Bad winter thaw and potholes created additional stress to an already stiff OEM set up.

Both strut mounts and windshield cracked. Windshield $500. Strut mounts ( $52 each. ) Decided to replace struts ( Bilstein B4, $92 each ) and lower control arm bushings ( $86 for left right set ) at the same time.

Labour $750

 

Really sorry to hear that!

 

I also added new Potenza RE760 Sports and the car handles very well. Then 2000km later power steering pump goes, timing belt tensioner and exhaust. So I have taken the vehicle off insurance and parked it while I decide what to do. Rebuild to showroom condition or sell ?

Meantime I have purchased a "daily driver " 2011 Scion tC, six speed, 2.5 L, 180 HP / 173 ft.lb.

 

I'd sell the Scion & use that money to put your MINI back in top shape.

 

Ha !

I need the reliability of a Toyota if I am to own a BMW product.

I have owned Honda's, Subaru's and Toyota's. BMW products cost 3 x more to maintain. This is a certifiable fact based on all my records over the past 35 years of ownership.

At the moment I own 2 x Toyota and 1 x BMW. No way will I solely rely on BMW.

BMW is the "new British Leyland". 80 % in the garage but really fun to drive for 20% of the time.

 

160,000 miles on my 05 cabriolet S. Changed the thermostat. Did front brakes. lost a wheel sensor. Replaced spark plugs and wires. Put plates on the strut towers long ago and no further problems there. Same as any other car really. Avoid dealers. Treat online posts with skepticism.

 

Indeed. Treat online posts with skepticism

Buyer Beware !

A recent survey has found that German cars, including Audi, BMW and VW, are among the worst when it comes to engine failure. Mini is the third least reliable.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/...ty-survey.html

Engine reliability - top 10 brands according to Warranty Direct

1. Honda (failure rate: 1 in 344)

2. Toyota (failure rate: 1 in 171)

3. Mercedes-Benz (failure rate: 1 in 119)

4. Volvo (failure rate: 1 in 111)

5. Jaguar (failure rate: 1 in 103)

6. Lexus (failure rate: 1 in 101)

7. Fiat (failure rate: 1 in 85)

8. Ford (failure rate: 1 in 80)

9. Nissan (failure rate: 1 in 76)

10. Land Rover (failure rate: 1 in 72)

Engine reliability - bottom 10 brands according to Warranty Direct

1. MG Rover (failure rate: 1 in 13)

2. Audi (failure rate: 1 in 27)

3. Mini (failure rate: 1 in 40)

4. Saab (failure rate: 1 in 40)

5. Vauxhall (failure rate: 1 in 41)

6. Peugeot (failure rate: 1 in 44)

7. BMW (failure rate: 1 in 45)

8. Renault (failure rate: 1 in 46)

9. Volkswagen (failure rate: 1 in 52)

10. Mitsubishi (failure rate: 1 in 59)

 

The worst car I ever had was a Honda Civic, a never ending story.My Toyota Celica was also a lemon.The Lexuses ZERO problems,the Toyota IQ zero problems.The best of all a Saab 900 did performed well over 20 years.
My Mini from 2002 =100% for 8 years.

 

Good clarifying article here on Youtube:
He indicates that an older shock will often bottom out on a pothole or similar and then that will force the top of the now fully compressed shock hard into the top of the mount, cracking it.

So keeping old shock absorbers and putting in a new mount is not the solution, and he recommends new shocks/better shocks.

 

+ 1

Where is the DIY after all these years??????

 

My personal experience: I had badly mushrooming towers that required the "wood and hammer" fix before I could even mount the tower reinforcement plates. The mushrooming is, IMHO, a result of a combination of issues: pre-mature strut failure resulting in strut bearing failure. I've also noticed that the wheel hub probably need replacing (harmonic vibration/noise) as a result of the previous owners complete lack of care.

I didn't notice until after I bought the car (no wonder I got such a good "deal") that all four struts were leaking. I've already replaced the rear struts and am waiting on new strut bearings to replace the front so I only have to take it apart once.

 

When I first purchased my (new to me) Mini S, I had been reading everything I could find about the car and joined this site. Needless to say I was aware of the many problem areas that come with owning one. So in order to be proactive one of my choices was to upgrade the suspension by replacing the shocks and camber plates with the beefier ireland fixed and adding the ecs tower plates to the tops ensuring that I would not have to deal with it. I do have 18" pirelli runflats and thankfully because of the Konis and the plates she rides 100 times better than stock and no more slamming noises over small bumps in the road. It is great threads like this that offer information about the vehicles we love that help us make an educated decision about how to react and rectify.

 

17" runflats, changed to 17" regular tires at 65000, now at 99000, just installed 16 rims with regular touring tires. Had mushrooming, installed plates a little while back.

 

I have 260k and now have the ECS STP ( holding up great ), has some mushrooming before the plates all together on the passenger side, before i have the M7 ones on ( held up well also ). So that was like at 50K. 17" SS+ 2005 MCC, before the plates

 

Huh, both my Mini and a friends (also an S with 17" wheels) had the mushrooming mostly on the passenger side as well. Wonder why that is?

Reinforcement plates work great. 16" wheels / tires are also great (which I switched to).

Jeremy

 

I blame , trying to miss pot holes on the driver side and the passenger side is closer to the shoulder of the road which tends to have more pot holes and bumps.

17" wheels and Sport or sport plus sets up a pretty stiff suspension.

 

Makes sense

 

Yea, with 260K i racked up allot of test ground with the plates. Dang pot holes come out of now where , its even worse when people bought there Gen 1 MINIs new an they had stock 17" runflats, that adds even more stiffness.

 

If the shock bottomed before the bumpstop compressed fully, that would be incorrect shock selection for the application, which is probably not happening in an original designed and equipped Mini.
I think the scenario is slightly different: shock is worn/leaking and allows the suspension to bottom hard on the bumpstop putting extra force on the upper strut mount. So in the end the answer is the same, don't continue to use worn out shocks!

 

No avoiding it. The 16" and 17" is popular on the Mini. Non Run flat will do better an 18" will be suicide. Not many running an 18 although. Plates will help. But replacement is about $200 or 10 minutes with a hammer and wood. It can be fixed easily usually. It's just something we have to watch for. And then the other question is how many people are hitting potholes in New York etc. Too many variables.

 

Mushrooming on 15 non runflat. Machined a plate to put between dumper and strut, problem fixed.
The design for it is somewhere online

 

Now I’m going to check mine. Maybe new suspension next.

 

You can sometimes tell by just looking at the top mount. If you look at pics on here of deformed mounts enough, you can tell.

 

I have an 03 with bad mushrooming. I will soon be installing some coilovers with camber plates. My question is, will the camber plates act as a reinforcement plate? Or would I still benefit to running a top-side "defender" plate of sorts?

 

Although I have had allot of experience with metric values relative to fluids and weights, I think of thickness/distance in good old USA terms. The OEM plates are about 1/16" thick where most of the aftermarkets are about 1/8". The OEMs are steel whereas the aftermarkets are steel or aluminum. I have aluminum camber plates plus an aluminum tower brace/bar.

What brand coilovers are you thinking about?

and you have some nice mods