulleys, APD and I recently purchased a DFIC.
I must say that I was very impressed with the customer service that I got from M7 during my latest purchase. The intercooler was damaged in transit down under,it had a couple of scratches on it, when I contacted M7 there were no hassles and it was replaced within a week. You don't mind parting with your hard earned dollars when you get service like that. Top stuff

 

In the vendor review section where I talk about my experience with M7, I mentioned talking to someone in the morning who was helpful despite M7 not yet being open for business.

I think that was you, Randy.


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...uct/310/cat/17


Sidenote: These Forums are a tough crowd. [And I mean all Forums on the Net, not just NAM.]

I can't imagine being a vendor and having to read a tread implicitly soliciting critical comments about how I run my business.

I imagine M7 people tongues and lips are bleeding all to hell from avoiding not getting into it with M7 detractors on the boards. That's a tough row to hoe, to maintain that kind of discipline. Just noting.

 

Are you talking mostly about the M7 plates?

As I read all the "data" on the plates [I read about 10 hours of material], I don't think anyone has ever said that the M7 plates [or Craven plates] eliminate the threat to shrooming.

What I gathered was that the plates were better than doing nothing, but one still had to be careful when driving because a good sized pothole or road hazard could do you in.

I consider the M7 plates an excellent concept and other than going under the strut mount area with additional reinforcement [see other threads for discussion of those products] I don't know what else could be done to the M7 plates to make them more effective. Fact is, there's not much room there to work with in that area.

As to M7 statements about the plates, I think they only say that the plates "will help" in preventing shrooming. And all the threads on NAM say that the plates don't make you and the car invincible.

Lastly, I don't know who produced what first, but I note that Craven also sells the strut reinforcement plates. So either both these companies have it wrong or the plates are a good idea. I tend to believe the latter for all the reasons stated herein.

Yeah, some of the M7 stuff is bling. But I think M7 pretty much tells us what is bling, what might help, and what is a solution or remedy to a problem.

Just sayin how I sees it, from a total newbie's perspective [who cannot see sheet without his glasses.]

 

Hood scoop's crap...

Bad fit with many flaws that took many hours from my body shop to paint.

Plus one of the molded-in screws now spins freely so I can't tighten or loosen it.

 

 

C-wing for R56 is a good fit and the finish in CF is very good. All around I would say that it is a nice item and I would recommend it.

 

Same here. Got one for Christmas and love it. Looks great on my MINI... and yours onefish

 

I've had my M7 RAM Air scoop for many happy motoring miles and years now, zero problems. Did you just purchase it new? If yes give them a call.

 

You need a better body shop. I’m in the bodyshop business and bought 3 of their scoops.

They aren’t ready to paint out of the box. If your bodyshop has any experience at all, they’d know you can’t take a fiberglass or carbon fiber product and just prime and paint it.

Even after painting my last scoop from them (twice), the carbon fiber died back and left an imprint in it. To make it completely perfect, it would have to be primed, blocked and redone again.

As far as the spinning bolt, they should have epoxied it first. I’m not knocking them but if they have enough experience doing custom stuff like this, they’d know what to do the first time.

Mark

 

Do remember that most people over tighten everything, those little bolts don't need much.