I have noticed today that with 17inch wheels I was bottoming out a bit. (sounds like scraping plastic over bumps) Not all the time but over bumps at interstate speeds it worrys me.

The control arms appear strait and true.

Same wheels for a long time no change, when I got out of the car I have about a 2inch wheel gap on the passenger side rear and a 1.25 inch gap on the drivers side rear. This is 100% unloaded.
The fronts have the same about 2 inch gap.

would that tend to indicate springs or shocks

I have an 03 with 44k miles Cooper non-s

 

i have the same problem too man.. anyone knows why?

 

sounds like you may have a strut thats gone bad. have it checked out soon

 

how to check e back struts? can i do it myself? issit like the mushrooming of the front struts? issit costly to remedy it? pls advice. anyway is it normal for the front to be slightly higer than e rear? thank you!

 

It's too bad that no one offered a definitive solution to this problem. I have aftermarket springs (M7) with stock shocks and just realized that the driver's side rear wheel-well is one inch lower than on the passenger-side rear wheel-well. The car looks slightly lop-sided when viewing the rear of the car.

If the shocks are the culprit then what causes the malfunction? Too many hard right-turn on ramps?

Do people that auto-X/race their mini frequently have shock failure and notice their vehicle is lop-sided?