Ah, thanks, The fixed is what I want.

 

what should it be torqued to ?[/quote]

25 ft/lbs per Bentley. Even with flat towers you won't get all the threads on. Don't try to torque them down in an attempt to do so or you may end up with a lengthier install. Check M7's website. They don't get the nuts threaded fully in their pics. I just keep an eye on the tower nuts while I'm checking the torque on the wheels every week or two. Hope this helps.

 

MY 06 MCS is a recent victim of Mushroom Syndrome and a cracked strut mount (rubber thingy) *ouchie!*. In reading the above passage, am I to understand that a IE camber plate replacement would also address this fix as well? Is it indeed a more cost-effective solution (then say, a trip to the dealer), considering I do not foresee "track time" in my immediate future?

 

I changed out my stock strut mounts and added the M7 strut bar this week. One of my mounts was cracked! It blew me away the difference in thickness the metal is on the IE strut mounts vs. the stock ones, it is like twice the thickness. After the install I took the car out on a "test run". I can take corners 8- 12 MPH faster than before depending on the curve.

To truly "fix" the problem you need the IE plates and the M7 strut bar or the M7 reinforcement plates. You probably could get away with stock mounts and either M7 product but, you definitely need one of the M7 products for the top of the strut tower. I know people who didn't even drive there car off the lot until the M7 plates/ bar where installed!

 

thanks for the info-- now here's the irony: i still probably wouldn't have noticed the mushrooming and strut mount, if i hadn't purchased the M7 strut brace at AMVIV. The installer pointed it out to me!

As for your install, can you briefly (on or offline) describe the process? did you take it to a shop?

thanks again- i know i'm reviving a mostly dead thread.

 

I first removed the struts from the car and changed out the upper mounts. Before reinstalling the struts, I took the plate part of the strut brace and set it on top of the strut tower to see how bad the mushrooming was. I then took a piece of 2X4 about 5 inches long and set it flat across the hole where you would see the strut rubber through and then took a Dead Blow hammer and smacked it good and hard a couple of times. Then using the plate again from the strut bar seeing where I needed to to hit next. Sometimes I used the end of the piece of the wood to get in between the raised ribs in the strut tower metal too. The things to remember when doing it this way is:

1. Smack it good and hard! Do a couple of blows then check the metal with the plate to see where you need to hit next.

2. Don't get in a rush, you don't want to over do it!

3. Realize you will not be able to get it perfectly flat. Get it as close as possible then when you reinstall the struts and the plate on top and tighten it down it will help "squish" the metal flat.

I hope this helps. Let me know how it went after you are done.

 

Iriman,

The plate are from ireland Engineering. http://www.bmw2002.com/

If you are not to mecahnically inclined, then take it to a shop. You will need an alignment anyway. It involves removing the struts after compressing the springs and replacing the stock camber plates with the ones from IE. You can get fixed plates or adjustable. I put the fixed plates in and I am very happy with them. The combo of the plates and strut bar from m7 will really help with mushrooming

 

Thanks for the info guys! I really appreciate it!

 

Hello I am hoping someone can supply me with a part number for front (left and right) strut mounts for an 06 MCS? I checked the realoem.com site and could not find it!

Thanks in advance!

 

For a June build 2006 MCS, I'm assuming you need P/N 31-30-6-769-741. See item 1 in the following: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...41&hg=31&fg=10

You can confirm it for yourself by selecting MINI R53 - COUPE - Cooper S - USA - (pick your build date) and then browse the parts to 31 FRONT AXLE - 31 10 FRONT AXLE SUSPENSION. Then select the 5th diagram down the page titled GUIDE SUPPORT/SPRING PAD/ATTACHING PARTS.

Hope that helps!

 

I swear i did that 20 times and it wouldn't come up! thank you!

 

One thing I noticed in my research on Cracked Strut Mount and Strut Tower Mushroom Syndrome, is a lack of photos of the fairly obvious symptoms. Fortunately, I have a digital camera!*





Ouchie!

*More hi-res photos on my MINI blog and gallery.

Hope that helps someone out!

:i:

PS: my car is in the shop as i write this. x-d fingers.

 

Any chance you could upload them to your NAM gallery, since I'm over in Kuwait and blogs are blocked, so I only see red Xs

 

2004 MCS 17" Goodyear runflats. No mushrooming no cracks. Installed M7 strut bar with plates and Kumho MX non runflats....like the non runflats much better.

 

And, you reduced your exposure to cracking of the mount and/or mushrooming of the strut tower sheetmetal.

 

Post from the outside looking in here, I am a mini (classic mini) fanatic and have loved the new MINI since it came out as well. I first saw them being loaded to go to the USA at the port of Southampton on a visit to UK to watch some of my USA iron being collected (after making the opposite journey from the USA) at the same port. Some who have been around a while may have seen my report of MINI abuse at the port by the guys unloaded in the haulers when I was at the port. This was posted on www.minimania.com several years ago. It involved a real tool of a hauler running the cars up to redline whilst taking them off the haulers to deliver them to the port. He even asked if we wanted to have a go in them for fun. We declined and even complained about the treatment. Don't fret about this as it was years ago right at the start of USA import of the cars and the thread went on to get read by BMW and I am sure some heads rolled about it.

