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Backstory: After buying my R53, I realized my strut towers were mushroomed (As most of them are) and immediately wanted to address it. My Bilstein coilovers didn't help this situations either. I got a deal from my neighbor on an M7 upper strut tower reinforcement/strut brace along with lower strut tower reinforcement plates for $40 total.
The problem is as most of you know, if that you can't run both upper and lower strut tower reinforcements as the stock strut mounts don't have enough threads. I know many people replace the studs with a longer bolt/nut, but I didn't want to deal with having to support the bolt head underneath everytime I needed to loosen the strut mounts. I began my quest for an OEM solution that would press fit into the strut mount like stock.
Behold part number: 33521103812! This is the part number for strut mount studs for old BMW's, but fits perfectly!
Step 1: Hammer out old studs with mini-sledge.
Step 2: Cut slot into new stud, you can use a dremel or angle grinder with a cutting disc.
Step 3: Jack up corner and insert new stud from below (Wheel doesn't have to come off)
Step 4: Catch the nut onto the new stud by hand, then use a wrench to tighten the nut while holding the stud from spinning with a flat screwdriver (The reason you cut the slit on top of the stud). Once you tighten it enough for the splines to contact the strut mount, you won't need to support it with the screwdriver anymore. Make sure to tighten the stud enough to press in it's splines into the new strut mount.
Step 5: Done! Move onto another stud. Do them one at a time. After installing all the new studs, you may now install your upper and lower strut reinforcements!
Pictured below is the stud installed without the upper & lower reinforcements, so it does look a little long. However when both are installed the length is perfect, with about 1/2" of threads exposed above the nuts. You can trim the stud if you want, but I decided to leave it since it clears the hood without issue.
Because why not? The way I look at it is you can't have too much reinforcement, but you can certainly have too little. I ran with my M7 upper reinforcements for awhile before being able to do this, and those have slightly bent as well.
NYC potholes and Bilstein coilovers have really given my strut towers a beating. I've gone through two driver's side headlights due to pothole impacts causing the adjusters to break. If you live in an area with amazing roads obviously this would be overkill.
Also, what about those individuals that are running lower tower reinforcements that want to add a strut tower brace? You won't have enough threads, so this mods applies to those scenarios as well.
Ok, that makes sense. I can see that. How thick were the M7 plates you bent? You must be driving on some bad roads!
He said he had the M7 strut bar. The issue with it is that it isn't a real billet aluminum so it isn't as strong as the plates without the bar as we see the M7 bar plates bend before. If he would of had the original M7 plates they likely wouldn't have bent.
This is why when we made our WMW bar we made sure to use a real billet aluminum to have the right strength.
NOT BILLET aluminum...funny. Someone apparently needs a class on how aluminum plates are made..! There's cast aluminum or "billet" aluminum. Anything else is imaginary.
Any, ANY...piece of material "above" the material that is bending (mushrooming in this case), is mostly a waste of time. Proper design wise, the additional support work BEST if it's placed where the problem COMES from...NOT where it's going.
So...that means, for a support to work...properly... it needs to be placed...underneath the strut tower material,,,NOT above it.
The M7 plates are "billet" material. They are NOT cast. The M7 plates may help the mushrooming problem, maybe 10%.
All this is to say, for "proper" additional support, add the "lower plates", period.
My IE camber places/mounts are made out of 7ga steel....so far, they have been nice and solid. Why don't more people make the plates out of steel vs. aluminum? I'm sure there is a slight weight savings, but at least with steel you don't have to worry about the plates bending.
I would agree that placing under is correct. Make them out of titanium. They can be thinner and lighter with the equivalent strength of thicker steel. Expensive though, but I’m sure all these Mini fanatics will pony up.
Aluminum...Ahhh...!
Because people don't understand the mechanics of materials...or design. That's like having a 1020 steel antt-sway bar..!
Titanium is a very good choice as it is both a strong material and it has a good memory. That is, it will flex, depending on the version and the thickness.
Why is a little flex good...it will have a less tendency to tear out the top of the tower do to being "over" stiff.
I'd buy titanium plates.
Mike
P.s. - For what it's worth...while the underside steel plates are the way to go, it will go a long way to spend a little time putting a radius or at least a chamfer on the top of the plates, so that a hard/sharp edge is not putting pressure on the underside of the towers.
I did this on mine. Took all of about 20 minutes.
There are a million threads going over under vs over strut tower reinforcements. This is a thread about an OEM longer stud solution for anyone needing/wanting it.
