Just installed Koni FSDs on my R53 all around. Everything seemed to go perfectly okay for about 15 miles, after which I started getting clicking noises from the front driver side when going over the slightest bump or when going downhill (uphills are okay!). The sound is somewhat akin to rocks hitting the wheel well. The car now pulls more and more to the right, which was not obvious in the first 15 miles. I have rolled maybe 18 miles total, the last few ones being very low speed for testing purposes.

Some details:
- The replacement ended up including the front left end link (with a new OEM one), which was very bent at its center (~30 degrees). Wondering if the car is not out of alignment after replacing in with a straight one?
- Speaking of which, people usually suspect end links, but retorquing and disconnecting them did not reduce the noises.
- The noise happens even after rotating tyres, or changing tyres altogether.
- The top nut has been hand-tightened with an Allen wrench + hollow socket combo. I used a short cheater bar to come closer to the recommended torque figure. Do I need to put in impact on there?
- Bump stops have been changed. Stock springs have not.
- I'm running on the Ireland Engineering fixed camber plates.
- The rubber pad at the top of the spring was torn - I just crazy-glued it back together. It seems to be sitting nicely. Do I need to lubricate it? That seems to be a darkhorse issue.

Do you guys have any ideas? The top nut is my most probable candidate but the pulling to one side is quite jarring. I'll be happy to provide pictures if need be.

 

I wouldn't think an end link would affect alignment, but if you do a little internet research, you can find how to do a home alignment check using some basic tools. Then you could verify without having to take it in for an alignment.

I'd suggest reviewing your install--the Pelican walkthrough was pretty helpful when I did mine: https://www.pelicanparts.com/techart...eplacement.htm

I torqued my top nuts with an impact as described here. That may be your problem, but if you can use jack stands and your floor jack, plus a big pry bar, you might be able to re-create the noise in the garage before you go tearing everything down again (may need a helper). If you wind up tearing down, I'd change that bushing at the top of the shock. Cheap part, and too deep into the the teardown to have it temporarily fixed.

Don't let the frustration get to you. All of us have these frustrations/setbacks; most people don't own up to them. But this is how you learn, and reduce the number of them.

 

Anytime you make changes to the front knuckle, struts, springs an alignment is in order.
Not a fan of IE plates even going back 10yrs ago due to rust...be prepared to lube the crap out of that area if you drive the MINI in the winter.

 

Thanks so much for the personal coaching through my mechanic woes, Husky44. I'm keeping at it, just wish I could blow off steam once in a while by actually driving the thing . I'm learning a lot in any case.

Upon review I think that things may be more crooked than I thought in there, and I'm not sure that my spring pad "repair" did the trick. Think I may be having direct spring-to-mount contact after bumps tore the pad again. I'll straighten everything out this morning and will take it to a shop tomorrow for a quick impact jolt on the top nuts if that doesn't do the trick.

I was under the impression that you could get by without an alignment if you stuck to stock springs. It's been a while and I live in pothole-land (motivating the choice of the FSDs) so it can't hurt.
(also, I was flabbergasted by how rusty the IE plates were after a single winter. Yeesh. I sanded and lubed but pretty unimpressed)

 

 

Car went in for an alignment. They also checked out my install, couldn't find anything wrong, retightened the top nuts in case of. The noise is as bad as it's ever been. Any other ideas? Could a bearing in the strut / camber plates be broken?! Not only is the noise hard to bear, but I'm afraid to drive and potentially get things more broken than they could have been .

No qualms about the handling, though, doesn't feel like anything is wrong there.

 

Not to thread jack, but I've been considering a set of these, would painting/powdercoating them before installing them help with the rust?

 

Finally had the time to remove the strut from the car (both time and money poor at the moment...). Haven't taken the spring off but it seems like there's play in the IE top plate, definitely to a degree where I figure it could make that sort of a noise. Gonna keep you updated on the solution - and if that's a problem you've heard about, I'd appreciate confirmation and pointers .

 

Since the top mount is a structural part of the suspension, any play there could cause noises and alignment issues. Doesn’t IE offer replacement bearings for their top mounts?

 

I think it's possible that I just put the washer that goes underneath the top mount upside down. See last post of: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...one-bad-2.html , especially since there was nothing wrong with the plate before the change. Currently unable to take off the top nut as I do not have an impact driver but I'll report after I get it zapped off.

 

Got a bit of help from the neighbor and his impact gun. Seems like the top nut wasn't quite tight enough - the play in the camber plates is gone after going at it a bit harder with the impact. I did not find anything upside down on the perch components, though. It's pretty hard to mess up overall.

Unfortunately, it did not fix the clicking over the bumps. It only happens going forwards and on compression (I cannot reproduce it by pushing on the car while parked), and my neighbor thinks it's more at the wheel level than the top hat (I changed my brake pads recently - maybe the retaining clips are weak?). The car handles beautifully otherwise so I'm going to suck it up and report if there is worsening and/or other findings.

E: Also going to mention that I got the Powerflex sway bar bushings on last year, so that's probably not it either.