I had the front struts replaced on my '04 'S' and was told the rears are marginal. Had a coolant change and align also. The bill was outrageous, but I was hitting the road for a relocation 3 states away, so I just paid for essentials. Didn't replace the rears because of the price and I figured I would do the work myself, once I relocated.
The car has 86K.
Will I need another wheel align. if I replace the rear struts?
Was it difficult to change the rear struts?
Thanks for any tips.

 

Press down hard on the rear it should rebound and sit. If it moves more they are bad. Would also notice going over bumps if it seems to bounce.

 

All struts should be replaced around 75 to 100k. The rears are easy to replace and I do recommend replacing the rears around the same time as the fronts.

You shouldn't need a realignment.

The bounce test is difficult on the S model with sport suspension because of the heavy spring rate

My Struts still seemed to work fine and had no leakage at 135k. I replaced them as general maintenance and what a huge difference. Lesson learned, they don't have to leak to be bad.

 

The method of pushing down on the MINI to check strut performance will only put a dent your bonnet so I would not recommend anyone do that. Saw a guy do that once....lol. And while this method worked aok back in the day, not so much now especially with marginal gas charged struts. As far as checking for leaking struts, one cannot really detect leakage with a gas charged strut since gasses are not visible.

From reading posts/talking with folks MINI's a bit of an odd duck of an automobile when it comes to replacing stuff like fluids/struts. Seems some folks think there is some special MINI magic to them lasting lifetime, they don't and are just like any other car. Some of it can be from misleading maintenance schedules set by the manufacturer or it's just their first car, who knows. But struts are not any more lifetime than transmission fluid, oil, coolant, supercharger oil or brake fluid are.

If you have mushrooming of the front strut towers that is usually an indicator that the front strut has repeatedly gone past the point of normal operating conditions slamming upwards into the mount deforming the top of the tower and good sign they are toast. Add 70+ miles to that symptom it's time to start pricing out some struts/strut mounts/alignment.

Before an alignment, the tower(s) will have be hammered back down flat with a mallet and a piece of a 2x4 when front end is jacked up ( take pressure off suspension ) otherwise there will be too much camber in the front end. There are threads on this and maybe even a Youtube clip or two. Do some research.

Some indicators of bad struts can be random highway vibrations, uneven tire wear on fronts ( usually inner tread ) and cupping spots of rear tires. When replacing worn out struts best to do so in pairs and include upper/lower rubber spring pads and the urethane "additional absorbers", along with the single use top strut nuts. I think book rate for strut replacement is about an hr per corner + alignment.

4,5,7,13.



Fronts have similar components.

 

I replaced my struts at 120,000 miles. They were not leaking, but the rears would hit the bump stops when encountering the right combination of bumps. What a difference new struts made. At 86,000 miles you are due for new ones.

 

Mine didn't bounce at all, but did notice a big difference in ride quality once I had the fronts replaced.

 

Good info, thanks

 

I appreciate the help with diagrams, I like pics, now I know what to do and buy. I don't have mushrooming because I drive pretty conservatively, so one less thing to worry about when I am doing the work.
Thanks

 

I had my 03 into the dealer for the power steering pump replaced (under recall/warranty) and they came up with almost $3000 worth of "suggested" repair items which I declined. One item was a broken strut mount on the RH side which I verified was indeed partially broken. Since I'm at 126,000 miles I figured I would just replace all 4 struts and I got a set of Koni's from Atlantic/British for $550. I got some other misc. parts from Mini of South Atlanta for another $100.

The struts are pretty easy to replace if you have some basic skills and tools. But one tool I really needed was an impact wrench. And not just a wimpy one either but a 3/4" 1500 ft-lb. one to break the lower strut bolts loose. They were rust-welded tight. You also need a sprint compressor. So that was $100. But we're only up to about $750 and the dealer wanted $1400 to replace just the RH front strut mounting!!

Just one problem on the last wheel, RH front. The pinch bolt that holds the front wheel carrier to the strut sheared off rather than unbolt so I have to take that to a local shop to get it drilled out. I'm figuring $50 and a new bolt and we'll be good to go.

So for less than BMW/Mini dealer wanted to replace ONE front strut mount I've been able to replace all 4 struts, the mounts, and various other pieces/parts.

By the way, even though I have 17" wheels on mine and drive pretty aggressively, I've not had any mushrooming. I did get a set of Craven Speed tower supports just in case a coupe of years ago. If you have mushrooming you'll know it as they will NOT fit. But with them on, there is no friggin way the towers will mushroom. They are about 1" thick and look cool as well:

http://www.cravenspeed.com/strut-tower-defenders/