I am looking at a 2003 Mini S with 95k on it. It looks to be in decent shape from the pics I was sent, but the one of the engine bay looks suspicious. If you look at the strut towere it looks as if it had a strut tower brace on it, or it had tower issues. I am new to Mini's, and would like to know if i sent the pic to someone, if they could tell me their thoughts on it. Please and thank you.

 

Having a strut tower brace or strut reinforcement plates could actually be good news rather than something suspicious as it may mean that they kept the strut towers from mushrooming. If you can post a side view pic of the strut towers, fellow NAM'ers can help with your answer.

 

Dont know how to post pics, and I only have on shot of the bay. Could I send it to you in an e mail?

 

If you have a myspace, facebook or image hosting account like photobucket, upload the picture of the bay to it, and then open the pic. Right click the image, and click properties. Then highlight the whole line (or lines) that start with http://www. Then hit the Ctrl and the C buttons at the same time. Then, to post the shot, above where you type your post you'll see a little graphic of a mountain. Click it, and hit Ctrl and V at the same time. Hit enter, and voila! you have posted a picture.

More importantly, mushroomed strut tops are not the end of the world, they can be fixed by any competent MINI shop, say, such as, I don't know...Helix

 

Gave it a shot, tried to host from snapfush. Damn Mac

 

Go to http://www.imageshack.us/

Then upload your picture. After it uploads click the area next to where it says link and post the exact same thing here, put [img] in front of the link and [/img] at the end.

 

Thanks for the help! Bad phone pic I know, but you can see around the towers that the paint is not all there? Again, thank you.

 

If you get your head down level with the top surface of the strut towers, you should be able to see if that surface is dome-shaped or flat. On a car without strut tower reinforcements, I'd be more surprised to find no mushrooming than mushrooming (which is not to MINI's credit, mind you). It's fixable though, after which reinforcements above and below are a good idea.

 

And NAm can host photos too. You have your own gallery here.

 

Any thoughts on the pic that was posted?

 

I only see the pic in the first post.....not clear enough to determine anything.

 

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Does this look normal? The area around the strut towers?

 

I've seen this a few times before. Your towers look ok, but it looks like they used some cleaner that took the paint off. I saw this from a Carmax car one of the times.

 

a good demonstration of what strength the base color coat has with no clear over it .... Simple Green will take it off!

I don't see any signs of mushroom . . . & it looks plenty clean in there. I think someone didn't like cosmolene residue

 

That is what I was thinking. I apprecite the hlep. Still questioning something with this high of mileage, but if I could get it for $9k do you think it would be a good deal? The body is in fantastic condition for a 7 year 100k car. Had only 2 owners, the last owner who traded it in owned it for a year so it was mostly a one owner vehicle. The only thing I wish it had was Harmom, just sounds so much better.

 

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Pretty hard to tell if it is a good deal or not. ...does it need much? Tires, clutch, brakes, leaks, battery, electrical issues...or is it mechanically up-to-date?

 

Needs tires, clutch seems a little sticky and rear hatch needs a new latch,thats about it from what I can tell. I was a Honda guy for many years, so this Mini thing is all new to me. I have driven several Mini's the past few months and this one, even with the higher mileage has less squeeks and rattles that some of the newer ones I have driven. Body is in fantastic condition as well as the interior. Wish it had Harmon though, but this is the best one I have seen yet.

 

Have someone check the control arm bushings and pan, crank and sensor seals. Also the strut tower mounts. They are most assuredly shot and not cheap to replace particularly if you are considering having a dealer do it.

Rich

 

UPDATE!!

I would just like to thank everyone who replied to this thread, the info posted has been very helpful. I was originally looking at 02-03's mainly because of the lower prices, but after posting here I decided that 05 was my best bet. I am picking up an 05 one owner electric blue/white top with 48k on it! Has every option I wanted, Harmon, heated seats, cruise and even has the ipod hookup. Thanks again everyone

 

Congrats you'll be very happy