Bought an 02 MCS a couple months ago w/ 17" non-run flats. Didn't notice the mushooming until I started reading this thread. Had slight mushooming on both sides, Have fixed the mushooming and made strut tower top plates to reinforce the strut tower (based on a design I found on the internet) and incorporated a strut tower brace that bolts to the reinforcement plates. Looks good and seems to work well so far.

 

Just got strut tower reinforcement plates from VIP Custom Parts last week.

I got their plates and strut-brace bar set, but the bar's on back-order, since it's a *brand new* product. Luckily it's a modular system, so when the bars are made and mine is shipped, I can just bolt it on....

When installing the plates, after my passenger-side strut tower's nuts got to "finger tight", I could feel it pulling the sheetmetal straight as I tightened the nuts. There was tension on the nut when turning, but each took a couple turns to finally come up to torque. The strut had a *barely visible* arch before I started. The driver's side went on perfectly. Now the slight jog to the right on hard acceleration shifts from first to second gear is gone.... I now feel a lot less worried about the poor quality of some of the roads here.

I'm really happy with the plates, and can't wait for the bar to arrive. It's nice to throw business to a local guy who's a friend of our local MINI club here, too....

C ya,
Dutch

 

I just got my 2005 MCW JCW on Friday and was looking online to make the feel of the chasis tighter and more solid when going over bumps. I was looking into getting the OMP MINI Cooper Upper Stress bar on Mini-Madness.net when I ran into this topic.

I checked under my hood and noticed the driver-side looks pretty flat, and the passenger side looks like a mushroom is strarting to grow. I've attached some pics for your viewing pleasure. It doesn't look too bad, but what do I know... I've had my mini for less than a week.

I purchased some of the cabrio stock front braces today, and they should arrive sometime this week (my first mod, yay!). I wanted to get the OMP MINI Cooper Upper Stress bar however it doesn't look like it provides any reinforcement at all to the top of the strut towers. Anyone have any insight on this? Should I instead grab a different design that reinforces the top of the strut towers instead of the design that strengthens the sides of the towers?

 

Your passenger tower looks about like mine did a couple weeks ago (aside from the obvious color difference), so it looks like yours is not too far gone and that you've caught it in time. The bottoms of the nuts should all be in the same plane, where yours have a little bit of tilt.

Any good strut tower reinforcement plate should do the trick. VIP Custom Parts (linked in my note above) makes a really nice one, with specially-machined oversize tee-nuts (he calls 'em "nut bolts") clamping the full thickness (5/8" or about 16mm) of the plate, so that you end up with maximum rigidity and strength at the bolts. Some of the others have the plate's thickness reduced at the attachment points, to allow the use of the original mounting nuts, which makes the plates weaker there. Whether they're enough weaker for it to be a problem, I couldn't tell you, as I'm not a metallurgical engineer, but I am certain that clamping the full thickness of the metal *will* be stronger.... The VIP plates can be ordered with the optional strut brace bar, though, since it's a brand new product, the bar may lag behind a little as he's still making them right now.... I can't wait to get mine and bolt it on!

Here's a pic of my driver's side tower with the plate installed. Even with rounding up the tools, fumbling for a clamp lamp, and all of the new toy "oohing" and "ahhing" while looking it over before the install, it only took about 30 minutes from start to finish, including cleanup and a cameraphone pix....



HTH!

C ya,
Dutch

 

If you want a bar that has plates on the ends the M7 strut bar is the way to go.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/m7-strut-tower-brace.html

 

From what I'm being told from mechanics who specialize in Minis, h-sport camber plates are probably the best way to go to eliminate the mushrooming. The protectors are merely a bandaid solution.

Unfortunately, I just got my car aligned, and adding the camber plates will require another alignment. Boo!

 

Those band aids work well for many people. Used them myself for about 30,000 miles & my car remained unbent. I then added IE fixed camber plates to get some negative camber. The fact they are much beefier that the oem top mounts is an added plus.

 

The "band-aids" I got actually *straightened* my slightly-mushroomed passenger-side tower, eliminating a slight jog to the right every time I really nailed the 1-2 shift....

