I have a 2007 mini cooper s and was replacing struts this weekend on all four corners. I noticed when pulling out the bolt on the aluminum passenger side trailing arm that the hole was stripped pretty badly when I pulled that trilobe bolt out. I would have to guess it was from the previous owner when he put the lowering springs in as the struts had never been replaced in 100k miles. I have had the idea of putting a helicoil in the hole but would require two helicoils using the longest length of helicoils for 14mm. Option two is to make a stud that is permanently in the arm and is stepped down to accept the strut and hold it on with a nut. The 3rd option is to just replace the trailing arm. Any other ideas or experience with this?

 

Timesert, or helicoil will both work.


But I would use a thread chaser first to see if the threads can be saved. (not a tap, a thread chaser)


Either are a lot cheaper than a new $500 trailing arm...

 

Just toss a helicoil in there. It's a very common issue with these cars. I've had the rear struts out 6-7 times since helicoiling both sides. The drivers side helicoil backed out once when I was removing the bolt but I chased the threads with the tap and threaded in a new helicoil. No issues even auto-xing hard on 235/40/17 r-compound tires.