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I truly appreciate your input on this. Here's a short summary of my issue.
I have a Statmosphere exhaust. In order for it to fit with the center exhaust mount (the one that has the large plate pictured below, uses 6 10mm bolts to hold it in, then has two "arms" that hold the mounts to the exhaust, along with 2 more 10mm bolts that hold the 2 red rubber isolators on...you know the one)...so, in order to make that work with my exhaust I needed a few spacers between the car and said plate so that nothing rubs. Using spacers means the 6 10mm bolts won't engage all the way. Because of that they keep turning loose. The result of this is a horrible metallic vibration/resonance that accompanies the exhaust sound.
Solutions...I'm considering some red threadlock to hold things in, or fabricating an entirely new hanger for this. That said, today I was under there and thought "what the heck" and just completely removed the plate. The exhaust only dropped maybe 2mm if that and is still very secure. I try to move it with my hand and even without the plate/mount it's super tight. All other hangers/bolts are quite tight and in good shape. It's only about 6 feet maybe without a hanger. I drove the car about 20 miles without the plate/mount and it was so nice, free of all that metallic resonance, fell in love with my car again.
So...I am thinking of leaving that plate/mount off completely. I feel Mini overengineered that part...as mentioned it's still quite secure even without the plate. Wondered if anyone here had this issue and/or ran the exhaust without the center plate/mount. Seems like it would not be a problem but I also realize it might stress the other hangers and cause issues over time. Please chime in. I'm hoping someone will say something like "I took that damn thing off in 2011 and haven't had an issue since."
You need it. If it was me. I’d get long bolt versions of the correct thread, test fit, cut the bolt heads off, leaving enough thread for a lock washer and nut. Use purple thread lock - the lightest one I think. Put it all back. That middle mount supports the exhaust, and is added safety if you lose a mount in the back. I also think that if you don’t have it, new vibrations might show up.
I agree with noodlesandsam. Maybe I'm not visualizing the issue correctly, but it seems like some longer bolts from the hardware or auto parts store would be simple, cheap insurance to keep everything secure.
UPDATE I sourced some longer bolts along with some beefier spacers, exhaust is nice and tight now, took it for a good drive and all is well. Thanks for the conversation on this.
