wuz this an OEM upgrade? (2mm) cuz i know that the ///M3's have sum of these same issues!!

 

As I posted previously about the M3: "...so starting in 1996 BMW introduced a simple stamped steel reinforcing plate..."

The point is that this is a very low cost fix when done at the manufacturing level and it's hard to understand why Mini hasn't done anything.

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

Just make sure when you do bring it in for warranty repair, you are on a stock suspension... I noticed I had this problem of ripped OEM camber when I was changing my shocks/springs. I didn't notice the mushrooming of the passenger side at first until I brought it in the dealer after a few days. But guess what, dealer said they can't do warranty work on my car because of 2 things:

1. mushrooming is seen as a dealer as something that may have been done to the car (ie hitting a bad pothole) so they won't replace it under warranty
2. because of my aftermarket suspension (even though I had just changed it 2 days ago sheesh)

Dealer recommended a body shop that was charging me at least $800 to repair my mushrooming tower. After several members said to just pound it out, that's what I did. To reinforce it, I ended up getting the RDR camber plates...

///Gilbert

 

Seems to be a whole lot of MINI's experiencing this problem and broken strut mounts. There's also way too many dealers blaming the customer while others, like mine, just replace the parts like nothing is new. I'm thinking the dealers and MINI cannot hide behind the "pot hole defense" much longer. There are plenty of pot holes in this country and if your car cannot survive one w/o throwing the front end out of whack and becoming potentially dangerous to drive why bother putting them on the road to begin with? Firestones on Explorers didn't kill everyone but put enough people in danger to force Ford's hand. Maybe it's time we started lobbying for a better and safery car like we did for rear fogs?

 

...,,..

 

;o)

 

My left shock tower is visibily different from the right. I assume that I have bent the shock tower. I ordered the reinforcement plates from M7. I understand that I have to beat the tower back into place with a 2X4 then install the plates, torqueing the nuts to 25 lbs.

I only have 6000 miles on Fenni, is this a warrenty item?
Are both of the shock towers idenitical in shape?
Any other words of wisdom?

All help will be much appreciated.

Forest Crump

 

Is your suspension stock? (stock springs, stock struts)

If so, I would take your car into the dealer and let them handle this.

 

yes the suspension is stock. Thanks for the input

 

My 2004 MCS driver's side strut tower has mushrooming and when I showed it to the dealer, both my service advisor and a technician said they had never seen such a thing. However when the technician checked other cars which were in the shop for service, 2 of 3 of them had mushrooming! I brought my MCS back so the MINI rep. could weigh in on whether this would be covered under warranty. According to the MINI rep. this is a very common occurrence and they said it's due to driving on roads in the northeast. They said it's very common on BMW's, but most people don't know what to look for. Their words, not mine.

So I ordered a replacement strut guide and an M7 strut tower brace, so I get the benefit of the strut plates but also the effect of the bar as well. Once my STB arrives I'll drop the strut and fix it up so that it'll be better than new!

 

One of the strut towers on my 2003 MC was cracking and took several months before they would repair it. A small crack as pictured wasn't enough. I didn't hit any pot holes and I was on the stock suspension. Sadly they replaced only one tower, not both.

 

Like in Copi's situation, my SA said mushrooming is common due to the great roads we have in the NY metro area. Luckily for me, the busted strut guide my MINI had was replaced under warranty. At the time, I had only 15k miles on the clock. However, the SA mentioned that warranty replacement was not the norm. And my suspension is stock. Another NYC Cooper owner had a body shop straighten out the towers to a tune of $600. His dealer said mushrooming was not covered.

So I just got the STPs from M7. From what I have read on the boards, a heavy duty camber plate would be better in preventing mushrooming. Of course, if you're going to put in adjustable camber plates, you might as well put in matched springs and struts or coilovers and so on and so on and so on.

Bah, roads must be better over in Europe.

 

So now I am confused. Is it the shock tower (painted part of the body) that is mushrooming, or is it the upper plate on the front strut assembly? The picture above would lead me to believe it is the plate.

 

The strut tower (painted) mushrooms
The upper strut assembly cracks

Both are weak links in the design.

Just be aware that if you stiffen one part of the structure and it can no longer deform the additional load that would have gone into deformation has to go somewhere.

 

Is there nothing we can do then to minimize this from happening w/o problems w/ our warranty or damage to the car?
Larry

 

Thanks for the references Dave. I guess I really hadn't paid that much attention to this issue WRT to our Oct '04 build MCC or my Aug '05 build MCS until I noticed that the passenger upper shock plate seemed to be taller than the DS - when I took the MCC into the dealer to have a leaking motor mount replaced. I'll keep an eye on it, but the M7 plates look like good insurance for the mushrooming tower.

 

One suggestion is to try this or this. I went with option #2 for a little more $ since the STB is essentially the SRP's plus the crossbar.

