Hi all,

I'm starting to run into some problems that are making me really nervous. I recently (1 month ago) lowered my Mini, and I've been having problems since the minute I lowered the jacks and put away the tools.
- The rear left suspension area knocks and bangs against... something whenever I drive at all.
- My exhaust system doesn't follow the channel the right way any more (presumably due to lowering).
- Rear left wheel looks like it's running camber. It's not. That's really not good...

I need some help getting her up on a lift and looking into what's wrong. I still need an alignment, but since I drive her maybe 10/14 miles a week (and am a broke college student) I've kept putting it off. 03Indigo has offered to help me, but our schedules conflict a bit right now and it may be a while before we can get together.
Thus, I come to you, Mini5280 of NAM. Help me CO Mini owners... You're my only hope...

 

I can not come and personnally help you but I can provide some suggestions based on my experience. The knocking in the rear is probably one of two things.
1. Loose swaybar end link. You should double check that all four attachement points are tight.
2. The top strut nut is not tight or did not screw on all the way before it tightened up. Even if it tightened up it may have bound up and is not down all the way. It doesn't take much for it to knock. I would remove the rear struts and double-check that the nut is down all the way and torqued properly. I had to take mine off twice to get it correct.

Depending on how much you lowered the car, you will induce negative camber in the rear. You could have close to 3 degrees from lowering. You might need to add adjustable rear control arms to get the camber to a reasonable number. One side could be off more than the other.

 

Thanks for the quick response.
1. The tough thing is that I don't have the tools to get the wheels off to check that. Once I get them (or have someone who can help me), that'll be check #1.
2. This is probably the biggest thing. You can distinctly hear the knocking from inside the car, and it sounds like it's coming from inside the rear left part of the interiour (like where the little hatch is to get at tail light wires). Hopefully that's all.

As for the control arms, I'm running SPC adjustable CA's, which we matched to the length of the stock arms before switching them, so there shouldn't be any camber, or if there is, it should be even on both sides, which it isn't. I'm afraid the "camber" issue is related to the knocking or perhaps the rear being loose...

 

It is great that you have the adjustable rear control arms because you will need to adjust them shorter than stock to remove the additional negative camber that is induced by lowering the car. When you lower the car the rear gets additional negative camber and the front camber does not change much. Once you correct the knocking, an alignment shop can adjust the rear camber to get it in spec or to the amount of rear negative camber you specify.

 

Beautiful. Thanks! Hopefully I'll get her out for a good photoshoot soon. I'm over due, but I'd rather fix things first...

 

Hmmm..wish we where a little closer, I don't have a lift, but am willing help.
Obviously somethings amiss with install, but hard to trouble shoot without
being there to look at it. Upper controll arm loose on that side? Can you get
a hold of it and shack/wiggle it with out jacking up the car? Just a thought.
Good luck.

 

Gracias "conCarne." I'll check the upper control arm. It shouldn't be loose, since we didn't touch it, but ya never know... I'll try and jack her up this weekend. Just bought a floor jack and some supports. Where do I put the floor jack if I want to jack up the body? I can't put it on the jack point since I gotta put the supports under that once she's up and I don't know exactly where the "lower subframe" is. Is this in my Bently Manual? Do I sound stupid yet? Still trying to get the hang of this whole thing. I follow instructions well, I swear... Anyone around Boulder, come on down on Saturday!!!

 

Yeah, after I posted, I thought about it more and decided it probably wasn't the uppers.
You're not stupid, I didn't know where to jack'em up either. Here is a really
good description from blimeycabrio. Good luck.
http://www.blimeycabrio.com/?p=76

 

Dylan,

How about Sunday, October 19th, mid afternoon? Maybe you could get here around 2pm or so? Then we can pound everything out and get you squared away.

LMK.

 

That's a definite possibility Jon. I just have to make sure I don't have a football match that day, then we'd be all set. I'll let you know ASAP. Cheers!!!

(in the meantime, could you tell me where I'm supposed to jack the car up so I can put the supports on the jack points? )

 

yeah, I just use the lower rail, under the side sill, there is a small metal lip that protrudes down behind the bottom of the side sill. I usually place the jack about 2/5 of the way between the front and rear tire, closer to the front than back, then jack the car up, the entire side will come up at one time, then you can place the 2 jack stands under the jack points. Some people use a piece of wood to prevent damage, but if you are careful, you won't need it. I have never used one, and I think I have had my car in the air at least 75 times without trouble at all.

If that does not make sense, let me know....do you have my number?

Also, skip football/soccer....we need to get your car buttoned up ASAP.

 

YGPM with pics on the way.

 

Posted this link last week, good info.

 

I totally missed that. Thanks mate!