I recently (400 miles ago) replaced my lower control arm bushings, clutch, rear main seal, power steering hoses, shocks, shock mounts and a bunch of other stuff while i was in there. Now I have a clunk in the right side shock. the new shocks are Koni's and the new upper mounts are lemforder. The right front shock mount squeaks / groans when I turn the wheel. Is it possible that the new mount is bad already? I checked that everything is torqued properly. Opinions?

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if it groans at low speed while turning the wheel from lock to lock, it's likely a cracked strut mount. Take a look, is it visibly cracked?

Maybe the car got lowered down off of the jack a little faster than intended? Happened to me once--I had just finished a replacement and my jack's valve is pretty bad so the car came down a little fast and cracked it. Luckily I had a spare mount, but still. Good luck--let us know how it goes!

 

I figured it was a bad mount. I ordered another new one.

 

I've seen the lower spring perches on the Yellows spin on the shock body and cause noise like a bad strut mount. We've had it go one of two ways; we're able to tap the perch back onto the shock, or we've had to warranty the shock out with Koni.

I would find it hard to believe that a brand new Lemforder mount failed. Did you install the large washer and dust cap on the bottom of the new mounts? Everything torqued properly?

 

Interesting. These are koni fsd's. It clunks too. I will check it this weekend and update. I did install the dust cap and washer, and torqued to spec. Left side is fine
thanks!

 

They still used the same poor lower spring perch design unfortunately, but I've seen more of the Yellows with this problem because of how poorly they are packaged vs the FSDs.

 

Welcome to FSD's!

 

come on, really? are they a problem?

 

There are lots of threads comparing them to koni yellows, bilsteins and various coil over set ups. It seems the FSD were quite popular in europe before readily available here - and the boards are full of people asking about low speed flutter, creaking etc. But in the end - most posts agree that these cars are so much better with the FSD compared to stock that they live with it. In my experience, the potholes,train tracks and highway expansion joints are nothing to be feared now. The car is smooth and predictable - and I am still using runflats.
A few considerations - some people opted to put an OEM top mount instead of aftermarket OR they opted for the power flex top mount for a snug fit. (just for the strut top though, not the entire suspension). and lastly, many people replaced them with newer FSD's only to find out that they had faulty sway bar drop links the entire time!
At the end of the day- if the mounts check out for you- Id still install FSD's again on my car even with the noise. YES, FIX YOUR CLUNK, but know that the FSD's will still not be perfectly quiet. There are plenty of people that talk about using socket on the top nut and spinning the shaft in the process. The right tool and nut holder will make the job a breeze.

 

I am also running runflats, and am really happy with the ride and handling on the FSD's. I changed to powerflex front control arm bushings at the same time, that was a great choice! My endlinks looked good at the time. I am going to get everything a good look over, bc my noise is limited to the right front side (and the brake pad banging around on the right rear.) Thanks for your opinion R56devotion!

 

Finally getting back to this... broke my hand so it’s been a little while before I could get the mini in the air. Two noises. 1. The rear brake pads are sliding around and banging into the caliper. New anti rattle clips will fix that. 2. The right front spring perch (which is crimped onto the shock body) has come loose and can spin freely around the shock, and hence bang around. Koni will warranty it. Waiting on parts. Nkfry ... you were right!

 

Yeah that whole crimping the spring perch to the shock body was always a sore spot with us, many of the shocks we got in had already fallen off due to the less than gentle handling they underwent on the way to us.

Glad to hear they're gonna take care of ya!

 

Yeesh, that's a hell of a diagnosis, nkfry--I really regret my hasty assumption now.

OP, I hope you didn't buy the replacement strut mount after my comment. Did whoever you order it take the return?

In any case, it's good things are getting figured out. This thread could be very useful to people considering the purchase of Konis in the future, or experiencing any clunks with their Konis. Sorry again about my embarrassingly incorrect input.

 

I bought the last set from amazon, so it cost me the shipping to return it. No big deal. Sometimes that’s the price of doing things yourself. I did so much work on this car recently, I’m way ahead on labor costs. Thanks for all the help.

 

I haven't had the clunk, but when I got my FSD's the spring perches were loose on the fronts. I installed them anyways because I'm dumb, and ended up having to take them off and send them back to KONI for warranty. They did cover everything except for what it cost me to ship them back, but it was annoying.

I've had my FSD's on for a little over a year now, and I'm still fairly impressed with them, but I think if/when this car needs new shocks again, I may go with something like the yellows but with stock height springs. The FSD's are super comfortable, and handle better than stock, but I wish I had more ability to adjust them for track days ect.