And what could arguably be considered to be a re-inforcement plate for the strut tower.... (Silver-colored thing mounted on top of the strut tower.) However, if the silver-colored "cap" is just a plastic trim item, then all bets are off. There really is soo much that just is not known about the R56 cars; only time and experience will tell.

 

I think it's doubtful that it is a "plastic" cap since the studs and bolts are fastened to it. Soon someone will be able to say for sure. It doesn't really effect me since my 2007 MCS is a cabrio, not an R56.

 

How wouldn't it affect you? Are the strut tower caps different between the Cabrio and Coupe? I am appologizing in advance if I missed something, but isn't the Cabrio and Coupe just a different body style of the same model (R56)?

 

The Cabrio won't go to the R56 platform until 2009 or there abouts (and it will then be referred to as the R57). For now the 2007 Cabrio remains on the R52 platform (based on the R50/R53 of the earlier generation Coupes).

 

Something to ponder about the "poll." What does it really tell us?

If you read the poll results it states that 140 people participated yet if you add up the individual responses there are 159. No big deal, but someone should make the correction unless I counted incorrectly.

(1) It appears that there are several different model years included in this poll. How many MINIs were produced during all the years covered by this poll? If you consider all the MINI Coopers that were manufactured during all those years, 159 is a very insignificant number of cars with strut tower problems. (For example, MINI claims that it manufactured 174,365 cars in 2003 alone.)

(2) Of course, it is safe to assume that not every one who had such a problem knew of the poll and responded, but it is also safe to assume that every MINI owner that did not encounter such a problem has not been counted by this poll either, and while I don't know how many MINI owners are on this list, 159 seems, at least to me, like a very, very small number.

(3) The question remains, why have some MINI owners had strut tower problems and many, many others not? That seems to be an important question and the only suggested answer that I saw for that was in a post that claimed that BMW had not used thick enough or strong enough steel in the strut towers, i.e., a defect in design or manufacturing. But if that is so, why is it that so many MINI owners of the same model cars did not have strut tower problems? How does one explain that without sheer speculation?

(4) What do we know about how the MINI cars that had strut tower problems were used? What were they subjected to? Did the strut towers fail under ordinary conditions that one might expect any motor vehicle to be operated under, or were these MINI cars operated differently in some way prior to the failure of their strut tower?

(5) These appear to be some questions that I think deserve answers if we are to take anything away from this polling data.

 

To really get into the details of the polls and how the data relates to mushrooming, you need to be looking at where each response came from. For example, some states in US have better roads than others. This is due to higher/lower taxes, weather, and terrain. Those with MINI's with high mileage and no mushrooming may live in a state with smooth, well maintained roads and drive on the conservative side. It would be interesting to see the demographics detailing not only the problem, but location of the MINI and how they drive. I imagine since the majority of problems are with runflats, this would be a problem introduced to the R53 when BMW decided to change the tires without modifying the suspension at the last minute during the design.

I hate to admit it, but the roads here are chopped up at best, and some will make your spine shatter even with non-runflat tires. I have MCS Chkmate 06 and the drivers side mount is ever so slightly starting its upward ascent. And if it wasn't for this thread, and your support here at NAM, I would have never knowned about this problem. At the very least, this thread will make consumers aware of the problem and have the option to take action in buying a preventive measure.

A BIG thanks to Peter at M7 tuning for his help in my order yesterday. Excellent customer service. I highly recommend giving him a call. He was very helpful in determining mushrooming and re-hashed all the major points here in this forum.

I agree we shouldn't have to suffer these type of problems, but thats why for a small price, its just safe to invest in the M7 SRP or M7 STB or really any product for that matter to help "prevent" furthering or the starting of mushrooming. Thus eliminating any costly repairs down the road. At the very least, you get piece of mind, a price I am willing to pay for.

 

Ahah! The light over my head is starting to flicker dimly.... Thanks for the reminder.

 

The only thing to take from the polling data is a set of general risk factors. For example - if you have 17 inch or larger wheels, you have a higher risk of suffering mushrooming and/or strut mount failure than if you have, say, 16 inch wheels. Nothing more.

 

Caminifan said,
"The poll was not meant to be statistically significant to the 98th percentile..."

I hate to rain on your parade, Caminifan, but your poll is not statistically significant at all--not even to 2% because it is based entirely upon sparse anecdotal evidence.You are assuming everything that you are trying to prove. You are assuming that run-flat tires and 17" wheels are the cause of strut tower failure, but that remains to be proved. And you are assuming that those nice looking M7 plates bolted on the top of the strut tower will prevent strut tower deformation (mushrooming). There are some very good posts by k-huevo at https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...er+deformation which explain why the M7 plates alone will do nothing to prevent mushrooming.

