According to M7, I should re-shape or mold my under-hood liner to avoid a rise in the hood or bulging. Is anyone running an M7 STB without bulging after 'molding' the hood liner, or is a little bulging inevitable?

 

I've been reading up on this also as I may be installing the bar myself.

It appears that some have no problems while others do. It is suspected that those that have problems with bulge might have mushrooming already that is afftecting the way the bar fits.

 

Interesting - I hadn't heard that but it does seem to make sense.
I plan to rework the hood's liner as much as possible but it seems that if it's putting enough pressure to bulge the hood, eventually it would rub through to the metal.

 

Nah, not really a concern. There's not enough movement there to really wear significantly. Ones that have been properly molded in seem to hold up just fine.

 

Hmmm - well, I'm still just a bit skeptical but I have indeed already ordered it so...

It seems like a great design and if it were a significant issue, I suppose they'd have reshaped the thing.

 

I had the same issue when I installed mine. Just take a spray bottle of distilled water (to avoid mineral deposits on the headliner), and SOAK down the headliner material where it rubs across the brace. Carefully close the hood, and leave alone for a few hours or overnite. Repeat over the next couple days.

Soaking the headliner allows it to remold over the strut brace.

hope that helps!

 

That's my plan too. Probably wouldn't have thought of the distilled water though.

 

It's kinda weird how some cars have a "bulge", and some don't.Also, different bars have different effects.I've tried Racing Dynamics,JCW,and now I have the M7.The M7 pushed the bonnet way up,but after driving the car for a while,I found the two small areas in the liner which I had to cut out.You probably will read where others have soaked the liner several times and closed the bonnet,which squishes down the liner.Maybe you'll be lucky and won't have to do anything but drive your MINI,which sometimes wears the bar into the liner.

 

negatory. my car was brand new when mine went on and had a hood bulge no matter what I did. it also wore through the underside of the hood release cables on both cars we had them on. I did however have a bit of mushrooming when I took the M7 bar off...go figure.

 

Someone drove your car into a pothole before you picked it up?

I guess it is a mystery then.

Enricosonic, let us know how your installation goes ...

 

Wow, your strut towers would have to have deformed the reinforcement plates, unless the plates worked themselves a little loose.

 

who knows? when I put the Craven plates on, the passenger's side was NOT flat. It is now

 

Not discounting that the reinforcing plates or stb plates likely help, but they're not immune to deformation. The plates are about 3/8" thick, but not across their entire area, and they are just aluminum, after all. My strut towers were mushroomed. I had them pounded back down. I had camber plates installed and then put on an M7 bar. On one side, the plate bent slightly (in a spot where it's only about 1/8" thick) when I tightened down the nuts. Must not have been pounded down completely.

 

Interesting. Well after 3 years, I can see no mushrooming - but when I'm tightening those bolts I'll find out for sure.

 

I had to take my liner out and actually trim out ALL of the foam insulation where the bar hit. The soaking method didn't work for me. After I did that I have zero hood bulge

 

^ +1

 

It is odd that each car is different, could be the build year.

Mine is an "04" and there was no lifting at all.

I have actually had 3 different production versions of the M7 STB over the years and they all were the same on my car, no lifting of the bonnet.

Bill

 

Good news for me! Mine is an '04 as well (Sept. build).

 

Mine too. So... problem solved!

 

I carved out insulation and have no bulge.

 

We've already established that the MCS achieved perfection in '04 then apparently took steps backward. Weren't you paying attention?


Seriously, I'm beginning to expect I'll be modifying SOMEthing under there.

 

I had the M7 Strut put on about 4 hours ago. had a slight bulge on my 06 mini s convert. was encouraged to wet down the liner--have gone back twice so far and i can see the liner molding to the brace. so hopeful if i keep doing this over next few days-bulge gone. also had to drive for about 20 min after install so bar and engine warm--so may have helped to wet down while all hot for the initial molding.

 

Question: Can the stock air filter box/cover be removed without a problem with the M7 strut on? From the M7 site, it looks like the strut would prevent removal of the box even with the center section of the strut removed. Am I correct?

 

I have to remove the bar to get at the airbox--no big deal though.

And I have just the slightest bulge after wetting down the liner. It's not nearly as annoying as the mineral deposits from not using distilled water.

FWIW, if anyone comments on a bulge, do a Ron Burgundy--say that it's an optical illusion from the pants, and that you're taking them back to the pants store.

 

If you cover the STB with plastic before closing the hood you don't need to worry about mineral deposits. When I called M7 about the buldge they told me to protect the bar with plastic until the hood liner dried. CHEQQRS now has only the slightest hood bulge.