That's it in a nutshell.

 

That is pretty much it . In some cases the suspension mounting bolts get a bit out of alignment as well .

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

thanks guys :D

-Ricky

 

Non-S cars have taller tires (usually) and don't get banged up quite as much, so there is much less of a need. The shape of the inner strut tower is exactly the same (in fact, it is the same).

Matt

 

I dont understand.

When companies test fit stuff on cars, I have a hard time believing they only use one model and then only say it fits that one model because they were too lazy/cheap to test fit to another model that is virtually identical in the area for test.

Coopers and S's can be had with exactly the same wheel/tire combos, so if a product is listed to fit one model, regardless of wheel/tire combo, it should, logically, fit the other, unless it is stated that the product only fits cars with 'X' wheel and tire combo.

And what does it mean that Coopers dont get 'banged up as much?' Are they not in accidents as much as S's? Do they not hit as many potholes? Seriously, I am curious.

 

Not to muddy the waters, but I have a friend with a R50, stock suspenders & 15" tall tires. Her car is afflicted with mushrooms. The worst I have seen to date.

My R53 with 16" & stock suspenders & M7 plates has no mushrooms at 52,000.

There should be a place in that poll for folks with no mushrooms.

 

I'm at 25K miles, w/ 17" wheels and the M7 plates. No "shrooms" to date.

 

I just discovered a cracked passenger side mount yesterday - 2003 MC, 16" non-runflat, 96,000 mi.

 

hey peeps, im new to minis and honestly have no idea what this problem is. Can anyone tell me exactly what it is? I looked at the pics of the mushrooming strut towers and I dont notice anything wrong. I popped my hood earlier and have no idea what I am looking for. I have an 06 MCS with s-lites and run flat tires.

Also, how serious is this problem?

 

how do all of ya flatten out the mushroom? i just got a front strut bar and 1 screw on each side does not fit...

 

Well, ya gots two options. Post some pictures here that show the tops of the towers from the front, straight on, or show the car to someone from NAM who lives locally.

 

There are a bunch of discussions on this, most likely in this thread if you read the whole thing, but basically, it depends on how bad the mushrooming is.

Some people, probably with damage as extensive as yours, removed the entire front suspension and banged down the top of the tower. I was able to just bang it down w/o removing anything because my shrooming was only on one side and not that much. I was able to get a couple of threads on each nut/bolt started so I just tightened it down and everything is fine.

 

what type of tools do u use? i will try ot get some pics..

 

here the pics from my car
Attachment 41204

Attachment 41206

Attachment 41205

 

more pics...

Attachment 41208

Attachment 41207

 

this is the strut i bought but one of the screw is not in alignment...how do i fix it? can it be fixed? what tool do i use?

Attachment 41211

Attachment 41209

Attachment 41210

 

It looks like the passenger side is more mushroomed than the driver's side.

People have used a block of wood placed on the strut mount then hit with a big hammer. Others have criticized this because the banging can cause more stress damage as compared to replacing the strut mounts and tightening down the nuts which cause the mount to flatten out slowly.

 

I will say, again, that if you can get each nut screwed onto a couple of threads on each bolt, just tighten them down, and no banging is necessary. Why? Because even if the top of the tower is not shroomed, and you put the plates on to prevent shrooming before it happens, the top of the tower is still gonna come up that fraction of an inch until it touches the bottom of the plate, anyway, through regular bumpy road usage.

 

Noted. I was commenting on the fact that Mini Madness advertises the plates for the S. I had to e-mail MM to ask about the non-S. They responded that they "should work."

In any event, you are right. I commented earlier last year that in my non-expert opinion that the shrooming appeared to be more prevalent on the S because those models came with the runflats and larger wheels. End result: a harder ride, but more significant, not the additional shock absorption that standard tires provide.

Note: Because of this issue, I am constantly aware of my tire pressure so that my stock tires, so to speak, provide proper cushioning.

Fortunate for me, I don't like the look of low profile tires anyway, so with the MINI that's a win win for me, albeit I am sure the S owners with runflats see me as Timmy Tourist putt putting down the road and roll their eyes.

But from what I have read, low profile tires and/or runflats have a price in addition to their initial expense, the price one pays for style and to feel cool.

 

Could someone look at this picture and tell me if it's mushrooming? If you can even tell from the picture, it's all the seller put up online. It's a 2006 Cooper S and it seems perfect, I've already taken it for a test drive and I'll probably get it this weekend. I hadn't heard anything about the mushrooming problem until I was browsing this forum last night in anticipation, and then I got terrified

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/1496/376324.jpg

 

It's hard to tell from the picture. It appears that all three bolts on each tower are pointing in the same direction, so if there's any mushrooming/splaying at all, it's a very minor case.

 

Looks like the same as my car. And a couple of people I showed last weekend said it might be a case of mushrooms. I'm not too worried about it. I will be looking at a fix, and some suspension soon.

 

i managed to use mallet n bloack of wood to put the front strut on...BUT its a very tight fit adn there no way for me to take it out even without the screws... now what do i do when i need to take off the front struts?

 

You need to squat down in front of the car, directly in front of each tower, and take a picture of each, sort of like this. This pic shows the M7 plate after the fix, so you really cant see the mushrooming anymore.

 

Like others said, hard to tell, but looking at the nuts, they appear horizontal and not in an angle.

And it could be the camera angle, but the right (left in the pic) looks perfect.

I suspect they are fine.

If you buy it, immediately put some MiniMadness steel plates ($100, see my post above). I really feel a lot better with those plates installed.