Unlike most folks who have nice ramps and make this a 10 min install, mine was a royal pain in the butt. I have a very steep street/driveway that doesn't lend itself to working under a car or trusting it won't roll on you or ramps won't slide down... I do have a small scissor lift however, but it turned out to be very much in the way of the underside in this case (works better for rear engined cars)! I must have repositioned the car & the brace 10 times before I got close to something that worked in terms of squeezing the brace between the lift and the car without hitting anything (arms or underside) - then once that was done, I realized the bolts were on so tight that I needed to start over because I needed a cheater pipe to undo them. Again no room.. #$#@$#@$ ! My fault, I know.... Anyway - not 10 minutes for me, more like 1h10 minutes of swearing at 4 simple bolts ;-) Sometimes, $50 ramps beat the $1500 lift - but more often they do not !

So I went for a drive and immediately scraped on the aforementioned driveway! Great ! I was not after performance tuning for this car, this is a fun beater for the family, but it felt like a wet noodle on bumps and that bothered me. I have to admit that it's not in my head, with the brace on, the car feels noticeably stiffer and feels much more "one" than before. Less squeaks & rattles top up too, it just feels more "solid" overall, say 1/2 the distance between a cabrio and a coupé - not bad for the money. Anti mushrooming plates are next - I spent an hour reading "that" thread and squinting at pictures but I will admit I still have *no idea* what mushroom vs normal looks like on pictures. I can tell "cracked" but other than that, we'll see when the plates come. At least this time I don't need a lift (or the struts might drop?).

I also put discrete stripes on it (almost body color, silver stripes on a dark grey hood), which post passenger seat (airbag) and water pump replacement completes the intended work on this car... Happy motoring to me !!

 

In the link, you'll see what mushrooming is, that gap shouldn't be there. When you purchase the Anti-mushrooming plate and place it over your strut tower, if you noticed a gap such as the one in the link, then mushrooming has occurred. The sheet metal used had lost somewhat of it its structural integrity.
Hope this helps!

https://www.google.com/search?q=mini...l%3B1000%3B705

 

Today the strut tower plates... The driver side went on so smooth and perfect I started to think you guys were smoking something about the mushroom thing.... After all this is a cabrio (not a paragon of rigidity) with 49K miles that lived in San Francisco (consistently rated #1 for the worst roads in the nation)...

Then the passenger side... And OK, I get it. I had to tighten that one slightly differently, it was subtle, maybe 1 mm or 2 tops... nothing visible with the naked eye but with the plate on, a tiny concavity maybe... I tightened in sequence until the thing bottomed out flat... But I concede there might have been the *beginning of a start of a hint of a slight deformation*, maybe... No longer though! Bottomed out flat. Either way I'll sleep better next time after hitting my daily potholes...

 

Nice review of the brace. Where did you get it?

Your mushrooming was subtle. On many cars it is obvious, like mine was. An easy way to tell was to look at the 3 bolts. They should be perpendicular to the tower. On a deformed car they spread out such that tops of the bolts are farther away from each other than the bottoms. A few sharp whacks with a 2x4 and BFH and all is good.

FYI there is a new recall on the airbag issue. You should be able to get it paid for by MINI if you already paid to have it fixed.

 

I got it from way Motorsport.
I just heard about the seat, but I didn't pay, the selling dealer did. They should get their money back but I don't wanna get in the middle of that argument - 2 dealers, my car, ugh....

 

For what its worth, i think you should fight mini. Had something happened and your airbag didn't deploy, then you'd be suffering.
So since they seem not to care about your life, you had to take the initiative to get it fixed. Hence they should reimburse you.
Just my $0.02

 

deschodt,
Would you say that the xbrace added to the overall comfort of the ride? I am trying to decrease the harshness of my car over things like railroad tracks.
I put Koni FSD and new OEM mounts on last year. This year I am replacing the control arms, bushings, ball joints and sway bar bushings. Plus new 16" summer tires Bridgestone RE760 because they are more road friendly than most in their category.
I may do the x-brace too. Increased performance is alway nice, but if the road manners also go up significantly that would be a nice bonus.

 

Amit, nothing for ME to fight... I drove the car one day with the defective airbag. It was immediately in the shop and the selling (ford) dealer paid the bill. THEY should get their money bad in the recall, but I'm not getting in the middle of that !

 

My first reply was gonna be "No". It stiffens up the car and (surprisingly?) you will notice right away that the car feels more "together" over bumps or climbing driveways. I would recommend the brace to ANY cabrio owner just because getting more chassis rigidity helps the suspension in all situations....

Now if I think about it, the fact that the car is stiffer and flexes less and rattles a lot less could be construed as "more comfortable". It's less "trashy" over bumps - the windows aren't rattling in the doors so much ;-) It's certainly not less comfortable. Just less rattly and feels stronger... only way I can put it. I think you are onto something with 16" and taller sidewall tires.

I totally agree with you the ride is harsh overall. The shocks feel too stiff to me. Maybe it's a function of the cab design - I have no idea if they are the same as the coupés. The Xbrace does not soften up the ride, how could it, but since there is less rattling, flexing, and supposedly less stuff bending in all directions, the car feels "better" - seat of the pants. Not like a coupé, but it's worth the $300 in my book - and I'm emphatically not into mods for mods sake. This is my commuter/beater - no other mods except shock tower plates (just in time), not even a pulley ;-)

 

Thanks, you are confirming what I thought. Less rattlely, less harshness, all good.

Your shocks "feel" stiff as they age and start to fail. This is the opposite of the effect on most other cars. The reason being that the suspension has little travel, so once the shocks go your are into the bump stops quickly. This yields a stiff harsh ride. Koni FSD's are the cure for that. The Konis are currently on sale as they are every spring.
Yes I think the 16" are the way to go. I have 16" winter tires on light wheels, much lighter than the stock MINI 17". I have noticed they are much friendlier without giving up much on cornering. I am not autoXing his car so comfort is getting more priority. I decided on 205/50/16 since my winters were done as well as my 17" all seasons. I still like lots of feel so didn't go with the 195/55/16. I am either going to drive a different car next winter or get new rims.

 

It's a good thought. As I was parked and my kids were playing in the backseat yesterday, I noticed the car was shaking a bit too easily considering their level of fighting ;-) Could be the shocks are shot. Who has them on sale ?

 

Way should have them, all the vendors should. I got an email from minicarparts.net recently. I got mine from Way last year.

 

Done ! Best price.... Now I'm debating whether I wanna spent a saturday swearing at the car while doing it myself, of farm it out. Probably farm it out ;-) Anything over an hour gets harder to accomplish with kids/activities on weekends ! Looking forward to see if this resolves the last niggles...

 

ECS STP's looks great, thanks for the purchase.