C ya,
Dutch

 

All -

Has anyone considered a class action lawsuit on this matter? I have my GP in the dealer for the 3rd time with mushrooming/cracked strut tops. The first time it happened, the dealer talked me out of the Craven Speed Strut Defenders. Now, as part of the fix, they are recommending the M7 defenders. It's apparent BMW/MINI is aware of the issue and are doing nothing to prevent it.

 

Hijacking an older question...Looks to me like the KYB's SUUUUCK. I ordered a pair. I *was* in the process of putting them in. Leaned on one a little while tightening it up to the strut, and the bearing came loose in the mount!! I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to happen. I can only imagine what a couple pot holes would do to these things. Now I have my damn car apart, and I have to put it back together with the cracked mount before the thunderstorm rolls in...what a f***ing waste of time and money.

I think I will be ordering some fixed plates or OEM mounts. I guess you get what you pay for.

 

Yep, same here... Both my strut towers were mushroomed... Pounded them back in shape using a block of wood & a hammer... Then bolted Craven Strut Defenders in place and that pulled the top of the towers back flat... It actually raised the front of the car a bit...

 

Fix it once, fix it right. and you get what you pay for...I just ordered Madness plates for the bottom and Craven Defenders for the top, Cravens design allows for this with stock strut top, most other "reinforcements" and strut braces use stock bolt on the Camber plate, Craven uses a concentric bolt to secure the strut, then the reinforcement plate is bolted on the external threads. BTW Madness plates are 10% thicker and have significantly more surface area. I'll be eating potholes for breakfast.

 

I have a few questions... some of which may have been answered in the 22 pages of this thread but I don't have the patience. :(

The dealer informed me that the only negative effect of my cracked strut mounts would be increased tire wear. But somewhere on these forums I read about the struts breaking through the hood???
I just would like to know how important it is that I get this replaced. I can deal with some tire wear for a while but not potential hood or other damage and driveability failure.

Also I was wondering if the tops can be replaced without disassembling/compressing the strut/spring. Do I need the specialty tool to remove the strut top bolt or do the mounts "sit" on top? The thread I saw about strut removal didn't seem too clear on this and my bentley manual only mentions the replacement of the mount after spring compression and strut disassembly.

 

I just got the MM plates and went to install them this morning when I noticed what looks like a crack inside my right tower mount. Is it even worth installing the plates right now until I get this fixed? How vital of a fix is this? thanks for any info

 

Get that crack welded then put on the plates. If you don't, wear and tear will make that crack worse

 

Just do them when you replace the mount.

 

After reading through this thread I became concerned that my car's willingness to follow crappy road patters was due to this, and sure enough, the passenger side is slightly puffed upwards.

Sport Package '03 MCS w/ stock S-Lites, Runflats, and just coming up on 34k miles... The driver's side tower looks flat, but damn, 33,699 miles right now, and the metal is this soft?

 

Stock "S" Suspension
Stock size 205/45-17 Runflat tires
90k miles

Mushrooming noticed on passenger side strut mount.


Who makes/sells a good type of reinforcement?

 

I went with this guy--he's local here and puts out top-notch stuff: http://www.vipcustomparts.com/minicooperparts.htm

HTH!

C ya,
Dutch

 

I'm checking it out online now. Thanks Dutch!!

 

How about the 2010 models? They probably haven't been around long enough for this problem to show up, but this does concern me. I hit a fairly large pot hole when I brought it home from the dealership. I am hoping that Mini has corrected this problem on the new models, but if anybody has had this problem on a 2010, please let me know!

 

Buy strut tower plates and/or strut tower braces ASAP. If I bought a new MINI today, I'd install either one the second I got home from the dealer. If you have minimal warping, it will correct it instantly and it will protect you from this ever happening in the future. My 2 cents....

 

Just ordered my set from VIP today.

 

I purchased some H-Sport adjustable camber plates to eliminate the issue completely. While it's sort of overkill, it fixes the issue and provides some added bonuses. Got them here on the Marketplace used for $325. When I took the OEM plates off I was shocked how pathetic they were in terms of thickness compared to the H-Sport plates.

The top-mounted plates will eliminate some bars down the road if you want to add one later. In my opinion if you are going to go with the under-mounted plates, you may as well spend a little more and get some nice sturdy camber plates rather than just adding a reinforcement plate.

 

Just a bit of a warning, those strut tower bolts aren't very strong. I snapped one off while trying to "finally come up to the torque".

See broke my passenger strut nut off need help!