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I recently installed some M7 coilovers with the H Sport camber plates. The car handles GREAT, however I am getting a rattle from the front right. I checked all bolts, and everything is snug. It sounds like metal on metal.. almost like the top of the plate is banging against the strut mount. I have heard rumors of this being normal, but after many searches, didn't find much. Any thoughts on this? The only thing I can think of is to remove the camber plate and take it apart and see if there is anything wrong with those, but that's a lot of work :-) Thanks in advance!
It is usually one of two things but I am not familiar with the M7 coilovers so maybe there is something unique with the M7 part that someone else can comment on.
The most likely problem is that the top strut bolt is not tightened down all the way which allows the spring to rattle in the perches. Mine rattled over bumps usually noticable at slow speeds, such as going out of the driveway. Grab the spring and see if you can wiggle the spring at all. One of the various times I have installed struts, the top bolt torqued just fine but it had actually bound up on a slightly damaged thread and the bolt did not screw down all the way. You might be able to compare the amount of threads showing above the nut on both sides (left and right) to see if they are equal.
Another thing to check is that the strut, at the top of the coil, can hit the wheel well depending on your year car and the amount of camber. From the wheel well area look up to see if you have clearance between the strut and body work. I had to pound my wheel well to add clearance.
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2006 MCS JCW GP #1405: Adj Front Camber Plates, 19mm Rear Sway Bar, MM Front Lower Brace, Milltek Cat-Back, TCE 13" Front/11.75" Rear BBK, 15mm Spacers, Wheel Studs, JCM Modified Intake, MM Filter, Gauges
Thanks for the response. I am going to take them out this weekend and see if the top bolt is the case. I checked everything else and it is all good. I called a few performance places and they said with the setup, I will get a little rattle and not to worry about it. I am still going to see if I can fix it.. It's pretty annoying.
The H-Sport plates should not rattle. Those are the plates I have and the only time they rattled is when the top bolts were not screwed down all the way. During my various installs(on two different Minis), one time I had problems with the rears and another time with the fronts. I would bit money the top bolt is not screwed down all the way, such as binding before going all the way down.
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2006 MCS JCW GP #1405: Adj Front Camber Plates, 19mm Rear Sway Bar, MM Front Lower Brace, Milltek Cat-Back, TCE 13" Front/11.75" Rear BBK, 15mm Spacers, Wheel Studs, JCM Modified Intake, MM Filter, Gauges
That does not sound normal. I also just recently installed M7 coilovers and the Hotchkis camber plates, I am assuming the H-sport and the Hotchkis are the same, and I have no rattles at all. BTW those M7's are massive aren't they,
34Mini,
Are the camber plates you installed new and recently purchased from Hotchkis or are they used? The reason I ask is that a few years ago Hotchkis redesigned the camber plates because they had bearing problems with the first design. The new design (in production for about 3 years) is much improved. If you have the old design maybe the bearings are the problem.
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2006 MCS JCW GP #1405: Adj Front Camber Plates, 19mm Rear Sway Bar, MM Front Lower Brace, Milltek Cat-Back, TCE 13" Front/11.75" Rear BBK, 15mm Spacers, Wheel Studs, JCM Modified Intake, MM Filter, Gauges
OK, I ripped it all apart this evening and low and behold, that top shock bolt was really loose. I cranked it down and it is nice and quiet! I did buy the plates and coilovers used, but they are probably 1-2 years old and less then 40k on them. I took the camber plate off and made sure the bearing was ok also. Anyway, thanks for the advice! I am thrilled with this setup!!
OK, I ripped it all apart this evening and low and behold, that top shock bolt was really loose. I cranked it down and it is nice and quiet! I did buy the plates and coilovers used, but they are probably 1-2 years old and less then 40k on them. I took the camber plate off and made sure the bearing was ok also. Anyway, thanks for the advice! I am thrilled with this setup!!
