A nice little day of motoring claimed a rim yesterday. Upon closer inspection once arrived home, rim was damaged, tire (RF) bubbled, and UNBELIEVABLY, the strut tower "mushroomed" on the drivers side. I've read a thread about strut tower problems after sustaining a hard impact and a list of part numbers for the "guide support". I have a 6/05 build date. What's the correct part number for the guide support? Is there anything else aside from that part that needs replacement? Where can I obtain the part?

 

Do you have any pictures of the damage? I'd like to see just exactly what you mean by mushroomed....

TIA

 

Yea, I'd like to see this also. I have hit some real hard bumps myself and have never noticed any issues with this type of problem.

 

Mushroomed front shock towers are nothing new here in Detroit, especially on very low MINI's. 4GAZM has had good luck hammering his back into shape and then using a strut tower brace to minimize future damage. Mine aren't mushroomed bad enough to need repair...yet. The front shock towers definitely seem to be the weak point in the chassis, as time goes on.

 

& the guide support is?

The strut top mount with the rubber & bearing that bolts to the tower?

 

The part number for the guide support [font=Verdana]31-30-6-769-741. In addition, a new stock lock washer and bearing dust cover (thin dished washer) would be appropriate but not necessary. The mushroomed tower is another issue and I’ve been told a block of wood and a hammer will return it close to shape although a twice bent piece of metal seems would be weaker. Classic MINI of Mentor is the place to purchase. [/font]

 

wakaru,

Mushrooming of strut towers is common and reflects transmission of force from the stiff runflat tire and 17" rim due to less than ideal road conditions.

I've seen it on both sides of the front strut towers.

Be sure to check for additional damage to the strut tower plates which commonly crack (sometimes the bolts also crack).

See
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=44710
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=43341

Crack in topmount.

 

Man, I sure wish someone would actually post a pic of a mushroomed shock tower. I am beginiing to think you're all making it up.

 

This brings me back to '83 when I was riding with a friend one Friday night - he came down a hill and made a sharp right at the end (following the road of course) - somewhere in there was a very large pothole. The next thing we knew there was an entire strut poking thru the hood. Seems pretty funny now but I don't think his dad was too fired up that night..

 

Ok, I'm not making this up. Got pics to prove. After a day of pounding and replacing the "guide support" got around to take some pics.


Here's the right side, unharmed and flat as it should be:


Here's the left side, mushroomed and stretched, one bolt in the back is angled funny because of that:



Comparo between bent guide support (left) and a new one (right):

 

wakaru mini,
Your other mount looks to be of the original design, kinda flat if you look down at it. The newer mounts are dished on top.
I changed both of mine after mushrooming one of the shock towers just to be sure I had the exact same part on both sides. Lucky for you, if you do change the passenger side mount, the strut comes out alot easier.

 

wow! thats pretty bad...good luck bringin' it back to spec or close to it.
get u a NiCE strong strut bar after poundin' this down!!

 

The odd thing about this is that it isn't new but still hasn't been addressed by Mini. As another point of reference this was an issue with the first year BMW M3, so starting in 1996 BMW introduced a simple stamped steel reinforcing plate that's sandwiched between the strut bearing plate and the strut tower sheet metal. It's part #15 here:
<http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BG93&mospid=47488&btnr=31_0239& hg=31&fg=10>
These retail for around $6 each.

I'm surprised that neither Mini nor the aftermarket have come up with an equivalent for our cars. Since the Mini strut tower is basically flat its reinforcement would be even simpler and cheaper to make than the BMW version.

The nearest thing I can come up with would be a strut brace that has full coverage mounting plates. The new M7 seems to fill that bill very well and at a reasonable price.

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

(M7) it's the bar i run.
_ NiCE & beefy on the mountin' plates :0), it also uses all three mountin' bolt's

 

The part numbers match the new one & the bent one. So I assume they're fine. After pounding it the sheetmetal (don't have any aftershots), the driver and passenger side height is close to even give or take 1/8" inch, whereas before the serious elbow grease it was 3/4" lower on the driver's side !

The camber is somewhat off too. I believe the driver strut is bent a little.

 

I cant see how a strut brace would help with this. The brace is designed for a lateral load, not a vertical load from the bottom. It would still "mushroom" the tower. The only thing to prevent it from happening with a brace is the bolts, and that aint much.


I would like to see a reinforced plate available from a vender for just this kind of damage.

 

not talkin' about the 'brace' itself & its job, but the mountin' plates themselves which is part of the 'brace' system! that help w/mushroom syndrome

*on ur "reinforced plate" do u mean 'Guide supports'?

 

I know pretty well how the M7 brace works. I own one. Here's the thing. The solid plate above the tower is held DOWN by the three nuts which affix it. If the tower were to begin to bend, it would shove at least one up, but being as how they are both now horizontally and vertically adjoined, they will only move [or not move, as is the actual case] together. It now would take a lot more force to inflict the same stress on the metal of the tower than it did before, because any stress you are applying is quickly spread out evenly over the full shock tower area.

 

The plate won't keep the tower from mushrooming. It is only attached by 2 or 3 bolts. The forces are coming from the bottom. The tower will mushroom because the bolts will fail in that direction. The only thing offering resistance in that direction are the threads.


I was refering to a reinforcing plate installed between the tower and the guide. This would take the vertical force before it was applied to the bottom of the tower.

 

wow, thanks for the picts. now I know what you are talking about when you say mushroomed. it does look raised quite a bit.

 

There are three bolts, and I completely disagree. There is shearing force on the bolt, force applied by the thread friction, and the force distributed between bolts by the plate, which keeps the bolts in their original places. This has the same net effect as any plate underneath. In a significant way, though, it's easier to install one on the top than on the bottom.

 

U would really have to see this piece cuz it seems that u have not!! since ur talkin' about "2 or 3 bolts" holdin' it in place, its much more than that in a sence that the bottom of the plate is so thick & sits flat all the way around the tower mount so it would be impossible for it to not help in the dreaded "mushroom" effect...jus by design!!

if u place an additional reinforcing plate in between the guide & the tower u would probably sit toooooooo high...

ur kinda describin' a camber kit this might help taking more of the abuse but i dont know not really feelin' that meself mate!!!!

 

I think this is where the Webb plates would come in handy as they are pretty thick and do spreat the stress over the entire strut tower.

 

Does anyone know if there's an official recall on this?

Has anyone replaced it? If so, how much of a pain is it?

I'm asking because I just checked mine during lunch and it doesn't look so good. there is cracking and separation under the plastic nut. Ita also looks like it is raised about 1/8-1/4" I'm guessing this is what mushrooming is.

 

The stamped reinforcing plate on my M3 is made out of only 2mm thick steel, so changes in ride height aren't really an issue.

While a plate under the strut tower sheet metal would probably be more effective, don't rule out the usefulness of strut brace mounting plates, providing that they're "full coverage" as I suggested (like the M7 product, also the Dinan). Tension in the three 8mm bolts clamps the plates to the strut tower sheet metal, and the resulting friction between the two resists relative motion. While this isn't going to be as strong as, say, welding on some extra sheet metal, you're still going to get considerable benefit.

This is analogous to the way wheels are mounted. Many people believe that it's the lug bolts that transfer drive and braking torques, but they don't. Tension in the lug bolts provides friction between the mounting face of each wheel and its hub, and that's the torque transfer mechanism. If the lug bolts are loose they'll often break, because they're not strong enough to take the drive/braking forces in shear. [/digression <g>]

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3