During a service call on our 2006 MINIcooper, we were informed that both front strut mounts were bent and damaged. These are not covered under the warranty and in one case has already been replaced once at 20000+ miles after hitting a bad pothole. The car now has 34000 miles and had to have both mounts replaced. Apparently there is a design defect that MINIBMW is not willing to correct although there are aftermarket reinforcements available. A further search of the internet reveals that a lot of MINIBMW owners are having this issue, in particular those with run-flat tires installed.

- San Antonio, TX, USA

Back in late September 2006 I purchased a 06 MINICooper 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 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. This issue can be found very clear in forums as www.northamericanmotoring.com and "www.sunshineminis.org"; just search for "mushroom". MINIwarranty doesn't cover any problem related to hits. I believe they know about the issue and that is why they try to ignore it all the time telling the owners that the warranty don't cover that, but being a factory's defect they have to fix it right away at no charge.

- Miramar, FL, USA