I recently discovered that the dealer failed to remove the front suspension travel limiters on my daughters '03 Cooper S. These are 4 white plastic donut shaped pieces that latch on around the strut shaft and keep the car from bottoming out whilst it is in transit from the factory.
Since these limiters have been in place for 25,000 miles, the strut boots are torn and the towers are mushroomed.
I am wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem and what latent damage I should look for. Since the boots were torn, can the road grit that was contacting the strut shafts degrade the seals in the struts?

 

I discovered these on one front strut at about 1.2k miles, if a shaft is nicked to form a burr that can damage the seal, if the seal is not weeping most likely it’s ok. Your bump stops may be torn too after that many miles. If this was a dealership purchase I would contact them to see if they might honor the warranty even though technically expired, after all this should have been corrected before delivery. If you must fix it all yourself, I have a few how-tos for guidance.

 

I did not think of the bumps stops, thanks.

 

If you purchased this from the dealer, you may have paid a delivery preparation fee of some kind. Part of that prep I would assume would be to remove things such as this. Check your receipt to see if it has any dealer prep fees. If you go to the dealer you may want to bring this up to them if they start to shun you and your request for them to repair any damage.

 

Ive been disappointed by the response from the dealer.
Im going to have it repaired at an Indy shop but would very much like opinions regarding any items that might need to be addressed that are less than obvious.