As with the windshield issue, I'd like to know approximate percentages as well. Over the last three cars I've owned (1993 RX-7, 1997 BMW 318 Ti and a 2000 Civic Si) I have had 4 cracked windshields over 200, 000 miles for the 3 cars. It would be really helpful to know how the windshield / strut tower issues look as a % of all MINIs sold.

There is no doubt that enthusiast sites add to the perception that any given failure is endemic of a "problem" that a car has.

The original purpose of the post was to bring a group of MINI owners together that could act as one to get some factual answers to what are now only questions. I am still not sure that there is the will to do this however...

 

A while back I heard about a recall of vehicles(don't remember specifics about make, model, etc.) that involved over a million vehicles and the defect involved had been noted on fewer than 100 vehicles. That is an even smaller percentage than we are talking about.

 

I can believe that: However, there are volumtary recalls and mandatory recalls. The maker in the case you site may have had their own reasons for initiating the recall OR it may have been a really nasty safety issue.

 

If your strut tower mushrooms, take out the strut, get a 2x4 and a large hammer, place 2x4 on top ot strut tower, and beat with hammer till the tower is back down.

Ive done this to my car a few times now, its not a safety issue, it does nothing to change the handling of the car.

BMW will just laugh at you and throw your petition up on the wall of shame with all of the others who have tried to do the same thing...

 

Ya think so? BMW not worried about all us customers?

How have you been doing Rick? Haven't seen you post in a while.

 

Hey Chuck, i've been fine, what have you been up to?

Ive been working in my personal Batcave on a few things that should come to light soon....

 

Each time you do that, you further weaken the metal. This post is another example of the attitude that you are just supposed to accept defects and other stupidities from MINI for the privilege of driving one. That's crap. These issues should be pressed. MINI did redesign the strut towers on the R56. They didn't do that because no one complained.

I fail to see how suspension components on the move would not affect handling....

 

The movement in the strut tower is measured in fractions of an inch.

moving the shock tower straight upward 1/8th of an inch would not even register a change on an alignment machine.

What do you want BMW to do? Cut off the front clip of your car and install a new redesigned front clip? There isnt an easy way to fix the problem at hand.

It would adversly affect handling if the suspension parts wre moving free, but the shock tower SLOWLY moving upward to a peak of a 1/8 inch higher than designed will do nothing.

Ive got no problem with the way I fix a mushroomed shock tower. Its good enough for a BMW tech and its good enough for me.

Just leave them alone once they mushroom. Once it peaks out, its not going to move any further. All its doing is pushing the strut plate flat against the strut tower. Once it moves, its not going anywhere more.

 

I've been doing well for an old fart. Done a few track days this year. Been to as many races as I can get to chasing the racers with my Nikon. Got deleted as an irregular member of MINI NEO by the boy that runs it.

When you are done putting those photon torpedo's on your project in the bat cave, fill us in with the details.

Hey LynnEl let us know when you get BMW to do the right thing. Personally I don't believe it will ever happen.

 

Absent a safety defect, BMW/MINI is under no obligation to retrofit a "fix" to the strut towers. You may not like that, but c'est la vie....

Well, suspension components that are affected by mushrooming are not "on the move...."

 

This sounds alot like most of the responses in any of the rust threads.

Its a car for christs sake! When you drive a car, things break and wear out. You should see some of the horrible things i've seen on my other cars that were overlooked by the manufacturers. Buts its a car, I realize that car will eventually degrade and I will have to fix them, and I have no problem with that.


Im sick of hearing people demand that BMW fix things that are not their problems. Stop hitting the god damn pot holes!!! It wont rust if you dont drive it in the winter!!!

 

You can see all the goodies when you stop by the shop.

 

What I would expect MINI to do is install tower plates on the 1st generation MINIs. I would also expect them to fix the problem on the next generation, which they apparently have. But would they have if everyone decided complaining about it was a waste of time?

I do not expect MINI/BMW to do something solely because I say so; but they had better when enough people complain that the problem ends up common knowledge. The only reason BMW/MINI would not address a known problem is if they believed there were enough people who would just accept it.

 

Lastly, there is a solution to the mushrooming - fixed camber plates. If you don't want to incur the expense of fixed camber plates, that is your choice. Do you expect BMW/MINI to pay for new wheels/tires when you hit a pothole? Some expenses are just the responsibility of the owner to pay.

 

^^^---Yes, a good set of camber plates will help the problem. If you have ever seen a stock strut plate, you will know why.

 

Shush! There will now be 10 more posts about how the stock strut plates are a safety defect....

 

There is quite a difference between damaging a tire or wheel on a pothole and a design flaw in the car. It cannot be considered a design flaw in a tire or a wheel to be so damaged. I would definitely consider the bending of strut mounts, which are designed to hold the struts in place, to be a design defect.

 

hahaha. Oh well.

I think we should just stop selling ignorant people cars. The only safety defect is the nut behind the wheel.

 

Well, the argument could be made that driving over a pothole was the proximate cause of the mushrooming.... Do you really want to try to prove that mushrooming was not caused by operator abuse? Because that is the burden of proof that you are facing.

 

I see what your saying, but I can pretty much say confidently, that if someone hadn't told you to go look at your strut tower you would have never known that there was anything wrong.

I think that says alot itself...

 

If cars weren't sold to ignorant people, the auto industry would be half the size it is. And cars would probably cost twice as much as they currently do. But then again, we probably would still be debating whether global warming is real....

 

Global warming, whats that?

I'm doing my part to fight global cooling by driving a few of the most heavily polluting cars out there.

 

As long as you don't drive too far, you are fine. It is all about CO2 grams/mile (or km).

 

~40k miles a year, per car. I think I may be one of the sole reasons that hole up in the ozone is getting bigger.

 

First you say ignorant people shouldn't buy cars. I'm not going to ride a Huffy around Hooterville for no body.

Second, I bet you I put out more methane than your muscle cars do Rick.