How to fix a mushroomed strut tower?
 

I recently purchased a front strut brace for my 03 330Ci and when i went to put it in i found that my passengers side strut tower was all mushroomed up idk when it happened but it pressed it up so far that the little camber adjustment pin dropped down out of its hole. Since i noticed that i have noticed that my car has been pulling to the right at lower speeds with alot of wheel shake (not so much at highway speed). So my question is if there is anyway of fixing it other then just trying my best with some body shop hammers?

Thanks in advance

There are some DIY posts here, placing a block of wood on the strut tower and with a hammer, to shape it back in place. If there's no cracking, I would also install the OEM strut tower reinforcement plates ($7/piece) and the strut bar on the top. After that, I would take the car for an alignment

^ this. Some people also succeeded by installing the reinforcement plate and over torquing it.
If the negative camber isn't right I would also check if the strut isn't bent.

Sorry if this post doesn't make sense. I am writing on a cell phone.

There is no cracking and the paint isnt even chipped and i had purchased the reinforcement plates from ECS and the only ones they had were the completly round ones and with my car being a coupe the round reinforcement plates dont fit I need ones that have a flat part on one side of the plates. and how do i get the adjustment pin back in the hole on the top of the tower?

I would suggest the block of wood and a hammer method. Using the over torqued bolts and a reinforcement plate won't get the shape as close as a hammer, not to mention you will probably also bend the plate.

Getting it professionally fixed costs a bundle, but yours doesnt sound so bad, you may get away with the sort of fixes mentioned above.

That said it doesn't effect the car any unless its so bad it cant be aligned. I would guess most people have some level of mushrooming and don't know it because it is still possible to align it correctly.

you don't need those nipples at all... its only there for factory purposes.. most of the time they are chipped of for alignments.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Bimmer App

Do u have any pix of the mushroom towers?

Sent from my PC36100 using Bimmer App

Pretty much every E46 i've seen has some level of mushrooming. i'm surprised my towers are perfectly flat. Reinforcement plates were one of the first things i did when i bought the car

The reinforcement plates go underneath the tower top. Sandwiched between the strut and body. The E46 have only one type of plate. The other one is an e36 and that has a visible raised center lip.
As said you can often get the metal of the tower top back flat with a piece of wood and tapping on it.

she wants to see your "mushroom tower" :rofl: