I just got my first Mini, an '06 MCS. The passenger side top hat is cracked & the driver's side appears to be fine. The struts on the car need to be replaced as well, should I replace both front hats while I have everything apart doing the struts anyway? Or can they be dealt with on an as-needed basis? The car has 87k miles on the clock.

Also, I know there are a million threads debating replacement struts on here. Would anyone care to give me quick & easy suggestion of replacements? I'm looking for affordable struts with similar damping to stock, maybe slightly stiffer, like 15% over OEM. I see a lot of talk about Bilsteins?

 

Do the mounts at the same time or you'll need to get another alignment. The mounts compress over time and you'll find the new ones will be quite a bit taller. There was a post on here the other day talking about this.

I have the Koni FSDs, which can only be used with stock height springs. I test drove some Minis before buying mine and didn't feel a massive difference between them on those short drives, so it's definitely not more harsh - better, if anything, and definitely better in the corners.

 

As Vkng says, absolutely replace both of them. Attached is a photo of my old versus new ones...they were so different I wasn't sure at first if I had the correct part...as can see the old ones were very compressed. These had 62k miles on them.

 

Sorry issue posting photo in prior post...this should get it:

 

As was said, replace both. Also, some of the cheaper aftermarket replacements are just that: cheap. They can balloon and stretch, and don't last very long. Spring for the factory ones: they're more expensive, but you'll save yourself headaches in the long run.

 

+1 Replace both at the same time. You can see the cracking on the strut visually some times on the rubber from the top. JCW suspension is more stiff then stock but not jarring .