• Are the CravenSpeed Under Tower Indurators for 2002-2006 MINI Cooper R53 a good idea or simple replacement of the front strut shock top mounts? I noticed a slight difference in the shock tower as indicated in the Cravenspeeds ad . Any recommedations would be appreciated. Thanks...
  
  
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Those are reinforcement plates for the mushrooming strut tower cap and not actual strut mounts as there are no bearings involved, correct???

If you are looking for reinforcement plates, remember that the camber will be impacted a little.

 

I noticed ECS Tuning sells both the under tower plates and the top mount aluminum reinforcement plates; which would you suggest? Thanks again...

 

I have had both. It comes down to what you are looking to accomplish. There are some that say that some of the above types cannot withstand the force that the below types can. Need some of the real suspension brains to chime in on whether the below type put more positive camber as a little negative camber is better on twisties.

 

They are not replacements for the strut bearings, they sit on top of the bearing. We put the UTIs in when we first got the car when we noticed the bulged towers. Had to do a little massaging to get everything back to 'normal'.

Later, my son had an incident on the freeway where he lost the passenger side wheels due to an impact with a log or large piece of wood.

Upon inspecting for more carnage, we took the front passenger strut out. Tower was rebulged so we knew it was a big impact. The UTI saved the tower from additional damage. The plate itself was also bent so it definitely took the brunt of the impact.

After alignment, the front camber is -1.0* with new Bilstein B4 and H-Sport lowering springs. Handles great!

 

We sell them but it isn't something I would recommend. If you just want shock mount protection just go with the top plates. Both the Craven
https://www.waymotorworks.com/strut-...0-r52-r53.html

Or our WMW ones that you can add a brace to later
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-st...0-r52-r53.html

Both will be enough to protect you from mushroom damage.

We don't recommend any plates that go under the tower as they are harder to install and also raise the ride height of the car which reduces camber and that is not what we want as these cars need more camber.

Now with that all said if you already have mushroomed towers then the proper fix is to replace the strut mount itself and install some top plates to protect it in the future.
Stock mounts
https://www.waymotorworks.com/oem-fr...rut-mount.html

or for an upgrade if you are using stock springs the fixed camber plates will set you about -1.25 camber which is good
https://www.waymotorworks.com/irelan...e-r50-r53.html

With these ireland plates they are also about 1/8 inch thick so they provide mushroom protection without the need of a top plate also.

 

I just bought a pair of top plates for our spare R53. As Way mentioned the top plates are a better solution.

 

So i have the madness motor works under tower defenders and I like them. But when I made the choice to use these i was planing on lowering the car and still am. If you have no plans to lower way is correct as usual. The only devils advocate I would give here.I don't know about the craven ones but I was able to pull my towers straight just buy bolting in the plates from madness no hammering needed.

 

That's what ECS Tuning recommends not to hammer out the mushroomed towers and simply bolt the under mount plates and that will flatten out the towers.

 

will installing the STDs also flatten out the towers?

 

Yes...