In order to strengthen the strut tower cap you would need to sandwich the top of the strut tower between two plates, one on the underside of it and the M7 plate on the top. Merely adding the M7 plates on top of the strut alone may make you feel good (and they do look good, I'll grant you that) but alone they can't act as insurance that mushrooming will not occur. As k-huevo says, "The Ireland Fixed Camber Plates have at least a chance of preventing this from happening again; a pseudo brace from above the strut tower has no chance. [...] The bottom line from my view is to make this decision with your eyes open, and if you so choose, get one of these above tower products for any other reason than to prevent mushrooming."

Enough said. I think the jury is still out about mushrooming in general and its cause when it has occurred. I enjoyed reading your posts but I don't think you have proved anything. And saying "if you have 17 inch or larger wheels, you have a higher risk of suffering mushrooming and/or strut mount failure than if you have, say, 16 inch wheels" may reflect your personal belief, but it is pure speculation on your part.

 

Then ignore the poll resullts. I am not trying to prove anything.

Wrong again. You should read my prior posts regarding the M7 Strut Re-inforcement Plates.... I have been pretty consistent in my cautionary statements - sometimes to the frustration of Peter and the crew at M7.

If you feel the poll and its results are not worth the space it takes up on the NAM server(s), you are welcome to your opinion. Just don't start whining if you have ordered 17 inch or larger wheels (even better if you have also spec'd runflat tires) and you experience the mushrooming and/or strut mount failure. Suck it up and deal with it.

 

An important area that has not been covered is how are the cars that have mushroomed strut towers being driven? How many are merely driven on the public highways? Or are they evented? Raced? Off roaded? Some conbination? You can't tell from reading the posts.

It would be important to know if cars that are only driven on public highways are noticing mushrooming of their strut towers or is it something associated with more severe use?

One other odity is that I have been unable to find any mention of strut tower deformation in any reviews of MINIs by the automotive press. I have a good friend who reads AutoWeek from cover to cover and he has never heard of the problem until I mentioned it. BMW is the suspension/handling car company. There are no complaints by MINI owners on NHTSA's website of strut tower deformation. I did find an individual article similiar to the posts here, but that was not by a member of the automotive press. I think it reasonable to expect the automotive press would have taken note if deformation of strut towers was related to ordinary usage. That's what I would expect.

What sort of use are the MINIs being subjected to that have had strut tower mushrooming? I would appreciate any information in that regard.

 

legair, you might be wasting your time here.

I've been following this thread for a couple of months and remain unconvinced. I've yet to read a single post which provides hard proof, yet I've read many which seem placed to promote the sale of after market parts.

I hope that I am indeed not so cynical that I end one day eating those words . . .

Caminifan and I have traded barbs of complaint about our bad roads . . . certainly San Fran and LA leave much to be desired in the public works sector. With all of the tax revenue and the grand institution of parking ticket revenue which is California . . . one really has to wonder where the money is going.

Using my car as a test case . . . road quality appears to have little effect, otherwise my wheels would be wobbling like a bad Elvis impersonator.
With that said, I try to take car of my car and drive it like the money I spent on it doesn't grow on trees. Whether this question existed or not . . . I'd probably still drive the car in the same fashion.

That doesn't mean that I don't get on it once in a while . . . I do have some fun and in the process have smacked a few uneven surfaces harder than I'd preferred!

Certainly, there are some pretty horrific examples also presented in this thread . . . but I also wonder who, why, and how those cars were driven to create such damage.
I guess there could be inconsistencies in the coach work . . . who knows?

If there was a STB built into the SRP's which allowed proper clearance for the bonnet, I'd be more inclined to go that route. The problem is, right now I'm more interested in stiffening up my suspension.

I just don't feel there is yet definitive proof that this is problem that effects all Minis, all drivers. I certainly don't agree that mileage has anything to do with it, other than to simply increase the chance that a damage inducing impact could occur.

 

Thanks, CutnThrust, for your post. We share some of the same concerns.

