Has anyone had issues with their front strut mounts making contact with protective plates they added to prevent tower mushrooming?

passenger:





driver:

 

Are they one the correct side? Are they upside down? If everything is torqued down correctly, maybe that’s just how they are?

 

This might just be the way they are. It looks like your strut is centered in the hole in the strut tower and the plate has a hole that off-center.
Personally, I'd remove the plates. 21 years of ownership on various different springs/shocks and coilovers without reinforcement and I've never had an issue with mushrooming.

 

I've had the common strut towers mushroom issue in the past before I added under and upper reinforcement plates.
My Mini is lowered. Not crazy low - but low.
My upper plates are M7. My under plates are (3/32" - 1/8" thick) CS.
I've never seen or had the issue you've described but your under plates do look slightly/even thicker than the CS under plates I have on my car.
Not sure if that even matters - But are the plates oriented correctly?
If you/ve just reinstalled your struts; might it be that the tab of the lower strut is not fully engaged in the slotted pinch knuckle?
Just a thought...( I made that particular mistake not long ago).

 

What brand strut tower defender plates are those? Seemingly not CS Indurators being painted red vs their yellow zinc finish. Appears those plates aren't mounted flush against bottom side of the towers which might well have mislocated the struts WRT correct orientation. For reference, I'm linking the CS plate installation instructions.

Mine are Helix adjustables which are much thicker, yet do fit flush up against the towers.

 

I dunno. They look pretty flush with the towers to me.

Is this a new install with fresh strut mounts, or are the strut mounts old and potentially worn?

Edit: @MCS4FUN , what on earth am I seeing inside your camber plate? It looks like the bushing has mushroomed out around the top of the strut. Surely not, but that can’t be right, can it?

 

@deepgrey - Good eye! What you're seeing is distortion of the rubber bushing caused by the Helix plate clamping pressure plus where I relieved the rubber for access to the Koni Yellow rebound adjuster flat (covered otherwise) with this slotted tool...

 

Oh. Interesting. With your attention to detail, I figured you knew what was going on, but that just looks strange. I sort of assumed the Helix design was similar to the Hotchkis one, which I don’t think has that bushing - just a pillowball like mine, IIRC. Does it just take up space between the mount for the strut and the upper portion of the plate?

Sorry for the thread derail, BTW. Curiosity got the better of me…

 

Likewise with apologies to the OP on being off-topic, when I swapped coil springs from Eibach to JCW "reds" in 2021, nearly nothing found on the web WRT Helix plates installation. So, I simply swapped the plate assemblies "as-is" without a complete understanding whether those rubber bits are merely noise reduction "cushions". In hindsight, I should have replaced them since they've embrittled with age. If their only function is noise isolation, likely OK but it does bug me somewhat. Not gonna do another R&R at this point "if it ain't broke..." style. This image snagged from a former NAM member suggests top mounted "bushings" weren't used with Helix plates.

 

I think so! but I honestly don't know. I put them in a few years ago and I thought they only went in one way...

 

so you have both upper and lower reinforcements? pretty funny that one post says not needed after 20 years and the next has not one but two!
I installed yellows about 4 years ago and then the plates a year later. I can't imagine the lower strut tab isn't engaged but I will check.

 

I have MINI Madness plates. I got them from Pelican about 3 years ago.
https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_In...=c&SVSVSI=4496
I do believe they mount flush against the bottom..
Looking at the pictures on the Pelican site, I do wonder if maybe I switched the sides at install... pretty embarrassing if so...
Is anyone else running these reinforcement plates?

 

Is it even possible to install those wrong? At a glance, it looks like both sides are identical and should only go in one way.

 

yes that was my thought. I hate to pull everything apart to check and then mess up the alignment….

 

the tab looks fully in place to me…agree?

 

^^^ Looks good to me! ^^^
It helps to see what those Mini Madness plates look like.
v v v



The Craven Speed "Underators" I have installed on my Mini are different in design/geometry
v v v


The above (image) markups may not necessarily apply to the Mini Madness under tower reinforcement plates but It may help some as to how they may be installed (?).
If nothing else - Hopefully the image I presented may help some others who have purchased the CS underators and are faced with some confusion as to how the heck these things should be installed.

 

Yeah - I refer to the (perhaps) overkill of reinforcement plates as the "slam sandwich".
2wo years after we purchased our new 2004 R53, while cruising along @45mph on an unfamiliar road, we hit a huge cavern at a set of railroad tracks.
This sent the strut assembly straight through the strut tower. The entire strut housing/body including strut, had to be replaced at a body repair shop.
The Mini was un-drivable. Thank goodness the subframe wasn't bent and the car was still under warranty. I think the damage totaled near $4,500 in P/L repair.

 

^^^ Mine has combo of previously shown Helix plates below plus M7 plates above (likewise as H2G). Local Arizona mountain roads are prone to significant pot holes not seen sitting so low until much too late, so its prudent IMO to avoid strut tower damage. With the same mindset, my buddy with 2006 MCS factory JCW Checkmate (now with just 8.7k total miles) also installed M7 plates along with OEM R52 diagonal braces with objective to keep his rare R53 OEM stock, other than those otherwise removable items.

 

I’m also running M7 plates on top, but with Vorshlag camber plates. I had some mushrooming damage and had to hammer the strut towers back flat before I installed the M7s. They may be a bit overkill with the addition of the camber plates, but they aren’t really hurting anything.

If it’s been a few years since install, I wouldn’t be surprised if your strut mounts are failing. Here2Go recently swapped out an aftermarket mount that had flattened so badly that it was causing the upper spring seat to bind (I think that’s what was going on? Correct me if I’m wrong).

 

Love the underhood pic. what's the plastic covering on the engine?

hate to get off topic, but is that an aftermarket PS fluid reservoir?


I have replaced mine twice and it's leaking again.

 

^^^ Not a plastic engine cover but sealed system water-to-air intercooler which (apparently) was a 1-off produced for the original owner in early 2006. Likewise, that's the OEM PS reservoir considering I purchased it at 4k miles and has just 8k total miles currently.

 

The PS reservoirs are going to be grimy, partially because the lid is vented. Just BMW things…

You can replace the o-ring for the lid, which can help some.

 

Yes - as @deepgrey has mentioned - If it has been a few years since you had last replaced your strut mounts - that would be one of the first things I would look at. I recently replaced my strut mounts and was totally surprised how badly they had compressed after only 30k some-odd miles.


Front Strut mount bearings: Left = New / Right = old worn out (squashed) after 30k mi

They were middle price range mounts. After replacing along with a new upper engine mount (equally badly squashed) - the ride is now noiseless and superb.