Anyone have any problems with the M7 STB's fitment? And when I say fitment I mean not being able to close my hood.
I was going to install my M7 STB today and when I did the first time the hood wouldn't close, I thought it might be because of the liner hitting the STB so I just took out the liner. Still that didn't fix it, now it's hitting on the hood itself. I called M7 and they said to look at the strut tower for mushrooming, when I first put the STB on I checked and everything looked fine. So I took the STB back off and there is a slight high spot in the exact same place on both strut towers (right around the front strut bolt). I tried to hammer it down a little bit but with no luck.

Please help me, my strut towers look semi-flat to me and the piece just wont fit. The only way I could get it to fit would be machine the STB's (yes I would take it to a machine shop). Any suggestion feel free to let me know.

Thanks

 

They must be mushroomed more than you think. I have heard of them bulging up the hood, as mine does slightly, with the liner still on, but never so bad as to hitting the hood? Might take some pics and post them.

 

If it's mushroomed that bad then will simply banging on it with a hammer and a piece of wood really correct it? I did hammer it some today and it seemed to me that it didn't get any better.

I'm really at a lose as to what to do.

 

I had the same problem on my 03 and M7 is correct...
In order to flatten or reshape the strut towers, you have to take the weight of the towers by jacking the front wheels off the ground and supporting the car with jack stands. I'm pretty sure there is a link that describes this, but I'm not sure where...
I wasn't crazy about beating on the towers, but by placing a piece 2X4" in strategic places and positions and then wacking it with a pretty good size hammer. I finally got the STB plates to sit flat on the towers. Everything worked out great with no damage to the towers
After I placed the STB on the car and drove it around for awhile I re-torqued the STB very carefully. Which I continue to check. I also had removed the hood liner which has been discussed here before. Hope this helps. It was a little painful, but everything worked out great!
I also think you can feel a difference in the cars handling. As I back off the drive round-down my sunroof used to creak and pop. It doesn't seem to do that as much or as often.

 

Most of the time the M7 strut brace interferes with the hood. Search for other posts on this forum about that. Mine does the same thing. I'm only using the shock tower parts right now.

 

It sounds like your towers are definitly mushroomed. My M7 Brace fits with almost no gap issues and I HAVE the liner in there. There were gap issues at first. But using the water trick and putting 150lbs of sand bags on over night really helped, and over the past few months it has just gotten better on its own.

For you though, if it hits the hood without the liner in its definitly from majorly mushroomed towers. Or it sounds like it is.

 

i strongly recommend an alignment after beating your strut towers flat and installing the m7 brace.

 

lol make sure you didnt put the right and left brackets on the wrong side like I did. What a schmuk I was. The bar should be almost flat across. If the bar is at an angle you put the side brackets (that attach to the center bar) on the wrong sides.

 

i had the brace put on late today--slight gap so i am going the water route first--AeroCooper did you use the sand bag idea for several days and wetting down liner also. just want to get the gap closed as much as i can-just dont know for how long--and or-when these ideas do not more benefit-thanks robert

 

Dude, do I see Lambo doors on your Mini Sweet

 

I had the bags on there overnight. Probably about 15-18 hours total, put them around 4-5PM and took them off ~ 12 AM the next day. And yes, I wet it down when doing this as well. They actually were not "sand" bags they were water softener pelet bags with towels underneath them . I'm not sure leaving them on longer would have helped much. Perhaps? But like I mentioned, it did get better on its own after a couple months. I don't even think I have a gap at all any longer.

 

ahh ok thanks very much. think i will try wetting the liner every couple hours. i noticed this morn that the impression of the bar on the liner is much deeper than late last night so perhaps this every 2 hour wetdown might just work. Yes do have the lambos--just bought the car a couple weeks ago-they were already installed and for sure look cool-but i am glad i am a thin guy-for sure restricts the opening-but for bling effect it for sure draws attention! 2 weeks in i am still discovering mods the previous owner did-and learning a lot about minis here--thanks a lot for the plastic idea to protect the bar during the wet down process!!