I've got a 2006 R50. There's a muted thunk or clunk noise coming from the DR side of the hatch.

The noise comes and goes. Cold weather _seems_ to make it worse. It responds to bumps in the road. Often I can get it to thunk by wiggling the steering wheel.

I've removed everything from the boot, driven with the seats up and down, checked suspicion components under the car, but can't locate the source of the sound.

Any ideas?

 

Is your exhaust bracket or hanger broken? That will cause a clunk.

Try wrapping a couple wraps of electrical tape around the D ring of your boot latch, my R53 had the insulation broken away and would clunk like that, especially in the cold.

 

Nice suggestions. Thank you.

I checked the rear of the exhaust, but I'll get under and work my way to the engine just to be sure.

The D-ring fix sounds interesting. I'll check that too.

 

The rear hanger is intact, but it looks as though the exhaust hook is knocking against the heat shield with lateral forces.

I've temporarily zip-tie'd it, to keep it from sliding back and forth as much (but not entirely). The clunking has been reduced significantly.