Hi!

I have a 2006 R53 with 187k miles and just replaced my struts with the Koni FSD based on some research and enthusiastic recommendations here. But I am having some issues and wanted to poll the group please: the basic trouble is that the new struts groan and creak loudly when I turn the steering wheel. A secondary issue is that that knock loudly over small bumps (sounds literally like two blocks of wood banging together and there feels like no damping whatsoever). Aside from these issues (!) handling and damping feels fine.

I ordered the struts from Way Motor Works and had a local shop, TGK Automotive, install them. Way has been excellent and TGK has done good work for my Mini in the past. The shop is giving me the line of, "Well, you didn't buy the struts from us so since you supplied your own parts it's you're problem and not an installation issue..." They clearly hear and acknowledge the groaning and creaking though. I called Way to confirm that the Koni FSDs use the stock Mini bushings (i.e., they do not require some special part) and my shop is reluctantly saying they can warranty the bushings and they are "waiting on replacements" but it's been two weeks so it feels like they are dragging their feet.

I'd hate to have to take my Mini back to the dealership $$$$ but I'm strongly feeling like this is an installation issue. Does anyone have similar experience with the Koni FSD being really creaky and noisy?

Many thanks,
Jcd

 

Front ? Back? Did you replace the bushings? did you get under the car and shake the front and rear sway bars? swaybar endlinks?
Also are your springs OEM? If oem how old are they?

 

Front and back both, yes. The bushings and end links were also replaced per the invoice. The springs are OEM and if not original than certainly older (they were not replaced here as my shop said they didn't need to be).
FWIW, I had new tires and an alignment done as well - so it was basically a whole suspension rework.

I have not crawled under the car to try and self-diagnose, but I can.

 

Your car is almost 20 years old if the springs are original they are probably sagging if it was driven enough. Get under the car and grab and shake and shove everything. Get the wheels up in the air and push and pull on the wheels and the suspension system.
Check and TIGHTEN each and every fastener.
When its front AND back it might me a systemic issue? They replace the bushings front and rear when they replaced the shocks? Please tell me it was OEM front shock mounts.
How do the bushings for the swaybars look? Its 20 year old rubber. Lots of suspects here. You basically put new shocks on 20 year old everything. 20 year old front and back shock mounts, 20 year old swaybar bushings 20 year old springs and so on. Are there color stripes on your springs?

 

FWIW - I can only offer thoughts from my own experience...

Creaking & groaning noise while turning the wheels during low speeds - Top front strut bearing mounts are compressed/shot/worn. + check the torque of the top strut mount nuts = important (25 ft lbs).

Creaking while driving over uneven or undulating roads - old worn out front or rear swaybar bushings.

Clunking/knocking while driving - 1) Drop links: front or rear either worn or insufficently torqued (you really need to crank the nuts down to torque specs +. 2) Swaybar: worn out front or rear swaybar bushings.

My 19y/o original factory ('04 R53) springs with 85k mi, were still in very good shape with no indication of collapsing. I never experienced any issues with them. I'd initially reused them after replacing the struts with B4s and thereafter; Koni yellow adjustable.
I'm currently @ 104k original miles on the car (I've replaced all 4 struts with coilovers @95k mi.) - Therefore; I really have no experience as to how long the factory springs should last.

@ 187k mi on your original springs; they may indeed have collapsed or are worn. But I would suspect all the above as being the primary causes for the noise.

Just my opinion/experience.

 

I'm with @Here2Go I suspect the top front strut bearing mounts as well. Reason is, these must have have been transferred over from the old to the new Koni shocks. You can easily check if these are in good nick by just opening the bonnet and look if the rubber is torn/cracked.

Also, does your R53 have a LSD? These sometimes groan as well, sounding like your tire is rubbing. I have it but only on full lock.

 

I had Bilstein Yellows fail out of the box. 3 miles, and it sounded like the front was going to fall off. If it makes noise at Walking speed, look at the new struts. The person who installed should be able to figure this out.

 

I fitted Koni FSD's several years ago at 165,000 miles when I changed the control arm bushings, clutch, sway bar bushings, etc. The new shocks were perfect from Day 1 and I now have 240,000 miles on the MIni with no suspension issues at all. I really like the Konis as they are firm yet compliant. Not a noise from anywhere in the suspension.

 

Groaning and creaking sounds like strut mounts. When I replace struts - my own or on customer vehicles - I strongly suggest also replacing the strut mounts and strut bearings (if applicable) because often when you disassemble the strut and reassemble old mounts on a new strut, there will be noise afterward. If that is TGK Automotive in Chandler, AZ, I know a little about that shop and they have a good reputation among my mechanic friends. I'm surprised they did not suggest new strut mounts with your struts. Knocking loudly over small bumps I do not believe is a strut mount issue, unless they are completely shot, in which case the technician should have noticed during the job and brought that up to the shop foreman and/or service advisor. Knocking over bumps also suggests something is not tight. That would be installation error.

You said your invoice listed bushings and endlinks replaced with your strut installation. Loose endlinks will make a knock over bumps and while swerving the car. What bushings were replaced?

As a technician, this is disappointing. If the tech had road tested your car after his work, I know there are train tracks that must be crossed to return to the TGK parking lot, so the tech should have heard the noise there at the very least and perhaps investigated before shipping the car.

If you are in the Chandler/Tempe/Mesa/Scottsdale area, I work at a shop near ASU. You can message me.