Anyway, I gotta say, there are quite a few hot heads about this subject and I think all of the arguments don't go one bit towards making the folks with this problem feel any better. Whether this poll helps decide what causes this problem or not doesn't really matter, For my 2 cents it at least gives a fair idea of what cars might be more likely to have this happen to.

What I feel is that if I owned one of these cars (which I would like to but having two dogs and lots of stuff I just can't take the tiny load space) and this problem happened I would be livid. I have owned dozens of classic American and European cars. Cars that had 10-15 owners before me and have yet to see something of this magnitude in terms of rust/rot free sheetmetal actually deforming from normal driving, Now the discussions regarding the fact that the folks with this problem abused their car holds no water with me. I don't know many folks that can drop 10-25k on a car and then drive it like they stole it. And if you did drive it like you stole it...I still don't think this problem should occur. It appears to me like there is just not enough suspension travel end of story. I also don't see how putting a piece of metal on top of a weak dome and bolting it to those three small bolts is going to cure the problem at all.

On the classic mini the top of the tower is actually a seperate subframe and the suspension mounts in a very thick cage of steel that even on the most rotted and wrecked cars I have not seen damaged.

Now I have heard of vehicles that have tower flex, (where the 2 towers move towards each other) such as the fox bodied mustangs and even the vintage mustangs of the 60s (thus when the larger engine options such as the 390CI engines were installed into the 67-68 mustangs, and the 428 in the 68, they added a beefy tower collar on the inside but they still did not need to strenthen the top.)

If the top of the tower is doing ANYTHING, its a defect in my book, I would think the contact point for the suspension is not large enough to disperse the energy over a large enough area of metal and that combined with too thin of a pressing in this area is making the problem more prevelent. As for banging it down with some wood, I can't believe this is an option for such an important fixing point on the car. I realize at this point there is no other option but I would be in tears if I had to bent the part that holds most of the front end to my car back down into place myself. As a sidenote, I had a chevy tahoe that the drivers door top didn't sit flush against the car when closed. I brought it to the dealer and the service manager came out and said "you might want to look away" he opened the door and held it with his knees and bent the top of the door into shape, that gave me the *******, I can only imagine if my shock towers were treated in the same manner.

Sorry to go on and on but I have been following this thread with interest for quite some time

Peter

 

That goes to show how thin the metal is. I hammered mine back into shape with a small piece of wood and a rubber mallet. It didn't take much force at all. There is A LOT of things giving out early on these cars. besides the mounts. You have clutches, the passenger side engine hydrolic mount, front A- arm rear bushings and more rattles you can shake a stick at.

 

Sorry, that statement scares the hell out of me, No major suspension mounting point should be able to be manhandled with a hammer and block of wood that easily. I fear for a real failure on some poor persons car.

Peter

 

I agree with you 100%. Of coarse MINI does not reconize this problem.

 

Just got my '06 MCS back from the dealer, well $700 later they replaced both front struts. I took it in for an oil leak and the said that oil leak was caused by some sort of impact and then they preceeded to tell me that both front struts were bent and the right one was cracked and that it was a major safety issue. They also told me that because of this the rear tires are now cupped. I can honestly say that I have never hit anything hard with my car and I was dumbfounded how this could have happened. Then I checked the web and found this thread. I called MINIUSA and registered my "issue" with them and the gentleman, Sonny, told me that there were no other cases of front strut problems (at least ones without someone hitting a curb) in their database. He also told me the old line that if MINI does decide to recall them then they will reimburse me, blah blah blah. So, I guess I can expect this to happen again in another 23k miles. Joy.
If enough people call MINIUSA and complain then maybe the problem will be brought to their attention and we can get them fix the problem or maybe they will just ignore us and laugh all the way to the bank.

Cheers,
Bret
Manassas VA
2006 Chili Red MCS stock w/17' runflats....

 

Ouch!! 700 smackers would get you a new set of 4 Koni yellows and springs. How noticable was the oil leak? Oil all over the Strut? Bottoming out?

If BMW isn't doing it gratis for Z8 owners with similiar problems... I have fixed camber plates, a BF hammer, and a block of wood ready to go.

 

The oil leak was pretty noticeable on the engine and in the engine bay and was smelling pretty bad.
There were also small spots on the floor of the garage. There was no way I would ever have connected the two, the car was driving fine.

Bret

 

02 MCS, just added M7 STB. No mushrooming to date. Hopefully never will.

 

I am thinking of getting the M7 plates. Should I just get the plates, or go for the whole M7 strut brace which has the plates built in?

 

Go for the whole M7 strut brace/plates combo...that's what I did at MOTD. (Thanks, Way!!!!)