I'm new to this forum, so please bear with me. I see alot of people are talking about the mushoom affect on the upper strut tower. What exactly are you guys talking about? is it just color change or deform shape? Thank you

 

My understanding is it is where the strut tower actually deforms. I havent seen it, but hear its common.

 

Mushrooming is a term to describe the shape of the upper strut tower after hitting a large chuck hole or something else in the road that pushes up the strut with enough force to bend the sheetmetal where the upper strut {front shock absorber}mounts.
Not a good thing!

 

By the way welcome aboard Mini Cooper S.

 

wow....is the mini cooper that soft of a car? i read...that this is cause by some strut bar in the market. i never had this problem with my old honda accord. but is good to know.

 

The mushroom effect is something I experimented with once in a while back in collage. .......

 

Once ????


The mushroom effect is something we noticed on quite a few cars in our area stemming from rough canyon roads , pot holes or people running 18" wheels with 35 series tires. It is a deformity of the top portion of the front strut tower which varied from car to car. Creative hammer work can get things mostly back in shape but that process is not one you want to repeat often.

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

.... in a while...

 

is this something that happens to cars with strut/stress bars (jcw, m7, bmp etc) or can it happen to any car regardless?

 

It's more prone to happen to Minis with a slow wheel operator

 

oh i thought the steering wheel was so that you can make sure you hit the those holes in the road

 

This happens to cars usually WITHOUT a full top plate style strut tower brace. It can happen to a car with a plate but it is less likely.

Randy
M7 tuning

 

Thanks for clearing that up!
makes things easier with picking a strut brace now.

 

If you get it, mine has always been covered under the warranty. I think my 03 MCS had them replaced 2 or 3 times. Damn rough Dallas roads.

 

Forgive me for not reading & searching, but does the problem make an noises? I guess I should check mine and see if it's happening.

 

I don't know about noises stemming from the mushroom effect. I have not had the issue myself as I have run a front strut tower brace since the first month I had the car. The ones I have witnessed at the local shop were all very visible. The top surface of the strut tower was deformed in one way or another. It appears that many do not notice they have the problem until they try to mount a tower brace or adjustable camber plates. Either the bolts wont line up or the plates will not lie flat. Perhaps someone can chime in that has had the problem and explain how they discovered it and if the car drove or sounded any different ?

Randy
m7 Tuning

 

i don't think so. unless the tower bolt broke or something and something
was actually loose. i bet some of us don't even know that they have it.

... no mushroom symptom on mine (yet?)

 

I'm suprised that this was covered as a warranty issue if it was caused by road damage. I was told I had to pursue fixing mine through a body shop. Curiuos why yours was warranty and mine wasn't.

 

So out of curiousity will camber plates mitigate the problem as well? Might be just the excuse I'm looking for.

 

for your wife? then you also need to swap out the wheels and exhaust system.

i doubt camber plates are going to mitigate it.... rather, putting on some
koni progressive rate bump stops might be better.

 

I can see we learned alot... it's college ...

 

Dallas and Va two different dealers, different relation w/ MINIUSA therefore one is more likely to convince MINI it is worth paying for the other dealer won't risk it and chance getting stuck w/ the cost themselves. Also you need to be careful how you word things so that it was unavoidable and not your fault and not caused by mod. Its all of that internal BS and politics that leaves us MINI customers happy sometimes and feel like we're getting shafted other times, I don't like but don't have the power to change it.

So as a result, as soon as I can get a parts supplier I trust and the software to do the reading and adjusting of the computer (a law was passed where maj. of info had to be made public so small shops could service newer cars but the software still comes at a premium $$$) I plan on doing all of my own service. I know enough to do all the reg. stuff and can understand most of the more advanced work and am willing to learn that which I don't know. I figure after 10 years I may have spent the same amount as always going to the dealer but I plan on having my MINI long after that so I consider it more of an investment.
Sorry for the rant just not thrilled about lack of service and the fact I have to drive 100 miles to find a dealer I trust to do the job right.

 

The fact that you got it covered under warrenty is actually amazing in comparison to our local dealers . I have not heard of one case of " mushrooming " being covered. There may have been some but for the most part the dealers use, low profile tires, too big of a wheel ( 18+ ) , aftermarket suspension components ( coilovers / lowering springs ) or the ever popular driver abuse to get out of covering it.

Randy
m7 tuning

 

Mine wasn't covered under warranty... and I live in Dallas... You must have gotten lucky because neither D/FW dealer would cover mine!

 

Once you've mushroomed your towers, it's toast...

Pounding it back will only exacerbate the condition as the sheet metal has now been deformed TWICE Once, from being stretched during the suspension overtravel, then a second time, being beaten back down. Take a piece of sheet steel clamped in a vice and then bend it over and back...it's lost significant strength at the stretch point. I would think the material would have fatigued enough to be in a weeker state than original and therefore, more likely to be "mushroomed" again. I don't know how a body shop would "properly" repair this damage except to physicall remove this "fatigued" tower and reweld a new part in place. Or, is there another method that I'm not aware of such as heat treatment?

Of course, you could pound it back into place THEN add the M7 reenforcement plate and problem solved