This is a view most probably don't see. I've been relentlessly chasing a knocking/rattle noise in the rear of my Countryman. Everything in the rear is new. Shocks OEM, Springs, insulators, trailing arm bushing and brackets, control arm and upper mount. The top nut was tight when assembled but as you can see with weight on it, the top bushing is no longer compressed and is separated from the top plate. The video links are the movement while driving over a rough road. I cannot figure out what the issue is. I've got about 50 hours in this battle and finally ripped out the side panel to get a bore scope in there. There should be a solid stack from the lower beveled washer and the top inverted washer. Yet there is space. tell me if you agree this is abnormal?

 

I sent this to Detroit Tuned since I bought my NM swaybar and end links from them. He told me the while aftermarket bushings don't work and all crush down like this. He recommended Powerflex bushings so that's next.

 

Unfortunately, yeah, that's normal for aftermarket rear bushings. Also unfortunately, the OEM bushings only come with new rear upper mounts.

Are you getting a clunking noise from the rear? What made you decide to stick a camera in there?

Poly bushings in that location will help with the shock doing its job, so should add to better rear suspension control.

 

Yes they all will mushroom more or less on the rear shocks from R50-R61s. Weather, condtions, and weight on the suspension also play a part. The design of that top mount tends to sag under load. When you have a lowered car or coilovers it seems to kill them faster. I have seen some last a while aftermarket and some just fall apart. You can get the foam part with tube washer on its own.

The factory MINI ones do this also over time. Early designs of the Genuine MINI factory part had more elastic in the foam mount (took a long time to fail on my 2005), they were made by lemforder for the foam part, then about 4 years in the changed ~2009 the design to more foam and less elastic. Then they tend to fail and mushroom down and clunk over bumps as they have deformed and dont bounce back.

I went to poly on my coilovers as i drive allot from PSB or Powerflex.

PSB: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-psb-part...t/psb664k~psb/
Powerfflex: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-powerfle...fr5-115x2~pfx/

 

yes I have a bad knocking in the rear. I originally just replaced the shocks as they were dead. I can’t remember if I has the clunk before or not. I have so many hours into searching for this noise. I went back and replaced everything. No change. I ordered a different t set of kyb mounts. No change. I took the strut apart so many times I stripped the Alan key at the top of the rod. I then bought oem shocks and lemforder top bushings. Same.

so yes I pulled the side panel which is a pita to look down at the top of the shock as installed and found this big gap. Keep in mind these are new. You can see the big gap between the perch plate and bushing. Here is a picture of what it looked like when I installed it. Nice and squashed. Now not so much. I pray the power flex fixes this issue!

 

ECS, I would have gladly bought the OEM mounts if plates with the bushings had I known the aftermarket ones are such trash. I figured the Lemforder ones were the same as OEM. I’m so tired of aftermarket crap! I need a break and to put this thumping issue to bed.

 

Lemforder is the same, MINI (Genuine) changed the materials and all the aftermarket ones followed, they all used to have more rubber or elastic material with the foam. I have old ones (2005 built) that lasted maybe 60K and needed replaced, my new ones were a different material and they were genuine.

 

what I don't understand is that it's not like these have 30,000 or 60,000 miles on them. They are new and the bottom mount is smashed so bad there is a big gap at the top. When I take the strut off, it will puff back up and look normal and the nut will be tight compressing the metal tube from the bottom washer to the top washer. How can they even sell these?

 

Just want to say that is great you were able to find this noise after so much time and effort. Kudos for the camera work to find and document it.

I hope you find a material solution for these isolator bushings that works.

 

You and me both! I've thought I had it so many times and then bam, it came back. I'm cautiously optimistic that the Powerflex will work. I hate aftermarket anything but Mini doesn't sell the mounts without the perch plates that are around $100 each. Lesson learned again. I did the same thing with the alternator that I replaced after I dropped the previous one when I rebuilt the engine. I replaced it with a WAI-Global from Rockauto and now have an intermittent BSD fault where the DME can't communicate with the alternator. I'm going to replace the regulator with an original Bosch one.

Thank you for the note. It's been quite the journey.

 

The PowerFlex will definitely work. They might even be too stiff. I used the Problem Solver Bushings when I replaced mine. They use a slightly different bushing mold for the lower bushing, which makes it slightly more compliant, but it still hold everything in place.
https://psbushings.com/product/2-x-m...t-bushing-kit/

 

It's funny you say this. I have always used quality aftermarket parts for all of my vehicles with great success. I figured that anybody willing to underwrite a lifetime warranty, it's probably a good part. However, once I purchased my 2011 R60, and started researching repair, there was a clear trend towards OEM, which can be an order of magnitude more expensive than the third-party offerings.