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb and put my money on dusty strut mounts. I really wish someone would design a suitable pair of front mounts for these cars. Putting new struts under a set of something-other-than-new bearings spells absolute disaster on these cars. I had an idea of grabbing a pair of Countryman strut mounts and modifying them to fit the Gen 1 towers, but it was just an idea.

 

Everybody -

Thanks so much for those who took the time to respond and for all your helpful input. Long story short(ish)... I was going round and round with the local shop, so I took my Mini back to the dealership in Minneapolis. They are stupidly insanely expensive, as well as an hour away, so that's why I don't take my Mini there - but I trust them to know what they are doing nonetheless and that was worth some cost premium to have them look at it.

Look at it they did, and they basically said they'd have to re-do everything but otherwise didn't help much. Seems everyone wanted to blame the Koni's. They quoted me $6,500+!!!!! So I paid the diagnostic fee and took this information, raging mad, back to the local shop. We worked something out but they, too, basically re-did all the work, except they replaced the Koni's in the front with stock damper/spring assemblies. Noise gone. But I am a lot poorer and frustrated by the experience.

I'm from the Washington DC area and I had a local shop that loved cars and did great work (GP Auto Group, Rockville - miss you guys!). They installed my JCW kit and were helpful and enthusiastic about tweaking with "tuner" parts. But I'm in MSP now and can't find a shop that is "into" cars and doesn't insist they install only OEM or comparable generic aftermarket parts (i.e., nothing fun). Granted my little R53 is close to 20 years old, so I probably should just let her roll out her years without poking at things too much!

BTW, the Mini dealership gave me a new MCS as my loaner while they had the car a few days to look it over (yes, a few days!)... sorry to say but I hated it. Other than the New Car Smell, it was very Not Fun and just didn't have the soul of my R53. The service advisor said, "We hear that a lot." So I'm definitely gonna keep my R53 humming forever if I can!

Again, thanks to everyone here. I appreciate that I had a sounding board of Mini peeps who know stuff and share their knowledge and experience and opinions.

Cheers,
Jcd

 

The r53 Chassis is special. It’s hard to find affordable support for a 20 year old platform. I’m flying to Cali, from NY to work on ours ( wife was original owner - went to Daughter ).

 

I’ve got a right front suspension loose noise over broken pavement that I’m trying to diagnose. It sounds like a torn bushing but the control arm bushings look ok. I replaced the axles and end links and double checked the torque. There is a slight clunk when moving the road wheel from the 3 and 6 positions so the inner tie rods need to be checked. The sway bar bushings are the prime suspect. I’m trying to get through autumn before dropping the subframe.

This car has 10 year old Koni FSD gold struts (which require stock spring length) and the sport + springs which are 10mm shorter than stock. The strut mounts have fine cracking but aren’t torn.

Sport + front springs

 

At the risk of sounding officious (I'm not a mechanic by trade); I know it can be a PIA - but if your going to pull your front struts; I would recommend inspecting/replacing your top mount bearings.
Even if they don't appear cracked or torn - You might just be surprised at how compressed they are compared to new ones. With some brands even after only 25k .
Spend the little extra $ on OE or OEM. You should at least get 2x the mileage from them in the long run.

Just my opinion/experience.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. And while it’s out I am seriously considering installing lighter springs (sport) and new rubber bits to tame the harsh ride. Still, I don’t think that is the source of the noises. I may have to drop the subframe sooner than I would like.

 

I put 90+K on a set of KONIs. They started getting noisy (annoyingly so) with harsh banging. Replaced them with Bilsein B4s and very happy with the ride. The twisties don't stand a chance.

 

Thanks Brick! I’m not a race car driver or wannabe. I like a sweet handling ride with good power. I’m running Bilsteins on my 2018 F150 3.5 twin turbo. They are way better than the stock shocks.

 

Sir,
FYI! I have 10's of thousands of noise free miles now that I got rid of the garbage Lemforder shock/struts mounts. LOVE my Koni's if you don't want to take apart your car to replace the mounts every 2000 miles, put the right mounts in now and start enjoying a noise free ride!

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...all-costs.html

 

Thanks Buggy for the info on the rear strut mounts. My current issues are in the front. I’m dropping the subframe next week to replace the sway bar and control arm bushings plus the inner tie rods. The inner ball joints look new.

The car came with Koni FSD gold struts with factory SS+ springs which are 10mm lower than the stock springs. Since Koni doesn’t allow lowering springs with these struts they may be damaged already. I’ll be going through them soon to determine why the springs don’t move at all when pushing down on the corner of the car.

 

@Buggy - Although I hadn't seen your thread (linked above and I wish I had), I've read/heard the same issues from others w/regards to Lemforder top mounts (which are said to be OE/OEM).
My original factory top mounts were replaced/repair at 40k after hitting major pothole. The dealer had probably also replaced w/Lemforder, I presume, at that time. I replaced them later at 60k mi with TRQ (no real issues), when I upgraded to Koni Yellows.
Those TRQ lasted about 20k which showed some compression but not noisy. I replaced them with Sachs when I upgraded my struts to Bilstien B14 coil overs. The Sachs lasted about 15-20k before making some unbearable creaking noise. The Sachs were also severely squashed/compressed. So at 90k miles I went backwards and had since reverted to installing the Lemforder top mounts in conjunction with the B14s. So far I've put 15k on the Lemforder top mounts...just waiting to see at which point they will begin to give out and start creaking and groaning. By other's account...I suspect they very well might/will.

 

Don't forget to apply silicone grease to the new sway bar bushings and control arm bushings too!