Hi,

I've gone through and read many posts regarding the subject matter. I wanted to ask around to see if anyone can give me some guidance/advice or help. I'm not a car expert so please pardon my ignorance and please bare with me.

In Oct. 2007, I took my car to the dealer (Mini or Sterling in VA) and they told me that my strut mounts were mushroomed and that they are not covered under warranty. They pulled a scare tactics on me and I dished out the $1,100 to have it fixed. Now today the dealer is saying that the Strut Mounts need to be replaced again and that it's going to cost me another $1,100 to fix again. It's only been 9 months and 13,000 miles driving.

I've been reading some posts and people have mentioned that if the mounts are mushroomed, then it's easy to just pound them back and buy the M7 plate and install them.

Here are my questions:
1.) Does anyone know a good mechanic that they can recommend that I can take my car to if the struts are indeed cracked and not mushroomed? Also I have other problems (AC not working) that needs to be addressed.
2.) If they are mushroomed, how do I "pound" them back in place?
3.) Is this something I can do myself with no prior car knowledge?
4.) Once I get this fixed, should I buy the M7 Plate or the M7 Strut Tower Base? (I don't take this car out on the race track. I use it for daily driving around.)
5.) Can I install the M7 Plate or Tower Base myself?

In the mean time I'm going to call the dealer again to find out exactly what is broken (mushroom problem, strut mounts cracked, or the guide support problem).

Any advice/help that you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance to all who responds.

 

As long as the rubber part of the mount isn't cracked or broken the mushroomed strut tower will only cause alignment issues.
If the mounts need to be replaced you would have to remove the mount/strut assembly and replace the mount. While the mount is out of the car you can use a block of wood and hammer to push the tower back down.
Then when you reinstall the mount put on a set of Strut tower plates and that will keep the towers from becoming deformed again.
I actually had a customer come in this week and I found she had a broken mount. Luckily 2 yrs ago I had put strut reinforcement plates on her car so the strut towers where fine and not mushroomed. Replaced the broken mount and she was all ready to go again.

If you have other questions just give me a call, but hope that all helps.

WAY
317.201.8670
www.waymotorworks.com

 

Hi...I work in the service dept here in Covington, VA at a Honda Dealer. We would be glad to do the job for you...we service other local MINI's here...we are maybe a 3 hr drive from you?
Labor for the job you need is $174.00 [$58/hr]......bring your own strut mounts...maybe $100.00, and M7 plates, another $150.00 and youre done, for less than $450.00.

Or we can order the parts for you,....but there will be a small mark-up for the parts department's profit.

let me know....

Steve

 

Miniguru,

Thanks for your response. I'll look into what you wrote next week and see how that works for me. Too bad I'm not driving down to Atlanta this weekend, original plan was to drive down. I could've stop by your shop tomorrow.
I guess I'll have to do this the hard way.

Cycleway4,
Thanks for your response as well. If things don't work out for me here maybe I can drive down for a day and hang out around your neck of the woods to get this done. I'll call you if I go down this route and make an appointment with you.

 

Also, does any one know of any repair shops in the Arlington, VA or Herndon, VA area?

 

Ok,...that sounds good.........wish you best of luck with whatever route works out for you.

Our # is 1-800-234-7853 ask for Steve in service department.
Mon-Fri 8:00 to 5:00
Covington Honda/Covington Nissan

Steve

 

I bought my strut mount from www.drivewire.com Excellent service/prices.