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Having some problems trying to track down a cure for my problem here in England, so thought I'd try some friends across the pond.
I have an '05 Cooper R50 that has gone through a third pair of strut mounts in as many months. At first the RHS bearing started failing after some new droplinks were put on, so I put it down to old age and swapped them out for a cheap eBay pair. Then both sides failed within days. I put that down to the cheap pair, and bought a pricey pair of OE Monroes - these have now failed within a few weeks.
I'm pretty savvy with wrenching on the thing, but cannot figure out why the bearings keep failing - it seems linked to these stiffer droplinks perhaps? But I'm also wondering if I've just been unlucky with two bad pairs of mounts. Front end is also overdue an alignment, but it handles fine.
Photos are attached, the usual bulging and 'clunking' sound that goes with these things failing.
It may seem like an obvious question but...How are your front struts and bump stops?
Are you lowered by chance?
From your pics, It doesn't appear to me that your top strut towers are mushrooming.
Last edited by Here2Go; Jun 17, 2023 at 03:28 PM.
Reason: verbage = "_strut towers_" mushrooming
It's tough to see the condition of the rubber in the pics from the shadows. Is the rubber intact and just distorted or is the rubber falling apart?
Are you sure the clunking is from the strut mounts and not elsewhere in the suspension? Control arm bushings are a common failure.
Lastly, if you're going to replace them again, use Lemforder. They're going to be the highest quality you can get.
I must say those are the most used-looking new strut mounts I've ever seen. Plus it appears to me that there's a gap between the mount and shock tower. Are you sure they're fitting flush with the bottom of the strut towers? Those three nuts should be torqued to 25 ft-lbs. I'm also wondering if under-tower indurators might help.
^^^
+1 for @cooper48 suggestion.
I had swapped my front struts to different brands within a year and made sure to recheck the torque on those 6 strut tower bolts every so often.
Surprisingly, they can and do become loose/back out over time. More importantly - a short time after the initial installation.
Thank you very much for those replies everyone, some better photos attached.
None of the other components - struts, bump stops, control arm bushings etc. - have ever been replaced, so I should probably be starting there! Although presumably it would have been clunking continuously if it was the control arm bushings. The car hasn't been lowered, but looked it after the previous pair 'failed' (which actually, now I've looked at them again, had just distorted). Will re-check the torque on those nuts, something I should have done by now.
The towers don't look too mushroomed to me but indurators would be a good idea too. The rubber on the mounts is more bulging upwards than cracking, I put the flakiness of their appearance down to them settling in, but I did wonder if they should look like that so quickly (they haven't even been on a month).
The gap between tower and mount looked about right to me, but I'm gonna check those nuts, as I'm clearly missing something...
Sorry for one last interjection I neglected to add.
Be sure to double check the 22mm center strut nut. It should be torqued to 47 ft # (64 nm).
It seemed very important that you mentioned the strut mount bulging as I had also heard clunking from one of the front struts.
The center strut nut had become loose/backed off @ 36 pounds of torque.
I re-torqued to spec and all was right with the world again.
None of the other components - struts, bump stops, control arm bushings etc. - have ever been replaced, so I should probably be starting there! Although presumably it would have been clunking continuously if it was the control arm bushings. The car hasn't been lowered, but looked it after the previous pair 'failed' (which actually, now I've looked at them again, had just distorted). Will re-check the torque on those nuts, something I should have done by now.
How many miles is there on the car? Because if it's close or above 100k miles and original ... yes you want to change them. Most likely your shocks are toast but don't really exhibit any obvious symptoms (leaking, rebound) apart from excessive roll in corners and very harsh ride (which can be confused for "sporty ride"). Recently changed my shocks in my 130k miles R50, it made a world of difference.
Since you got the shocks out to replace the strut mount, an easy way to tell: after the spring is removed, can you press the shock by hand without using all your body weight? If you can, your shocks are toast and should be replaced.
Most go with Lemforder or other well know brands from MINI that we carry. Cheap ebay, Monroe, and Moog are know for repeat issues. Post # 13 in link below.
Also, I haven’t dived into the JCW personally yet, but on the bmws of this vintage there was a load spreading washer in the strut stack that oft gets left out the first time someone goes in there, even if it has t been touched in years since…
without it even lemforders on the e46 didn’t stand a chance.
...there was a load spreading washer in the strut stack that oft gets left out the first time someone goes in there, even if it has t been touched in years since…
without it even lemforders on the e46 didn’t stand a chance.
just a thought.
Good thought!
When I changed out my OEM/factory struts I had noticed that the one strut the dealership had worked on years before was missing this washer. While the other, untouched/serviced still had it.
Needless to say I felt that washer was intended to be there and replaced it (pulled from a salvage Mini with stock struts).
Brill, thanks guys - I will check that centre nut, as the 6 strut nuts are holding torque okay. All suspension components are overdue a refresh, as the car is nearly at 150,000 miles on original components. The washers are still there, I was careful to put them back in! Have heard Lemforder mentioned a few times, and that the Monroes are prone to issues. Luckily I’m well versed in doing these mounts now, so if the issue isn’t the centre nuts then I’ll make a weekend of refreshing everything when money allows!
