I second the previous remarks... as far as MINI is concerned, the "mushrooming problem" has not really slowed down sales significantly, thus the "why bother" attitude.... but I still love my r56 so I went ahead and bought the plates (besides, I work in a railroad yard, so I was going to need them anyway) and installed them ASAP.... I recently received and installed the strut tower bar add-on from M7... a pretty nice looking piece... butt-dyno tells me that my car can go a gazillion miles-an-hour faster In all seriousness though, hats-off to M7 for sticking with a modular design!

 

Yeah, I can see the "why bother" attitude when it comes to retrofitting all the 1st Gen MINI's with sufficient strut towers, but to underengineer them AGAIN when you're working from scratch is just unfathomable, IMO, especially since it wouldn't even be an expensive thing to do. It's easy and cheap to design them strong enough from the factory, like every single other manufacturer does on all of it's models. It's NOT easy or cheap to admit there is a serious structural problem with every single 1st Generation MINI in existance, and therefore be forced to DO something about it.

 

I have a new Clubman and put strut tower plates on my car as soon as I got it home. While there are claims the new Mini has improved towers, I thought it was a small price to pay for insurance. As it turned out, it was a good thing I installed them. At 1,600 miles I encountered unavoidable road debris in the form of a flat bed winch assembly. Fortunately, I didn't try to straddle the piece as my Clubman would never have cleared it (it was 6" in diameter, not including the u-bracket). I was almost able avoid it, but ended up hitting it (at 70) with my passenger front tire. Needless to say, the tire, rim, and suspension took quite a hit ($2600). Subsequent conversations with the repair shop confirmed that the plates saved my strut tower from having to be cut off and replaced.

I'm sold...

 

I'd just rather be safe then sorry, plus M7 is going to be producing the strut tower bar that attaches to the plates. Now only if they make it for the regular Cooper....you hear that M7?

 

IMHO: If the strut tower mushrooming problem still exists on the R56, the M7's Strut Plates, (or any other aftermarket top mounted plates for that matter) are not going to completely solve mushrooming if one encounters a hard hit/bottom-out resulting from a deep pothole or road debris. The installation should however, help mitigate mushrooming caused by normal driving and conditions over the long term. In any case Strut Plates are relatively inexpensive insurance.

 

I like the plates for insurance but I run autox and track days and want to move the struts in using the factory slots to gain a half degree negative camber. This is not possible as far as I can see with the strut tower defenders.

Does anyone have an idea on how I can adjust the camber but retain the plates. I wish Cravenspeed or M7 would have designed the plates so the adjustment could have bee utiliized. Although the extra camber would help I don't think I am willing to ditch the plates to increase my negative camber a little

 

sigh... after I read about mushroom issue and I went to garage, open the hood of my cooper s r56 I found that right side strut tower got mushroomed..
I didn't even know what are the mushroom damage are until read this thread. Anyway..folks how to fix this mushroom damage? just lift the car and pound with the hammer will do?

 

If you order the M7 SRP's they come with instructions on how to correct this problem.