So my car has been making strange noises when driving over a rough road, and worse when bumpy. Gets better when I drive faster. Found out my strut bolt was keeping the strut way up out of the knuckle. The bolt wasn't in the strut whole, so it was keeping the strut about 1/2" in the knuckle. I had to beat the crap out of the knuckle to get it lined up for the bolt to hold it in place. Now my car still makes noises, and its a few weeks later. I just thought the knuckle had to widen up which it did when driving without the bolt in at all. I have a feeling the sway bar thing that goes to each front tire may be bent, but not sure. When I jack the car up I notice the control arm is more on an angle like it should be on the passenger side, but on the drivers side its way less of an angle. Thats the only difference I can physically see. Been driving for a few months this way, and would like this wobbling noise to go away.

 

Not sure what you mean by "out of the knuckle". Are you saying that 1 of 3 the camber plate bolts was loose, or that the bolt holding the strut to the camber plate was loose?
Have you had any accident / airborne moments lately?
Can you post the picture?

FWIW, both OEM Mini struts are known to fail on occasion, and the upper camber plate can start deforming (sometimes deforming the strut tower as well!) when driving RFT tires over lousy NE roads. I've personally seen bent strut towers/camber plates on other Minis.

In my case, my RF front shock had kicked the bucket at 35K miles, under warranty. It sounded like metal clunking sound coming from the RF corner of the car.

HTH,
a

 

No, its the 18mm bolt that goes through the strut to the car above the abs sensor. Anyway, I loostened up the 18mm bolt a little, and no more noises. Must have still been too tight.