I traded my Cooper in for a Cooper S back in July and noticed that the S had mushroomed towers. I have only put close to 2000 miles on the car since then. I'm slowly gathering parts to upgrade my entire suspension before I do the tower repairs. Last night however, I noticed that the right side tower is higher than the leftside. There seems to be no cracks in the strut mount, which I am surprised. Has anyone had this type of damage? What I'm wondering is when it's time to hammer down the mushrooming, will this level it out?

Actual mushrooming
The wording says "Notice the gap in between the plastic and metal."

The pictures I took of the front of the car showing how the towers are not even did not come out good so I didn't post them. What's funny is the car drives pretty normal. Sometimes it seems like it pulls left and right, but I would've though it'd have been worse. Anybody out there with this severe of mushrooming?

 

Sorry to hear about your Mushroomism. Check out: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=78629

 

ya been 4 wheeling? and oh yeah....don't ya ever clean under the bonnet? could use a cleaning!

 

Good stuff! Kick him when he's down. I'm sure a good cleaning will clear that pesky mushrooming right up!

 

Thanks for representing the military in such a caring and considerate fashion. Way to spread the love.

 

The gap between the plastic wheel cover and the frame is not uncommon so I don’t think that is a concern; my gap is different between left and right. However, that is the most deformation I’ve seen.

 

You obviously never saw the 2003 I traded in. Under the bonnet was immaculate. To be honest, the way you see it in the picture is how this one was when purchased. I will get around to cleaning it, but in the 5 months I've owned it, I've put right at 2000 miles on it. Trust me, it will be cleaned.

 

That's good news to hear. I'm guessing since this is pretty big mushrooming, that's why the 2 towers appear to be of different heights. I was just afraid of frame damage also.

 

What is causing you to worry about frame damage? The deformed strut tower? Unless something else is happening that you haven't mentioned, I wouldn't necessarily worry about frame damage based on mushroomed strut towers.

I would however, evaluate the wheels (are they 17+ inchers?) and tires (runflat by chance?) to minimize the chance of future mushrooming. Or, you could give serious consideration to adding a set of camber plates (fixed or adjustable depending on how you plan on driving the car). Actually, regardless of what you do regarding tires and wheels, I think a set of camber plates are in order based on the extent of mushrooming (unless of course, the car really was taken off-roading... ).

 

dohhh! that tower looks like elephantman.

 

what does it have to do with the Army dude? If you care so much, please place your recommendations

 

That is extreme Mushroom... The good news is that you won't need lowering springs...you're already an inch lowered...

 

I probably wouldn't hammer that one.
I'd sandwich it with a couple of steel plates and pull it down with some threaded rod or a bolt in the center. After it's close to flat, either hammer it, or mill the top plate to sit flat on the tower to finish pulling it flat.

 

Ha! Now thats a good one. But what happens when the mushrooming is repaired?

 

Hmm...that looks very bad indeed. I wish MINI would do something about this because it seems to be more and more common and really shouldn't be an issue on a relatively young car. The only solutions at the moment are aftermarket, but something official would be welcomed.

The best fix might be using the SRP plates on top and a steel plate on the bottom. I'd use a couple steel bars welded together with a threaded hole on top of the SRPs, a piece of all thread or similar to go through everything, and squeeze it all back down to almost flat. Then hammer and 2x4 any spots left.

 

This is one of the things you have to deal with when buying a used car. The previous owner might have taken it off road....LOL. But in all seriousness, it looked like they hit a heck of a pot hole. I noticed a slight bend in the rim. They are 17" wheels with the dunlop runflats. I'm definitely buying the STPs and now the camber plates are in order. I mean for the most part the car drives straight, but you can definitely tell there are alignment issues. I don't think there are any other problems.

 

I agree with you and Weezer. I'll probably fidangle a set up and squeeze it back down as far as it will go, then hammer. The other tower is slightly mushroomed. It'll hammer down with no problems. Thanks for the info you guys......and the humor.

 

As the towers will be weakened a bit as they are on the extreme mushroom side I would certainly go for some reinforcment plates once you have corrected the problem. Everything you can do to help will pay off.

 

The best thing to do is to have the tower caps completely replaced...I think those can be cut and replacement welded on...professionally of course...check with a qualified Mini body service...

 

Okay. Understand the general concern. If it were me, I would get the mushrooming repaired and have an alignment done by an alignment shop. If no issues with pulling to one side or the other remain, then it would be time to enjoy the car. If pulling remained, then the next step would be to take the car to a body shop that does frame alignment and have the frame measured against the factory specs. If the frame was out, then you have a decision as to whether to spend the $ to get it put back to factory spec or move on to another car.

 

I plan on taking the car to the dealer soon to get estimates and some features programmed, but until then, does anybody know roughly how much it costs to have the towers cut out and replaced? I really don't have the $$ that I'm thinking it's going to cost to fix.

 

Sounds like a good idea. I was driving by the dealership I traded at, and saw my little gold MINI still sitting there. I kind of wished I hadn't traded it.

 

Greetings

Has anyone seen this "mushrooming" problem when using the stock 15" wheels/tires?

Thanks
JohnG

 

Johnnymg – not the same but close. I had some slight mushrooming with the stock 16" x-lites+runflats. (so I'd say it possible regardless of wheel/tire set-up. Oh, and check the thread that was already linked here:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=78629

Nobody has reported mushrooming with 15" there.. yet.

 

His login name is ArmyDog and he's in Seoul Korea.
So my recommendation is, this isn't any of your business since I wasn't addressing you.