Good

 

I'm waiting for my plates also. Ordered them on the 22nd and they just got shipped out today!


I hope thats not normal for MM. So has anyone with minor mushrooming replaced had to replace their strut mounts as well or did they just bend back into place!?

 

there seems to be alot of talk about mini madness plates adding height.
of course they add height. especialy if you have mushroomed towers already. because your car is currently sitting lower than it should be. so the plates will add 1/8 inch plus they will add [read "repair"] whatever the amount of sag you are currently experience do to failing towers. that is a good thing right? to fix the towers and get your car back into proper alignment. I suppose you could consider mushrooming strut towers a poor mans lowering kit. haha
on my cooper [150,000 miles of lowered driving] I rfecently installed madness plates and also upgraded to the madness poly control arm bushings. I honestly cant even explain how much better my car handles. Im doing the same to my cooper S this weekend and look forward to driving it alot more.

 

I got the MM plates installed at a friends House this afternoon. This could have been done by myself but having an extra pair of hands made the install happen more smoothly.

 

Glad to hear your install went smoothly. I my MM plates should be delivered tomorrow and I plan to put them install them this weekend. Until then I cringe with ever bump in the road.

 

Glad to hear that the install went well. I'm just curious since i'm not getting answers if the MM plates actually bend back the strut mount assuming the mushrooming isn't too bad. Also, did you require an allignment after doing the install?


Its funny how every little bump bothers me so much on the road only after finding out that the towers were in fact shroomed.

 

The only issue I had with my order is that it was shipped without the plastic covers, but after making a call to MM I got them in the mail this afternoon.

 

I ordered mine last week and I just emailed them to see what's up and apparently they are back ordered. They neglected to tell me that this was the case. He just said they should be ready "in a week or so"

The real kicker is that their headquarters is damn near pissing distance from me so it better not take long to ship.

 

Something tells me that this thread has a lot to do with it!

 

If only MM knew I was giving them so many sales maybe they coulda hooked me up with a discount on the plates, haha.

If they were backordered, it woulda been nice if someone let me know!! Mines are here they're just stuck at customs waiting for clearance!!

 

Craven's version (unpainted) are $25 cheaper, no?

 

Hey Everyone,
I was wondering if this problem (mushrooming shock towers ) is inherient in 2005 MC. I am assuming it is, but we all know about assuming..
Thanks

 

Yes they are.

Steve

 

Yes, all 1st Gen MINIs are susceptible to the same problem... but the problem is also affected by what size tires you run and what suspension you have... in other words, how much of the impact is "absorbed" by other components before they make it through to the strut tower. Therefore, a Cooper with 15" non-runflat tires, running on the base suspension, will be less likely to have mushrooming issues than a Cooper S with 18" runflats and the JCW (or an aftermarket) suspension.Yes... but they aren't as large and don't cover as wide of a surface area. They only cover the strut mount surface and not the entire strut tower like the MMs do.

Compare pics:

Craven Speed Under Tower Indurators:




MINI Madness Strut Tower Reinforcements

 

My MM plates were delivered today! Hope to put them on this weekend.

 

Still biting my nails when going over bumps. The plates should arrive before the weekend. Hopefully they go in with little trouble!

 

I feel the same way... I didnt care until I researched it and now I feel like a sewer cap is road death for my car.

I ordered my plates before I looked at this thread and now I see why its taking so long to get them haha...

 

I didn't have to wait long for my order. Placed it on Sat. 25th and it shipped on Tues. 28th. I was too cheap to pay for anything but ground shipping, so it took a week to deliver. I'm totally happy with the service I received from Mini Madness.
I took tomorrow off so i could install them. No more worrying!

 

Just finished putting the Madness plates in! Easy install, took about an hour by myself including rotating the tires. Took it for a quick test drive and I believe it fixed the light pull to the right that I had.

 

I see people discussing the M7 strut tower brace as an option. Any opinions on just the M7 strut re-inforcement plates by themselves. I was interested in purchasing these b/c I'm not too confident regarding the intstallation fo the mini madness plates, and I don't really need a strut tower brace.

Edit: Any idea what it might cost to have the Mini Madness plates installed. I'm in the Maryland area.

 

That's awesome.

I'm still waiting on mine. Hoping to get them and install them next week.

 

See previous postings on this thread for discussions of top mount plates. The madness plate install is easy enough, but does involve more that the top mount. http://www.mini-madness.com/pdf_file...rut_plates.pdf
This is the link to the instructions. I'd add to use a jack under the lower control arm to lower the strut after removing the nuts and then raising it back up. Should take any shop about 30 minutes to complete.

 

I put on the m7 plates including the strut brace. In my case buying the tower reinforcement plates alone were about 120.00 + shipping. The combo with the stress bar was 199.00 and installed just as easily. I've now had it on for a few weeks and have noticed stiffened the front end over bumps. It's not the only thing I'll do but it was an easy 10 minute install and does seem to do the job intended. The underplates from reading are not hard to do, but you do need to jack up the car, lower the struts and install the plates. That for some maybe the issue. I would think a garage would charge you atleast an hour's labour or they wouldn't want to bother (IMO from what I've seen and heard in my area) you may have different responses??

Oh and I also purchased mine locally as they had a distributor close by and paid cash and had it that same hour, so that was another factor in my decision to, but well worth it to me.

Later when I opt to replace my front strut's I may opt for the lower reinforcement plates as well. I looked and I do believe there is enough thread to have both, which would be even better.

I have pics in my gallery of the strut brace if you want to see it.


Regards

Scott.

 

Thanks for the response. Good info and people on this board. I think that I will probably stick with he m7 plates for now just as a preventative measure.

 

Did the Mini-Madness plate install this weekend...

Had to really work and wiggle them up there but finally got them up top. Another 1" drop of the lower arm would have made it a snap... a way to compress the strut alittle would have worked too.

Happy with the product. Fit real nice...

Rmpl