I recently picked up 2011 mini cooper s Manual with 104k miles. I noticed there is clunking noise from rear while driving at low speed like 5-25 MPH. It doesn't make any noise at high speed though.

It has aftermarket NM motoring rear sway bar. I thought It could be rear sway bar bushing or stabilizer links since It does seem like those two make clunking noise when I checked on Youtube.

I went to shop for oil change and asked them to check and they said it seemed like it works fine. what else it could be?

 

Since there is an NM rear sway bar, are the NM end links also installed?

 

I'm not sure about that. It seemed like stock one. does it have to be same?

 

Just curious. If the NM links were installed, I would blame them. That style is notorious for being noisy, rattles, and clunks. They are stiffer, but they will make noises.

That being eliminated, possible suspects for rear end noises would be: end links, shocks, shock mounts, sway bar bushings. A friend of mine had a rear hatch latch that would clunk and make noises... Could be a loose exhaust hanger...


(FYI: noises and rattles are VERY difficult to diagnose over the interwebs. Best to find someone to ride along with you that can help find where it 'might' be coming from)

 

I guess the exhaust hanger is little loose since when I step on the exhaust tips, I feel like it's loose.

 

well, I just went to the muffler shop to check the exhaust hanger but they said everything looks fine...

 

Just to help diagnose... try to listen for the clunk, and pay attention to what the car is doing when it clunks. For instance, if it clunks when driving diagonally over a speed bump or into a driveway transition, it could be sway bar bushing or end link related. If it clunks when going straight and hitting a sharp impact, like a pot hole, it could be shock related.

 

Thank you so much for help again!
I noticed there were some little grease on sway bar bushing while car was lifted so I'm going to go for sway bar bushing. Yes it clunks when driving diagonally over a speed bump or into driveway transition.
Do you think I have to go for this one below?
https://nm-eng.com/products/nm-eng-a...2mm-nmbku62506
Thank you

 

If it were my car, I'd try cleaning the bushings really good, then wrapping the bar with teflon plumbers tape under the bushings. Give it a few thick layers of the tape, and see how it drives after that.

 

I'm curious to see what the OP finds.

 

I suggest you consider bushing replacement. I had a very hard time identifying the cause of a rattle in the rear of the '07 MCS. It only became apparent that it was the RSB bushings when I pulled them.

Both front and rear bushings have shown a notable tendency to wear out on my two Minis.

 

Rear springs need to be orientated correctly, there is a mark on the spring mount to indicate where end of spring coil should end. If spring is not positioned right it will cause an odd thump from the rear. I replaced rear struts and missed the mark on one side, this may not apply in your case but it's easy to check if it's on a lift.

 

I’ve replaced rear sway bar bushings today at the shop but it still remains same…

 

Hey, did you ever find out what was causing the noise? I have the same issue with my 2010 Cooper S (85k miles)

 

So I've also been having the rear clunking....kind of a hollow bang if that makes sense. I followed the path of thinking it was the rear hatch latch and I've been adjusting it after I bought a new one thinking I was getting improvement on some days and not on others. I then found this thread and decided that it might be something with the rear suspension. I just lifted the car and put it on jacks just now. Everything is tight. Background on the car for reference:

-2013 JCW
-Lowered about an inch and a half on KW Street Comfort Coils
-NM Engineering RSB
-WMW adjustable end links
-H-Sport Adjustable Rear Camber Links
-Aligned to factory specs

Last week I also greased the sway bar bushings with Energy Suspension grease. Terrible to work with but amazing stuff. So, I started there and low and behold, when I slide the sway bar back and forth through the bushings (across the lateral dimension of the car), it bangs that hollow bang against the stops on the sway bar itself and the bushing housing. Like a thud. So I'm assuming that every time I go over an uneven bump and one wheel is lifted higher than the other, it pushes the end link which in turn pushes the sway bar against that stop.

Sound reasonable? And if so, how the hell do I stop that banging?

Thanks!

 

I'm also doing the obvious and ordering a new bushing from Neuspeed as we speak.

 

I chased a rear knock for a long time on my 2012, was almost certain it was the rear suspension or sway bar. Turned out it was the rear sunroof glass knocking...

Have someone press up on the glass while you drive around to rule that out, because it certainly fooled me.

 

Nope, definitely not that. Thanks for the idea though.