How do you get strut tower braces to work with a UniChip? The interface box really sticks up pretty far, and the bonnet hits it already.

 

Me too looking to strengthening the 2 towers. Mine is an 06 MCS with only a tick over 600 on the clock. Looking at the pics of the mushroom, it is scary. I never thought that could happen to a MINI. Is there any FYI on the M7 install? I will never autoX, but there are pot holes in San Francisco area, some are quite deep!. My sis recently just bent her IS300's rim cuz of a pot hole. You just can't see them in heavy rain. Thanks guys

 

I have couple of sets of these left if you are interested in.
I don't know if they will help the mushroom effect but sure helps the handling!

Under Body Twin Strut

 

THX for the offer and response. I am currently looking just to tie up the upper front end, and to avoid or extend the period before mushroom starts "growing". You product might be my next stage upgrade.

 

The M7 strut tower bar install is easy as pie. Unscrew the nuts, put the bar on, torque the nuts to 25ft-lbs. Word of warning though, presses up against the underhood padding and pushes up the hood. Some people have soaked the padding in water and just closed it and let it compress while others have just removed the padding. Also, make sure to cover the bar as I think some people have reported staining on the bar. It's a pretty bar and I don't think you would like it to be stained. I can't really feel that it's stiffer althought it does feel more planted when cornering whatever that's worth.

 

That's great info. This is where it gets confusing to me. Are you saying there's not enough clearance between the STB and the hood or the padding? Removal or soaking of the padding is required to get it fit?

 

As with a lot of add ons to the minis some affect some cars one way and other cars in a different manner. We have found that with some cars the rear of the hood is raised up a bit and on some it wasn't at all. There have been a couple of creative mods for minimizing the " lift ". The best one so far is to soak the hood liner with water and close it . Be sure to wrap the bar in plastic during the drying process. The liner will begin to conform to the shape of the bar and compact the material under it. This is the price we pay, so to speak ,to have a bar that is high enough to clear most all under hood components yet be thick enough to do the job. As usual if anyone gets the bar and thinks that the hood issue is too much to bear we will take back the bar. So far no one has felt that the performance gain was outweighed by the hood gap.

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

Thanks Randy, this is good to know about the padding issue. Now, I assume there's no such issue with just the SRP, correct?

 

If I may comment on the mushrooming issue. I just got my MCS two Thursdays ago, and I've hit some fairly hard bumps in the road since then. Everytime I hit a bump, I thought to myself, "I hope it's not going to mushroom...oh gosh...that was pretty hard."

Every once in a while I'll open then bonnet, and do you know what I've found the last time I opened the bonnet?

ABSOLUTELY NO MUSHROOMS!

I understand the problems and posibilities of mushrooming, but, you would REALLY have to hit something hard for that to occur. I also understand every car is different, but I might as well let everyone know my experiences.

By the way, I live in Celebration, Florida. Which is in the Orlando area...so our bumps and potholes may not be as bad as others.

 

Not all cars will have this issue and we are pretty sure the " condition " will take longer than two weeks to develop. Some cars it may never happen to and minis being different is what minis are all about Here are some of the conditions that we feel contibute to " mushrooming ". The more items fromt this list apply to you the more of a chance you will be " schroomed ".

1/ bad roads IE: pot holes, expansion joints, railroad crossings etc.
2/ Conventional tires ( non run flat )
3/ 18 Inch wheels
4/ 40 or 35 series tires
5/ Lowering springs
6/ Lowered cars on coil overs
7/ Low tire pressure

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

Well, you never know when bad roads will pop up, but...

I'm using 17 inch S-Lites
Factory new tire pressure
And no forseen lowering...but maybe

So maybe that's why things are fine.

 

Not always the factory recommed pressure, and still a good idea to check if you are using runflats as they could all be an equal 10lbs under and you'd never know your wearing down the sidewalls

 

With your present situation you are the least likely to ever have a problem with mushrooming. So you have that going for you , ( paraphrasing Bill Murry in Caddy Shack ) which is nice

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

Sounds good. If I eventually get a rear sway bar and H-Sport springs, would it become much of a problem? I'm not trying to be a racer, just a spirited daily driver who loves his car.

LOL at Caddy Shack by the way

 

Heh - I grew up in Orlando and moved to Michigan six years ago. The roads in Orlando are GLASS SMOOTH compared to the rutted cart paths that they call roads up here Every time I go back to visit family I just can't believe how smooth the roads are around there, even with all the construction. It must be the same around Chicago (my car came from there) because I noticed that two of the four have some minor but noticable dents on the inner circumference. That plus the minor mushroom that I noticed (and fixed) when I installed the STB makes me understand how this can happen -- especially with 17"s and run flats.

