Does anyone know if dropping the suspension will void warranty on front end parts. Mine has been down all the way for 10k miles and now I have a nasty knock coming from the front. I'm wondering if it's being paranoid to think I may want to lift it up again before taking it in for service.

 

If you mod your suspension, it will not be fixed under warranty. If you play you pay. Trying to deceive mini cost us all more money. When I mod a car I understand it's in my dime.

 

Did I mod my suspension?? I used the wrench mini gave me on my factory coil overs? Completely stock! Didn't cost you a dime...

 

Not sure that nit wit understands that the GP includes an adjustable coilover suspension... question stands.

 

I had the dealer drop my coilovers all the way down before I took delivery. Doing this does not affect your warranty. Mini designed the coilvers so that even at their lowest setting, no other parts are needed such as adjustable control arms, etc.

 

Thanks for the comfort. Worry is, the gp owners manual addendum says changing it makes it not safe for street. I believe that language exists for bumper height standards, but not sure if they will give me a hard time over it.. probably not... I hope... I do have a nasty suspension knock after 17k though

 

I think you are over thinking it. As you said earlier it is a factory fitted item, that is designed to be adjustable, they give you the tools with the car to adjust it. Personally my dealer probably wouldn't even notice that it had been lowered! If they give you a hard time I would just say this is how the car was when you picked it up

 

Your post doesn't say you lowered the factory bilsteins. Some have said they don't go that low and have switched them out. You should give more info in your post if you want accurate answers.

 

I'll send you a couple of dimes for your loss...

 

Maybe one day you'll grow up.

 

Both of my front dampers need to be replaced after 22K miles. I had my car lowered during the good weather months and raised during the bad weather months. Currently I am waiting on parts, 1 month lead time for the dampers from MINI.

 

Did MINI give an explanation as to why they need replacing so soon?

 

I did not ask but have an idea.

The repair order said they were leaking fluid. Likely due to failed seals.

 

The dealer and I have come to an understanding that after buying 6 cars from them, they saw nothing.... "looked stock to me"

 

lol! must be nice

 

I'm experiencing knocking sounds as well. It's most notable at low speeds on uneven surfaces. Is that what you're seeing? Anybody else? There is a similar discussion on a Facebook GP group.

I'm at about 19K with factory height settings on a totally stock car.

 

Anyone have the rear dampers fail?

 

Nearly the same mileage mine failed. Same symptoms as you, very low speed (under 10 mph) I hear knocks over tiny bumps. Originally, they replaced the front right strut and said it was fixed. I immeadiatly saw that it wasn't. I took it back and now they're saying it's the left strut and changing that. I should have it back in the next day or two.

 

A lot of people are saying that it's not actually the dampers failing, but the springs losing some of their tension and seating improperly on the damper body, which can lead to rattling on low-speed bumps.

 

Where did you read that?

 

Facebook. Of course, as we know, the internet is the end-all-be-all of truths.

However, I'm more inclined to agree, given my experience with Bilstein dampers and other coilovers. Bilsteins rarely fail prematurely, but I have seen issues with spring tension/collapsing coils arise on other cars before, and I've been subject to hearing spring chatter with coilover setups.

 

I agree with this. They rarely do fail on their own. In 25-plus years of driving, not all of them on Bilsteins of course, I've had exactly one fail. For so many complaints of knocking suddenly popping up, it seems like the easiest culprit would be the Bilsteins but it doesn't add up to me.

 

I also haven't seen anything concerning leaking coilovers (which would indicate a blown damper).

Just noise.

 

I could confirm that replacement of both of my front coilovers has resolved my knock. Service manager told me that there have been many reported knocking problems. He said he would expect Mini to issue a service bulletin soon.

 

Yeah, but they also replaced the springs as well when they replaced the entire front coilover, right?

It's great that your noise went away, but replacing the entire unit fails to pinpoint the exact problem.