Strut Tower Problems of Mini Cooper S

My Mini Cooper S has less than 27,000 miles on it. It has been carefully driven and has sustained no crash damage. Had several warning lights come on the car and had failures with the abs, steering angle sensor, and front wheel sensor. In addition and most importantly, I was told that I had "mushrooming" and cracked front shock tower mounts on both sides of the car, and that alone would cost over $1,400 to repair. I was told that hitting potholes or other road hazards caused this. In addition, the dealer, roadshow Mini in memphis, TN, stated that the shock towers and front bushings were considered wear items, and that they could be redamaged immediately if the car came in contact with another pothole. Additionally, I was told by Mini USA that no engineers or national representatives could be contacted, and that the dealer would handle all questions and concerns. I asked if there were any upgrades and fixes offered by Mini and was told that there were none. However, this problem seems to be fairly common, and there are several aftermarket companies that address this issue,. The service manager at the dealership stated that he sees this problem on 3-4 cars in the shop every month. It appears that this is a design flaw, that there can be strut collapse or suspension failure while driving, and that Mini should have addressed this problem with these cars. For normal driving conditions to have resulted in deformed and cracked strut towers is unacceptable and represents a hazardous situation. I have never owned an automobile that had strut tower failure under normal driving conditions.

See all problems of the 2003 Mini Cooper S 🔎.

Strut towers deformed. This is a result of standard equipment run flat tires hitting pot holes. The fix is a reinforcing plate attached to the top of the strut tower. Either the run flats should not have been available or the strut towers should have been of sufficient strength.

See all problems of the 2005 Mini Cooper S 🔎.

Back in late September 2006 I purchased a 06 Mini Cooper S (dealers demo with 380 miles). The week after I got it, I noticed that it pulled hard to the right when braking. I took the car to the dealer and the first time they told me that it was normal because of the road's pitch. After that I noticed that the wheel alignment started to get bad. I took the car to the dealer to check a couple of things including this one and they ignored it a couple of times saying it was ok. My big surprise was yesterday when after having to leave the car the whole day, they told me that the car has another issue named "mushrooming". This is when the car got a hard hit and the strut tower pushes up the metal where is attached to creating a bubble and damaging the alignment. How can the strut tower makes this damage without damaging the rim first?. . . All my rims are ok, no bends. Initially they wanted to charge me almost $1700 to fix the whole issue. I spoke directly with the service manager and he told me that as a goodwill gesture they would replace the strut tower, fix the problem and give me two new tires, but in exchange I'd have to buy them the two rear tires for my car for a price of $223. 00 plus extras. . . This sounds to me like bribe. . . I've done some research about this "mushrooming" issue and I've found that is a factory defect that has to be fixed with aftermarket pieces as a "reinforcement plate" and/or "strut tower brace". The problem is that the metal piece that holds the strut tower to the car is too weak, so the metal would bend so easy. . Read more...

See all problems of the 2006 Mini Cooper S 🔎.

After reading internet forums regarding the Mini cooper cars. I learned of a recurring problem with the front strut towers deforming under regular driving conditions. Upon inspection of my own Mini cooper by myself I found that my towers were distorted in a mushrooming of the top sheet metal . I found online the manufacturer of a machined aluminum plate that bolts on top of the tower adding additional strength to the top of the tower. My vehicle did not have cracks in the tower but other people are finding cracks as well as the distortion. I believe that if the tower where to crack completely that the front struts would be forced up and causing the car to loose the ability to control steering.

(1) I recently traded my 2003 Mini cooper in for a 2005 Mini Cooper S at a private dealership. (2) upon inspecting the 2005 Cooper S, I noticed that the strut towers were deformed, but since this was not a Mini dealership, nothing could be done by them. I bought the car thinking this could be fixed under warranty. After calling the closest Mini dealership which is 200+ miles away, I was informed that this was considered abuse to the car and it would not be covered under warranty. The previous owner must have hit a pothole. The problem I have with this situation is there is a serious design flaw in the Mini cooper's shock towers. This is the first time I have seen this happen to a car. I have owned many cars in my lifetime, and never have seen this happen. I am not the only owner to experience this and it is a pretty common occurrence in Mini coopers. I'm concerned because this situation causes the car to wander on the road. After doing research, I'm getting feedback from other owners. Some say their dealership is fixing the deformation, others, like myself are denied. I'm a little frightened at what could happen to the car over time from this. Will the sheet metal get even weaker as time goes on? I believe BMW should address this issue. (3) I have not fixed this problem on my car yet, but the fix is to either pay money to have the shock towers cut out and have new ones welded in, or pound down the old ones until they are flat, then buy reinforcement plates from a vendor to keep the already stressed metal from bending again.