Car has 151k and I am getting a clunking noise from the right front when going over the slightest bumps which I have not yet been able to figure out. I just replaced the passenger hydraulic motor mount and it did not fix it.

Based upon the advice of another poster, I took a look at the strut mounts and the rubber is torn (not sure how badly they would have to be torn to cause this noise or if I am chasing my tail again).

I'd therefore like to do a budget replacement of the strut tower mounts but I figure that the struts are probably worn at 151k as well.

With all of this said I have a few questions:

1) Can I buy cheapo strut tower mounts if I am purchasing reinforcements?
2) Are all reinforcements sufficient to stop mushrooming of the strut tower? (I have this on the passenger side)
3) What are some budget struts that you'd suggest?
4) Could I not just get an ebay kit which includes a loaded spring/strut/tower mount and also purchase reinforcements?
5) Is an alignment required after these steps and is ther anything that I can do to avoid an alignment proactively like marking positions etc.

Thanks for any pointers.
u

 

Spend your money right the first time rather than just going cheap and doing it again later, or being unhappy with the ride quality.

If you need mounts you could go with some IE fixed front camber plates as they will give you a little more camber, but also are thicker so they will also protect from mushrooming. So you don't have to buy plates in addition to them.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/irelan...e-r50-r53.html

If you really want budget shocks you can just get the front B4s
https://www.waymotorworks.com/bilste...0-r52-r53.html

I'm not a big fan of the B4s, so I would actually go with the new FSDs as they will ride much better, even better than stock and are affordable with a lifetime warranty.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/koni-s...0-r52-r53.html

 

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. With the additional camber on the IE plates, wouldn't that increase the odds of needing an alignment? It's something that I want to hold off since this is a budget situation for now.

 

Can you live with the clunk for the time being and once you have the funds to do it right? That might be your best course of action.

The work is not complicated, but it will still be a number of hours of work you really don’t want to do twice.

 

I guess if it's not a safety issue. Perhaps maybe I'd be ok with just getting the one side that's clunking out of the way for 30 bucks? If it's not a safety issue, I'd probably do best to take your advice I'd think. Then there is still the possibility that the rattle is somewhere else. I was shocked to change the blown motor mount to have the rattling remain. Still, with 150k miles, the struts and mounts have got to be tired if they are the originals.

 

I have the Bilstein B4s and don't find them objectionable( but I also have no basis of comparison as I changed them before I ever drove my MINI). I believe they also come with the bump stops, which you will need to change at the same time. If they don't, you will need to order those as well. Also, make sure you have a spring compressor when doing this as it makes it safer. As far as only doing one side, I don't advise this since it will make the car respond unpredictably over bumps. If you are changing only the mount and the struts are not blown, that's fine as it will not alter the way the car reacts over bumps. To see if the struts are blown, bounce the car up and down several times, then see how many times it bounces once you stop. If it is more than 2 rebounds, the struts are bad. Do this on each corner. The worse I ever saw was an 82 5.0 Rustang that we could bounce hard enough that it would literally bounce the front wheels off the ground!

BTW, if you are local to the Tampa Bay Area, I still have my old struts and they are not completely blown. I would just give them to you if you want.

 

not really, you gain a tiny tiny bit of toe in if you increase negative camber by that small amount

 

Thanks everyone!!

 

No matter what suspension you use budget, cheapo, china, KW, Koni, or just replace the mounts with stock or IE you need to get an alignment to get it straight and not have the toe off. As the toe being off will cause way more tire wear and cost you more than the $100 for an alignment.

A couple notes:
1. You don't need to buy new bumpstops unless yours are broken or have fallen apart. You can reuse the old ones no problem as we do that all the time.
2. I would always do them in a pair
3. Bouncing the car to see if it bounces 2-3 times is old school and I've found it doesn't work on MINIs. I've tried that many times and the car does just one rebound and doesn't bounce, but when I pull the shocks off I can push them down by hand and the shock is shot and doesn't even come back out. I just did this on an R53 this week that the customer had no idea his shocks were worn out until I pulled it off and showed him by pressing it in. So don't trust this test, but boy if it does bounce more than once you really have something wrong.