Dave, are you using the SRP or the strut brace? I thought the SRP had radiused channels on the bottom. The non-radiused channels on the bottom of the strut brace was one of my concerns.

 

I'm considering these for my wife's '04 MC. (sport package and runflats) It's an around-town car, and she doesn't have my right foot, so the chances of mushrooming are low, and I saw no evidence of any deformation when I was upgrading her headlight bulbs to SilverStars this weekend. Nevertheless, it seems like a reasonable idea.

Is this just a straight socket-wrench/hand-tight thing, or do the nuts need to be torqued to any specific spec?

-W-

 

Right foot has little to do with it... more to do with road conditions and how good is your wife is at avoiding potholes.

FWIW, the torque spec for the strut bolts is rather low - about 25 ft lbs, IIRC (need to double check Bentley).

 

25 ft-Lbs is correct.....

peter
Team M7
562-608-8123

 

25 foot pounts is NOT much btw, I was kinda suprised how little torque it is. Also, for those asking, the SRP's DO have chamfered channels on the bottoms, at least the ones I installed did. No worries about taking them off here (except for the possibility of mushrooming between here and the dealer of course)!

 

I can't believe how much mileagfe this thread has received, based on one of the most straightforward, needed, and easy mods a person could do.

Does anyone else think this has become somewhat of an A.R. thing?

Peter, you're one of the most patient men I've met.

Pablo

 

No problem Pablo....

We're here to help, and remember, we always answer the phones to
give good.....Tech help.

peter
Team M7
562-608-8123

 

I just installed this product, and am very happy with its' construction. I am however, unhappy with how my bonnet rises 1/2 an inch when I shut it. I have since had to remove material from the under-bonnet insulation where it pushes on the bar, just to make it level again.

I wish there had been some indication that this kind of modification would be necessary before I purchased it. I most likely would have still bought this bar, because I truly believe it is by far the best on the market, (even considering the mighty JCW version).

Not to send the wrong message here, Peter; I LOVE the bar, but I didn't like having to perform surgery on my insulation...

 

By the way,

has anyone else had to cut away insulation to make the bonnet shut level again, like I did?

If so, how did you hide your cuts after you were finished??? I would like to have it look nice and factory-fresh again, if possible. Any ideas?

 

I helped with the cut-away of the bonnet insulation for a OMP bar a few months ago. We sprinkled the bar with baby powder and slowly closed the bonnet. We then opened the bonnet and started trimming away the white areas. We repeated the process several times until we had good clearance. We made the cuts carefully and didn't have to cut all the way through the material, so it didn't look too bad.

PS: I love the look of the M7 tower brace. Nice job, Peter (and the rest of the folks at M7).

 

A friend of mine did. He didn't care for the surgery either and ended up replacing the insulation with thinner, reflective material. All the better for reflecting light onto the engine and everything he's done to it... and there is a LOT to be seen...

 

After reading multiple pages of threads about Strut tower mushrooming, I like the idea of a brace, do I need the reinforcement plates as well?
Does anyone make urathane strut mounts instead of the stock rubber?

If your reading this from M7 sorry for the duplication.

 

The reason I bought the m7 bar was mainly because of the plates that it comes with. They seem like they'd protect against mushrooming much more than what any other bar on the market offers.

It is a great design, that will definitely offer you the most protection from mushrooming, and is probably the strongest brace on the market today.

 

Do you know where he got that different insulation from?

 

I think that Dynamat makes an extreme version for hot environments. It's like a thick tar-paper with an adhesive backing on one side and a reflective metal on the other.

 

I did - but I removed the insulation pad and cut two long slits - the length of the strut bar - on the back of the pad. Then I removed a substantial quantity of compressed felt insulation in the contact area of the strut bar. Then, I used some black duct tape, over the slits and re-installed the pad. Looks like it was never touched .

 

I received my strut bar last week and was going to "throw" it on before I left for a weekend trip to Richmond, VA. Alas, found that BOTH struts are mushroomed. Passenger side more than driver side. Looks like I'll have to revert to the hammer & 2x4 repair.
My question is: Wouldn't it be better/easier to flatten the mushrooming if the car, or at least the front, was on jackstands? Just seems to me it would take less effort to flatten if there is no upward pressure on the strut towers. Anyone have thoughts on this

 

Was wanting to flatten the mushroomed strut towers tomorrow, anyone have any suggestions to the question asked in the above post??

 

The question about having the suspension unloaded (car on jackstands)? That would be 'yes'.

I used a 1"x1.5"x18" of black delrin instead of wood. Worked well and is dimensionally stable for hammering , but I haven't finished yet.

I still like the idea of a .5" plate underneath while hammering, but haven't had time to visit my friend with a beefy plasma cutter. However, I pretty regularly have some things laser-cut. I'm thinking about making a tool to do this with no hammering. I already have top pieces and threaded rod with thrust bearing that will work fine, but it'd be borrowing from my SIR subframe bushing removal kit.

 

And it is good we've got the board here to share our experiences and help each other out!

 

If your going to have a tool made, make 20 of them, Bet you well sell them all in less than a week. Would be nice if price could be under $100.00 and I'll be Mini Clubs will buy for their members to share. I know I'll chip in if the PittStop Mini Club can get other members to do the same.

 

I ordered my m7 plates when it was pointed out to me that my passenger side tower was 'shroomed.

When I got them, I installed the driver's side plate first as a bench mark. It laid down flat, there was no wobble, the bolts all stuck up the same, and it tightened down easily.

The passenger side, however, exhibited some wobble, and the rear bolt had significantly less thread showing. So, I jacked up the car, and went to work on the top of the tower with a 2x4 and a sledgehammer.

I got it to the point where I had almost the same amount of thread showing, and minimal wobble. I tightened the nuts down a little at a time, moving from one to another. As they started to become tight, the rear one, with just slightly less thread, was pulled up by the tightening, resulting in the same amount of thread showing in all the nuts when they were all tight. I'm good with that, confident that the tower is sitting for the most part square.

What was scary about that is how easy to was to move the tower sheet metal by tightening down a bolt.

I guess I'll know if everything is okay when my front tires wear down, hopefully evenly.

 

You might want to consider an alignment before the tires wear down. If the alignment is off (even Toe), you will have pre-mature tire wear. Also, an alignment will confirm you were able to fix the mushrooming.