Well i noticed recently that i have the dreaded "Mushrooming" everyones been talkin about online. Now i know exactely what it is. The left side is fine, but the passenger side bolt at the 12'oclock position is too far out towards the back of the car. I had a Dinan strut tower brace on my car, and i damaged the end-plate on it. Actual bar is fine, but i dont want to order new end plates and install this thing again, only to have the same thing happen again. I also cannot take the car to a bodyshop and fix the "Mushrooming" right now (my SA said the only way to fix the mushrooming is to take the car to a bodyshop, which they do not have ) Because its my daily-driver and my other car is being modified right now.

So anyway, getting back to my question, is there a Strut tower brace on the market that i can use with the Mushroomed strut tower ? Im actually loolking for a "Neuspeed" style bar, that bolts to the tower itself, instead of using plates to bolt down on the existing strut bolts.

 

M7 is the way to go.

 

We had mushrooming in our MCS. We actually got a 2x4 and hammered it back in...then put the M7 brace on. It is IMO the beefiest one. Of course since then we have also put in Camber plates so it won't ever happen again.

Good luck

 

I still think the better option of preventing mushrooming is to support from below with some camber plates. Ireland makes a good fixed set for not a lot of money. They use a bushing from BMW Z-4. If anything the ride got a little smoother. You could then fix your strut brace and use it also.
Steve

 

So how exactely did you do that? Pound with a hammer from the top onto the top of the strut tower?

 

Put the wood flat against the top of the strut tower, and then hit the piece of wood. M7 mentions doing this in the strut brace instructions, if you already have mushrooming.
I didn't have to do it, so I can't be more specific. But it seems it's worked for a lot of people.
I love my M7 brace, it's been super tough.

Good luck.

 

I was going to suggest the 2x4 and a hammer, too. Put the wood on top of the mushroom and beat it down with the hammer til you get it back to the former height.

I installed the M7 strut tower reinforcement plates to keep this from happening, but then I also had the IE fixed camber plates installed, too...hoping to ward off any disasters down the road.

 

A good block of wood and a 10 lb sledge hammer. Don't use a 16 or 20 oz framing hammer. It won't move the metal. Concentrate the blows on the raised portion or lip around the hole where the tower is highest.

 

Don't forget to put the car on jack stands or you'll be fighting against the bounce.

 

go with the M7~!

 

I put an M7 brace on right after I bought my car. 23,000 miles & still no mushrooms. Get a hammer a 2x4 & an M7 brace, that'll do it.

 

Ok, thanks everyone for commenting!

I dont have jack-stands, but i think i can borrow some. Maybe i'll try pounding down on the strut tower first and see how that helps.
Also, i wonder if i have to hammer that bolt back into place. As i said, i have one bolt on nthe passenger side shock tower that is totally bent toward the windshield. I could barely put the end plate on that thing! I'll go to M7's site and see what it looks like

 

Interesting, my wife has a Z4, its rides like a buck board compared to my Mini?

 

Yeah m7 is the way to go. But, where can I gey IE fixed camber plates?

 

Follow this procedure one side at a time; remove the thre nylock nuts. Then using your jack, jack the car up until these three nuts fall just below the strut tower. Then, using a 2x4 or 2x6 flat side down, hammer until the mushrooming is gone. Becareful not to go too far. Then gently lower the car - you may have to stick you arms under the fender to guide the bolts thru the hole. Torque to 28ft lbs. Repeat on the other side

 

Ireland Engineering's web page is
http://www.bmw2002.com/

 

You must have really hit a hole. Keep in mind that if it is that bad then your strut top plate is probably toast and should be replaced. What size tires are you running?

2 MCS's 70,000 total miles and no mushrooms riding on 16's.

 

^ What exactely do you mean by the "Strut top plate" ??? Is that a plate that comes with a new strut and mounts underneath the strut tower? I have "top-plates" on top of the strut towers now, but they are part of the Dinan Strut tower bar that i have on the car. On a previous post, i mentioned that those plates are cracked! Well, the left side is, and im sure the RH will go sooner or later.

I have been running 18"wheels for 2 months or so on the car. I also have 18"s on my S2000 with no problemds. In fact, ive run 18"wheels on the last 3 cars ive owned, never had a problem. I did however, hit a nasty pothole which i did not see coming on the JW bridge in NY. I remember that because even the radio stopped playin my cd for a few seconds!

 

I ordered an M7 strut tower bar yesterday. Glad to see the additional info today. I'll be checking out my towers when I get the strut bar. Since my husband is a blacksmith I guess if we need to we can pound it back into submission! I chose the M7 bar because of the mushrooming fix. It may not be the best looking, but, it seems it may be the most effective overall.

 

The top strut plate is the portion of the strut assembly above the coil spring. It along with the big 13/16 nut holds the strut together. You can see the nut under the hood if you remove the dust cap from the top of the strut. The top plate also has a bearing in it that actually turns when you turn the steering wheel.

 

Cool! A blacksmith in the MINI community. Just when carbon fiber is getting expensive, too! I had to beat my right side back into submission prior to putting the M7 brace on . . . sure glad to have it!

 

This is the actual camber plate (mounts under the strut tower) which the strut is mounted to thru the bearing hole. The previous post was correct, if one of your studs is that badly bent then you should replace that camber plate as it is probably bent as well. If the camber plate is bent then hammering the top of the strut mount will not fix that. It would be a great time to change to a set of camber plates that are more supportive and would give you additional negative camber. IMHO replacing the camber plates and hammering the top of the strut towers would be the best fix.
Steve

 

Thanks everyone!
well i plan on replacing the shoocks anyway, so that will take care of the bent bolt i have. But in the meantime, i will try hammering down on the RH side shock tower to see if i can flatten it.

Also, when browsing the FS thread here, i noticed someone selling a CF strut bar that actually mounts on the shock towers and only using 2 of the bolt holes on either side. Versus the conventional strut bar on the market that use all 3 of the existing bolts on the shock tower. I think this will be a good option at this time. Supposdly this came from MiniMania so i may opt for that, or just fix the strut tower and get the M7 but this may be later on.

~Vic

 

If you are just changing the struts to lets say koni's, the strut plate is not included with the new struts.

 

In the past couple weeks, I have installed the air diverter plate, the strut tower brace, the under strut system all from M7, the engine damper kit from Texas Speedwerks. I wanted the improved engine cooling, and tighter front end without damage to strut towers. I drive a cabrio, and can hardly wait to try them out on some 'twisties'! In normal city driving everything seems tighter and more solid. We shall see what happens on the curves! I really like the way the M7 stuff looks and feels.