Hello all, I have a 05 mini cooper s. It is lowered, one ball exhaust, and 17% reduced super charger pulley. Here in the past month when I hit a bump I get a weird clunking sound in the front left wheel well. I looked and nothing appeared to be loose. I just got an alignment and asked them to look at it. They told me everything looked ok. It is really bothering me again its a weird clunk sound when I hit a bump. And I only hear it coming from the front right. ANY IDEAS WOULD BE GREAT. Thanks.

 

Open the hood...
Look at the strut tower....
In the middle, there is a bit of a hole....look in that hole...compare left to right...there is a bearing of sort....you can sometimes see it fail, the rubber usually starts to tear...also look for signs of mushrooming of the top of the strut mount or broken bolts on the top.

 

Also check the top bolt on the strut, even slightly loose will cause noise.

Nik

 

yep, check the strut tower mount. Then maybe the tie rod bushing.

Front Strut mount:




http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/31306778833/

You can see the bushing and bearings.


Then tie rods, they tend to make a clunk when you go over bumps or when you turn the wheel all the way to the right and left and go over a rough surface. You can sometimes feel it in the steering wheel.

Left side full tie rod:


http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/32116777521/




Is it the front right or left, you said left , then right?

Thanks

 

It is the front right sorry about that. I tried to tighten the strut and the whole thing just wanted to spin. Any ideas on how to check the tire rod. Don't want to buy one if I don't have to.

 

To tighten the top strut center nut you have to use an Allen head / hex head and then try to get a wrench in there to hold the nut or socket.



See the end of the strut.

Tie rod , you have to jack the car up or on a lift and check for play in the end ball joint , that's where they fail. Its easy to buy the whole tie rod in-case the inter section part on the old one is seized. I know they have done the alignment, and adjusted it maybe, but those things are hard to separate.

One other way is to run the wheel all the way to the right or left and you can sometimes with the play or slight notch in the steering. You have to kind of know what it feels like on BMWs and MINIs. Also sometimes you can see the grease coming out of the tie rod ball joint boot.

Its ok on the side , i just did not know which one you were talking about.
Right hand side: From 5/2003-


http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/32106777522/






Thanks

 

if thats all tight, it could be the sway bar mounts. I had to have mine changed out.

 

I would also suspect the top strut bushing (rubber tearing) or the top strut nut. If the top strut nut is loose you probably can wiggle the spring and make the strut clunk. Jack up the car to remove the weight off the spring. Grab the spring and push/pull it to try to re-create the clunk. If the spring just moves around in the strut perch and the strut is not moving, you can jack up the tire a little to compress the spring a little. Then wiggle the spring again to see if the strut moves around at the top, creating a clunk.

 

Could it possibly be the wheel bearings?

 

this problem just started occuring with me. I recently installed Ksport coilovers and had the car aligned. Having installed coilovers I rules out the top mounts.

How do you check the tie rods ?

 

finally ended up being the endlinks. Since I significantly lowered the car I need to Increase the length of my front endlinks to prevent prestressing the swaybar and having it hit the frame under load