The other thing that I noticed when I put the s-lites and run flats back on the car for summer (and had the new STB on there) is that I really, really need a bigger rear sway bar now. The STB seems to increase understeer as it firms up the front end and it's especially noticable with the s-lites and run flats. Too bad I'm a BAMF (Broke Arsed Mini Fellow) right now...

 

The sway bar should not contribute to the Schroom factor but the lowering springs will. Not to say that it WILL happen , just that the odds will go up.

Randy
m7 Tuning

 

mushrooming really only a problem for peepz on 18's wheels ( low profile ) cant see it being an issue for anyone riding on 17's. but ofcourse u will of a nightmare story about someone driving at 100miles an hour and hitting a pothole the size of a crater then complaining about mushrooming- meh watever!

 

Not really . Most of the locals around here do not run 18's as they are more into the canyon and track experience . We find the number one and two reasons to be lowered cars and 40 series tires. 18's are certainly prime candidates for mushrooming but we get many more 17's with Schrrom issues in our neck of the woods.

Randy
m7 Tuning

 

*imagines the scenario* Anyone ever seen Billy Madison?

"O'doyle rules! O'doyle rules! O'DOYLE RULES! O............"

The MINI hits a crater at 100+mph and does three barrel rolls and lands on its wheels.

They check for mushrooming, and scientist believe it MIGHT OCCUR IN THAT SCENARIO!!! LOL



LOL!

 

Last time I looked, no vendor had ever presented test data proving movement of the MINI's strut towers while driving. If I'm wrong about that data having been presented, please direct me to the data table(s)/test results. If I'm right then discussions about strut braces would seem to belong in Interior and Exterior Mods, with strut braces having not been proven to be Performance Mods.

 

If you read through some of the threads talking about mushrooming, M7's SRP and STB, you will see posts by purchasers that have deformations in their strut towers or vendors posting pictures of deformations in their strut towers.

 

Mushrooming is a different issue.

 

The car handeling better is what the brace is all about not necessarily numbers . Many have noticed that the car works better for them and I KNOW it works better for me. If you are making the mistake and equating the STB with bling than perhaps you can explain while the JCW challenge cars have it as part of the basic package. I do not think they are known for having anything that is not there to make the car go faster or handle better. Let me make the same offer to you as I have made in the past. I'll drive your car once with a brace and once without . I bet $ 100 I can tell when it is on and when it is off without looking under the hood. If what you say is correct I should not be able to tell . You game ?

Randy
m7 Tuning

 

Nonsense. Effective performance modifications are always ultimately about numbers. It would be a change in a numerical value, such as a reduction in a numerical value representing the movement on x,y, and/or z axes as applied to the strut towers or perhaps a discernable increase in a numerical value representing the towers' overall torsional rigidity that would serve as measure for how effective a strut brace is. Therefore the car would theoretically be handling better (we assume) specifically because of (a) variation(s) in some number(s).
So what you are really saying is that you do not have the data. Just so we're clear an example of what data would not be is as follows:
"Many have noticed that the car works better for them and I KNOW it works better for me."

Instead, data or test results would be some sort of report starting with a specification outlining a test setup, such as test vehicle weight(s), ride height(s), wheel and tire total height, calculated wheel rotational mass at the various test speeds (that would follow in a test description), tire patch, tire tested grip, test surface type, test surface temperature, test site weather, strut brace tensile strength, etc., followed by a test description and then what would probably be a table containing numbers representing the movement of each strut tower along x, y, and/or z axes while the car is under different inertial loads--maybe with each row representing a different test speed (which would have been predefined in the test description).

I'm sure there are many who would come up with a more logical and less flawed test framework than my very loose one, but the issue is that the amount of strut tower movement (if any) should be quantified with and without a brace or braces before anyone can legitimately claim that strut braces are either needed or effective for MINIs.

 

Ths question has been bandied about since the mini came out. How to quantify a " feeling " .I've used bars from Moss Mini , Forge Motorsports, Diamond Racing and BMP/Pro Mini and this was before I became involved with M7. Which ones have you tried and what were the results? I found some worked better than others. Not all bars are created equal as you might imagine. A strut tower doesn't need to move to need support so how can it be measured ? Would the JCW challenge cars carry the extra weight and expense if they didn't work ? Handeling is not a number but $100 is The challenge is still open.

Randy
m7 Tuning