The canary in the cave for me was the High Pressure Fuel Pump. I checked with the dealership and the HPFP was like $1500. Woah! I'd never paid more than 50 bux for a fuel pump in my entire life. I started looking at third-party offerings in the $150 range. While this was tempting, I found post after post about under-performing to flat out DOA third-party HPFP's. I decided to go with OEM from FCP Auto for a little < $1,000. That was a little < 4 years ago and > 45K miles ago and she's still running like a champ.

I'm a little more fluid now than I was 15 years ago, so now I insist on OEM. My last divergence from OEM was a mitigated disaster, when I purchased front struts. At first glance they looked correct. But once I started removing parts it was clear that there was a slight difference, which rendered them useless. I put everything back together, took back the aftermarket (with a 10% restocking fee), purchased OEM and they fit like a glove.

This car is a "keeper" for me. I LIKE the car and plan on driving her for a long, long time. Ergo, I've used nothing but OEM parts on my R60 and I have zero regrets. No more aftermarket for me.

D

 

It's funny you say. After the dealership had quoted $4500 for "needed suspension work" after I tried to cash in a $60 alignment coupon, I had an Independent Mechanic inspect the underside of my R60 with the intent of getting a second opinion. I wanted him flushing out any bushings that ACTUALLY needed replacing. I gave the carte blanche to replace anything that needed replacing, but, ironically, he said that everything looked good. I asked for his opinion of the aftermarket (polyurethane?) "performance" bushings I had been reading about. He said I wouldn't install them. I asked why. He said that he had uninstalled TWO sets after customers complained of the horrible (stiff, I assume) ride. That's all I needed to hear. When I DO finally start replacing bushings, I'm going OEM all the way.

D

 

It's funny you say. After the dealership had quoted $4500 for "needed suspension work" after I tried to cash in a $60 alignment coupon, I had an Independent Mechanic inspect the underside of my R60 with the intent of getting a second opinion. I wanted him to flush out and replace any bushings that ACTUALLY needed replacing. I gave him carte blanche to replace anything that needed replacing. Ironically, he said that everything looked good. I asked for his opinion of the aftermarket (polyurethane?) "performance" bushings I had been reading about. He said I wouldn't install them. I asked why. He said that he had uninstalled TWO sets after customers complained of the horrible (stiff, I assume) ride. That's all I needed to hear. When I DO finally start replacing bushings, I'm going OEM all the way.

D

 

The Powerflex didn't change the ride at all that I can tell. The reason I didn't go OEM is because they make you buy the top plate which I didn't need plus I was told that the Lemforder bushings are the same ones supplied by Mini. Had I gone OEM to start with, I might have never had a problem but I won't know now. If the Powerflex fail, I'll try the OEM ones. Here is a picture of the Powerflex installed. No gap.

 

I'd be willing to bet those bushings will now outlast the car.

 

Clearly, in your instance, the Powerflex bushings were the fix. I was talking to the other guy. I meant that there are entire bushing kits for the entire suspension and steering system, which would be visible from under the car, that make the car ride "funny" or "stiff" or whatever. I imagine that the uninformed might replace the entire bushing array thinking it's "better" when it's actually just "stiffer" for racing, I assume. I didn't mean to suggest that you didn't make a correct choice. Clearly, you did.

D

 

Soooooooooo, it hasn't been that long and my noise is starting to return. Nowhere near as bad but I hear it. In goes the borescope again and sure enough, I'm having alot of movement in the shock top and the preload on the top bushing is gone. The only thing I know to try is to shorten the metal sleeve that is 30mm long and grind off a mm or so. This is the only way to increase the clamping force on the lower and upper bushing as the lower bushing compresses a bit with the cars weight on it. I can't find any references that someone has done this or needed to do it. Shortening the sleeve will reduce the stack height and increase squeeze on the bushings.

 

I disagree. Shim it. A few washers between the nut and the metal collar should provide extra downward force on the bushing.

D

 

the metal sleeve dictates the distance. You could add a washer under the cupped washer but the ID would have to be larger than the sleeve but you would loose the cupped effect if I’m explaining it clearly enough. I ground the sleeve 1mm and there is more pressure on the bushings now.

 

 

Ahhhh...I think I know what you mean. The unthreaded part of the bolt (or in your case I think "journal" would be more accurate) is called the "shank." I think this is what you mean when you say "sleeve," correct? Seems you have found a workaround for my "shim" idea.

Keep us in the loop. Let us know if your fix is permanent or not. I appreciate your diligence on this repair. Good stuff.

D