 

Personally, if I were under warranty I would do one of two things

• nothing - leave the suspension stock and not install any bracing. That way if your strut towers mushroom they get fixed under warranty and if you strut mounts crack there isn't any additional reinforcement to be blamed.
• install camber plates - probably the best overall solution to prevent the mushrooming by reinforcing from underneith. If you go this route though just be willing to accept that if you have any suspension related problems it's probably your dime, but you're taking solid preventative measures.

 

Thanks for the advice Dave . I was considering the install of M7's STB, but then when I read Lordoftheflies experience and your comments of moving the the stress elsewhere,(made sense here) it left me alittle comfused on what was the best solution to this problem. I will look at both the STB and camber plates now for reinforcement.
Larry

 

Dave, anyone...

So, aside from missing the bumps & potholes, what's the best way to prevent the mounts from cracking? Do any of the camber plates replace the mount with a stronger piece? As for coilovers, I think the PSS9s use the stock mount in the front. Others come with an integral camber plate, but require mods to the tower for adjustment. Seems like there should be a bullet proof fix for this.

 

Sorry Dave, but I'm slightly confused about your stance regarding the SRP's
as I know you have them on your new car.

If anyone is curious what a dealers think about the SRP's or our STB, please
contact Mike Wilson at Motor City MINI 248-997-7533. These guys are now
basically installing them on all new MINI's leaving the showroom as they have
had tons of problems with Mushrooming warranty work.
The SRP's And STB's will solve the problem period.

peter
Team M7
562-608-8123

 

Best overall and simple but effective are 2 different things.

For most performance nuts (most people on this forum ) the camber plates will do more.
The downside of course is comparative expense.

That's my take on what Dave was saying.
Don't think he was dismissing the plates at all.

 

Yes, I had them on my car. Having thought about this issue more, I have removed the SRP's. I then had camber plates installed. Since I didn't have the SRP's on at the time, they aren't currently on my MINI, but they may go back on to sandwich the strut tower from both sides. I feel that's a better overall solution to the issue and it also has the benefit of replacing the stock strut tower mount and improves the handling of the car.

Yeah, but we both know warranty repairs are handled on a dealer-by-dealer basis, so what one dealer in Detroit does has no bearing on how any of the other dealerships will handle the same problem.

Additionally, dealers are inclined to blame modifications (even vaguely related) rather than warranty a problem that otherwise would have been covered.


The SRP's and STB's only address mushrooming, not the cracking of the upper strut mounts.

That is why I made the following recommendation for anyone under warranty

1. Do Nothing - leave the suspension stock and not install any bracing. That way if your strut towers mushroom they get fixed under warranty and if you strut mounts crack there isn't any additional reinforcement to be blamed.

• Pros: all suspension hardware and the strut tower is exactly as MINI designed it. Both the mushrooming and the cracked strut mounts could still be fixed under warranty without giving the dealership an excuse to blame the mod.
• Con: strut towers may mushroom and strut mounts may crack, but if they do you stand the best chance of having them repaired under warranty because everything is 100% stock.

2. install camber plates - probably the best overall solution to prevent the mushrooming by reinforcing from underneith. If you go this route though just be willing to accept that if you have any suspension related problems it's probably your dime, but you're taking solid preventative measures.

• Pro: replaces the MINI strut mounts and distributes the load into the strut tower from below. Can also be used in combination with SRP/STB.
• Con: modified both the strut mount and load path into the strut tower, thus be prepared that if mushrooming were to happen, you'd most likely be on your own to cover the repair.

For anyone out of warranty, since you're now on the hook for both the mushrooming and the cracked upper strut mounts regardless (if those problems arise), I would consider putting on the SRP's and then keep an eye on my upper strut mounts for cracking

• Pro: addresses mushrooming issue
• Con: still have to keep an eye on the upper strut mounts

You could also install camber plates at this point, but if you haven't by the time you're out of warranty, my guess is you're probably not inclined to go that route after the warranty period is up.


Let's be clear: simple but effective for mushrooming. There has been nothing to show they would help with the strut mount cracking issue. So if you install SRP/STB, you should still keep an eye on the tops of your strut tower mounts. And if they do crack while you are under warranty, don't be surprised if your dealer says they won't warranty the cracked strut mounts because you reinforced the strut towers.

Without the SRP/STB, in a large impact energy is absorbed by the strut tower through deformation. If you reinforce the strut tower, then that energy has to be absorbed elsewhere. Given that the strut tower mounts have also demonstrated themselves to be a weak link, that would be the next link in the chain I would look to as not being able to cope with the additional energy they are now needing to transfer because the strut towers are not deforming under extreme loads.

 

Hi Dave, can you supply some camber plate models (i.e. manufacturers), and give an idea on what the installation cost is for these?

 

• Ireland Engineering Camber Plates
• H-sport Camber Plates
• Helix Camber Plates

Figure installation will run an hour of labor (at a local independent - Steve's Auto Clinic - installation ran $80) and then an alignment (ran me $40 to get the front aligned).