My 2004 MCS has mushrooming. How should I fix this? My idea is to remove the strut tower nuts, and use a block of wood and a sledge hammer to remove some of the mushrooming, then put an M7 Strut Tower Bar on. I don't believe I have to remove the whole struts, do I? Also, I found someone selling an M7 strut tower bar in great shape, for $190 shipped. Is this a good deal, or should I choose another route? Thank You!

 

How to:

What to, all you need for the job:
http://www.waymotorworks.com/strut-t...0-r52-r53.html

 

Would I be better off spending $190 on an M7 strut tower bar instead of $140 on just those reinforcement plates? The M7 bar has the plates built in.

 

The tower bar is designed to stiffen the frame and is usually employed to increase performance for the track. To prevent further mushrooming, the plates are all you need and you can install them yourself with the car flat footed. The nuts are torqued to 25#. If you want to install a bar, the one to upgrade is the rear sway bar considered by many to be the best bang for the buck in upgrade mods.

 

On the M7, you need to be aware that the bar is bolted to the tower plates but the bar holes are slotted. I have asked in the past if anybody knows what amount of stress the torqued bolts will withstand before there is flex. It is not what I consider a "solid" connection.

Yes, I have one.

 

You may also experience stripped out threads where the bar is fastened to the plates. If that happens, it requires drilling out, tapping and inserting a Heli-Coil.

 

I would get the M7 bar for only $50 difference. Not a hard decision. To fix the mushroomed tower, You best remove the strut so you can have a heavy steel plate of sort as backing while you try to restore the shape.

 

The issue is the strut mount is bent, not that the body is bent. The body is just bent because the mount bent and pushed it up. So just beating it down with a hammer is a band aid fix.
The real and proper fix is to replace the mount. And while the mount is off hammer the body back flat somewhat.
Then use a top plate of somekind to go on top as this will support the mount and keep it from happening again.
On normal street cars we use the stock mounts
https://www.waymotorworks.com/oem-fr...rut-mount.html

Then either our plates
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-st...0-r52-r53.html

or our strut bar
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-st...e-r52-r53.html

We don't use the M7 bars anymore as we have had several come in that were bent on the plates due to them not being strong enough.

Another option is to go with the fixed camber plates as they are made thicker.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/irelan...e-r50-r53.html

 

Way, are you saying that the M7 bar is not strong or are you saying the M7 tower plates are not strong also?

 

I'm a n00b. Are you saying the Strut Tower Plates ($130) paired with the Strut Tower Brace ($199.95) is the best way to go? Is there a cheaper option?

I don't have mushrooming, but want to go best route in preventing it and making car handle better.

 

In for discussion; our 06 R53 is just starting to show signs of mushrooming (really slightly off parallel now on the bolts).

I want to address this by this summer before I have to hammer body work back into shape.

 

I went the M7 route. If the mounts are bent, replace the mounts (as Way suggested). If there is a little mushrooming, with the car on the ground, unbolt the tops and use wood to hammer the sheet metal flat. When flat, put the plates on. If using a tower brace, add it at this time.

 

The plates take care of the mushrooming. The brace is supposed to make the car a little stiffer.

 

I'm saying the M7 plates and the M7 bar with plates are made from two different materials and plates on the bars are not as strong and seen many of them bend. That is why we now have our own strut bar. Plus we wanted a one piece bar to give the most stiffening.


If you want better handling you need more camber as the plates are just protection. So I'd go with our fixed camber plates.

Correct.

 

How about this... I have mushroomed towers which need to be fixed. I have a set of RMW coils on the way which have camber plates on them. If I pound the towers back to flat and then just install the coils, will the camber plates act as sufficient reinforcement to avoid further mushrooming? Or should I still beef it up with some plates?

 

For our Mini that has just a couple of inches of suspension travel there is no such thing as sufficient reinforcement. If you hit a bum fast enough, and hard enough, it will mushroom, especially for those slammed Mini's.

 

I think your saying the M7 plates themselves are ok but the bar is a different material. Can your brace be used with the M7 plates?