 

Hey Gang,

I need some advice. About 9 months ago I got my whole steering rack replaced under warranty. About 2 moths ago it started making some noise again. I took it in to Brecht and they told me that another part needs to be replaced and they needed to order it (I think it was a lower arm). I took my car back yesterday to have the warranty work done. This morning I get a call and was told that both strut towers were bent and they would not replace the part. And get this; it will be 5-6,000 to fix the towers. I know other people have had bent, cracked, mushrooming strut towers, what have you done to fix the problem. I am not about to spend $5,000. I drive the car very carefully and did not hit any major bumps that I can think of. Could they have bent the towers when they replaced the steering column/aligned the wheels again?

Thanks,
Michael

 

To the soon (I hope) to be administered by the Feds, fouled up mess that is the CA Dept of Corrections, courtesy of the CA Mafia, known as the CCPOA.

 

Michael, what caused your "whole steering rack" and "steering column" to fail? Did you have a collision with something? And what caused the lower arm to fail? Did the dealership say what they thought had caused your left and right strut towers to become bent?

 

The R56 has more suspension travel and a slightly softer ride, both of with should help prevent mushrooming, even without changes to the strut towers.

 

Mine are mushroomed slightly (not flat), but not bent looking. The area between two of the bolts is flat but drops off at the bolts. However, still mushroomed in each direction, both sides. I plan to go to the dealer and check several new ones (left over 06s) just to see how consistant they are.
BTW 06 9,700 miles 15" non run flats and no memory of any hard bumps.

 

legalr,

The delaership replaced the steering col. under warratny. It was making a grinding sound.

I have had this car since day one. No colisions, no bad bumps/pot holes. Anyone who knows me knows that I am knutz about my cars. Not a scratch on it.

They said that I have been doing to much "aggresive" driving and/or hit a bad bump to cause the mushrooming.

 

WTHAY!? MINI/BMW's attorney? Work in the marketing group? Bean counter?

I want to know why my strut towers mushroomed... your fallacious & at least equally unscientific assertions are no less misleading than your claims regarding this poll.

Equally valid:
Why not find out how many owners know what a strut tower is?
How about just how many of the total MINI's sold worldwide belong to enthusiasts who post on NAM?

I understand that there's no need to leap to hasty conclusions, but your questions border on corporate apologist shill-ism. I don't care if just one guy's towers mushroomed... that's one too many, and you're not going to make him feel any better by telling him that he makes up .0009% of the cars sold - his experience is real, and it sucks.

Posts like yours burn my a$$.

 

Might I suggest that you've misdirected your frustration?

 

Your entitled to suggest whatever you want, just as legalr is entitled to attack flawed polls with flawed logic of his/her own.

I would argue that legalr's comments are "misdirected", and I plainly question the intent of such endeavors.

 

?

Legair's questions are totally legit.

Are you suggesting that we are all supposed to accept this poll . . . your word . . . or any post . . . on face value alone?

Sorry, but that leaves too many unanswered questions.

You had a problem, I have not. It is fair to question why.

 

Hmm, I saw this thread, last Fall, checked my strut mounts and found one mushroomed. That's 100% in my book.

This survey is not scientific. I'll bet a random selection of sample vehicles would find a very high rate of distortion. Polls like this suggest that such a study could be performed, but I don't think it pretends to be the study itself.

I really appreciate this thread because as a result I bought and installed the M7 plates and brace and drive with more confidence.

I think it would be cool if BMW investigated the problem, and if it were found to be one, provide cool, engineered by the factory, solutions. Then again, maybe they have investigated it, found it to be no more of a problem than any other sort of breaking in and have dismissed it. In that case I wish they did have someone on their payroll to get the word out.

Actually, for my part, I wish they'd re-engineer the arm rest and figure out the interior mirror is a hazard and recall and replace them with ones you can see around.

 

Do I misunderstand you? Are you just not "getting it"? Might you be playing devil’s advocate, just for the hell of debating?

No one told you to take anything as gospel, or face value or any other cliché. Certainly not I

You are encouraged to use your wits at all times. Believe who you will & mistrust what you will.

My "problem" has zero to do with a 'member' who comes onto a thread to detract from the purpose of the thread, by using fallacious arguments to "debunk" a poll no one asked him to "debunk". Thou dost provide too much free advice, and uses flawed arguments to support it... legalr that is.

There are many unanswered questions. You will note that I have not attempted to put a lid on any of them. The same cannot be said for others.

This site is about sharing enthusiast experiences, both good and bad. Beneath the Bonnet is a place to discuss MINI experiences which are sometimes unflattering to the brand. Those who come in to a discussion and defend the brand (which is very capable on its own) draw attention to themselves.

If this type of involvement in discussion does not create further "unanswered questions" then you really aren't considering all the possibilities.