A couple of days ago I was changing the camber on my 06 Cooper S when I noticed the passenger side coilover seemed stuck in the shock tower (i.e it would not drop when I released the bolts) After some hard pushing I got it out and I immediately noticed the drive shaft on the passenger side was putting alot of pressure on the coilover. The only way I was able to get the coilover back into the shock tower was by slightly lifting the engine on the driver side thus releasing the pressure on the passenger side drive shaft. When I let the engine back down i noticed it dropped about an inch from where it should normally sit. Could this be a bad lower motor mount or gearbox mount? I replaced the upper passenger side motor mount about 6000-8000 miles ago with a TSW mount. Any thoughts on what this could be?

 

IF you stand in front of your MINI and it is leaning to the left, i would suspect something wrong with your TSW mount.

 

No it's leaning to the right

 

Here are the diagrams for the engine and tranny mounts. Check all of them to see that they are ok

Check part number 7 to make sure it is not ripped or torn. This one is under the car in front of the engine in the center.

Check part number 3 to make sure they are ok on the tranny mount.

 

+1 on checking those mounts. One the drive side and passenger side. Do you have a pic?

Aftermarket mount not installed correctly or wrong aftermarket mount for the year and pushing the one side up possible for #3. Or something is wrong around #1 on the bottom section.