Happens going over large bumps or speedhumps. Seems to be getting worse. Taking it in here in a couple weeks for service, but not sure what it could be... any ideas?

 

Ball joints. There is a service bulletin your dealer should be aware of. I'll see if I can provide you with more info soon.

 

situation
While driving or with the vehicle stationary, a knocking or popping noise can be heard from the front of the vehicle when turning the steering wheel to the full locked position in either direction.


cause
Screw connection between the swivel bearing and control arm



Correction
Tighten the screw connection to a tightening torque of 60 Nm.
The tightening can be done without undoing the screw connection. Just re-tighten the nut.
However, if it is necessary to undo the screw connection, the screw and the nut must be replaced and tightened to a torque of 60Nm, in accordance with the specification.


Hope this is the solution to your problem!

 

Thanks!!

 

I'm surprised (perhaps I shouldn't) that these types of issues aren't corrected on vehicles at the first service, unless the customer complains (and sometimes you gave to complain INSISTENTLY).

 

mine had a loud clunking at low speeds. turned out to be control arm bushings.

there was only 1k miles on it when i had them replaced, so it was doing it pretty much since new!

 

My car also has already had the control arm bushing replaced as it was leaking on the driver side. Seems like they used faulty/poorly designed parts.

 

I have the same issue with mine and I took it into service and they replaced the struts. The sound never went away. One night I was with a few of my friends and I seen an unfamiliar face and went and introduced myself and turns out he works as an advisor for mini and he told me that they thought it was the struts but it is actually the control arms.

 

took mine in a few days ago for the same issue. They torqued the ball joints and seems to have fixed it but mine seems to be more prevalent when cold and it has been warmer the last few days.

 

Same here. Chicago crap-tastic roads + cold weather = a lot of groaning and clunking.

 

When it's cold is when I only hear it.

 

The rear of mine clunks when the suspension unloads over an uneven surface.

 

the rear suspension clunk is "normal"... as in "they all do that"

 

"They all do that" doesn't equate to normal. It just means they haven't figured out what causes it or an inexpensive fix for it. I plan to replace my sport suspension with the JCW Pro setup before summer, so I'll have a "normal" sport suspension for sale when that happens.

 

^I believe the sway bars were thicker in addition to the stiffer springs and dampers. At least in the '14

 

Yep, I have the heavy factory sport RSB, but I'll be replacing that with an NM unit with the NM end links.

 

Does anyone know if theirs is general tire noise from run flats in colder weather.

Can you describe your clunk...everytime...every bump...slow...etc.

Thanks.

ps can anyone direct me to a pic of the ball joint nut to tighten to 60nm.

thanks in advance..

 

I have winter run-flats and have noticed some rumbling/vibration if it's really cold outside and the car hasn't moved in a couple days. The tires get flat spots and the cold weather stiffens the rubber. It goes away after a few blocks.

As for the clunking, it typically happens below 35 degrees when I'm exiting a driveway or alleyway. The longer the suspension travel, the more prevalent the clunk.

 

Has anyone had their car permanently fixed? I've been hearing this sound coming form the front suspension since May of last year. I ve taken my car to the dealer several times, with the first few times them saying it was "normal". On about the 4th time, when the manager made me record videos to identify the problem, I recorded several videos,so they kept my car in the dealership for a month and they replaced the front suspension right arm and damper. The sound did go away for about a month, until October, when it started to get cold and the sound came back. In November my car got inspected by a Mini Engineer, and he said Mini is aware of the problem and there is a national investigation, but they haven't figure out what is causing this sound.....I've already talked to Mini North America and I'm thinking on starting a lemon claim.....
Anyone else having this kind of experience with Mini/ Mini Dealerships?
It is really annoying that my car spend more time in the dealership than on the road......

 

^^ yep I played those games with Mini. They were able to solve the front suspension clunking with new control arm bushings. The rear suspension clunk never went away and I ended up getting rid of mine before I had a chance to try out the new part number rear shocks.

Mini is very willing to make its customers happy, just not all that capable of fixing its own cars. If you pester them enough, they'll at least reimburse you for the time your car is in the shop. They gave us hundreds of dollars worth of free accessories for the EPA delay and a check for 1 month's car payment for the time mine spent in the shop.

When they were trying to track down the rear suspension noise, they had the Mini/BMW engineer come in and drive mine. He took some sort of data/sound recordings and they had some "fix" a couple months later that didn't do much. Eventually they just replaced the shocks which helped a bit.