I recently had Koni FSDs installed in my car. I'm very happy at the increase in ride comfort, but that's not really why I'm posting. The installer gave me these white plastic discs that he said were on my OEM shocks. He said that one of my tophats was shredded because of the discs. I think he referred to them as "packers" and said they could have been put on for storage or vehicle transport. He said he's never seen these on a MINI before (he's worked on a lot of them).

Could someone explain why these things were on my factory shocks, and if having them on there for 4000 miles could have damaged my car in any way?

 

Yes, those are transportation shims. Look at the front guide supports and strut towers for deformation; those are the only places I can imagine possible damage occuring. I had three shims on one front strut for 2,000 miles with no damage.