So for a while now I've been getting a clunk over harsh bumps, particularly ones where the road comes out from from under the car (a sunken sewer, or backing off the small ledge from my garage floor onto the driveway for instance) as opposed to a raised bump. In the past 10000km or so I have installed:

-koni yellows
-h&r sport springs
-new strut top bushings (the ones visible in the engine bay)
-powerflex FCABs
-powerflex front swaybar bushings
-whiteline adjustable endlinks
-cravenspeed STDs

I'm pretty positive everything is torqued correctly as I did most of the work myself and double checked everything I touched at least 3 times now looking for the noise. It's worth noting that this noise was present before I put on the fcab and sway bar bushings (I replaced them hoping it would stop the noise). The strut shaft nuts are torqued to spec, the three bolts up top are tight, and the pinch bolt is tight. I had some issues with the endlinks making noise when the adjustment nuts loosened so I just removed them from the car altogether this morning and the clunking is STILL there! I verified the springs were seated on their perches correctly and visually everything looks to be in order. I even applied some force to the ball joints with a pry bar to check for play and there was none. At this point I am at a complete loss and this is driving me crazy! My car is a 05 r53 with a little under 100000km (about 62k) on it.

Please help!!

 

Ok so I think I've been able to replicate the clunk. You have to stand in front of the car and kick the wheel HARD. Any ideas what this could be??

 

Had that w BC coilovers
Turned out it was internal to the shock itself.
Koni is better but...
Never in my 40 years in the auto repair biz did I run across such a failure on rather new part.

 

I'm beginning to think it might be an issue with the strut itself too. I just emailed koni about it. I just never really considered the struts because they are so new and koni has a pretty good reputation for making a solid shock. At this point I've pretty much replaced anything that could possibly be making a noise so I don't see what else it would be. When I jack the car up, there is no play 9-3 or 12-6 in the wheel either.

 

Ok so I think I've found the issue!! I was incorrect in saying that there was no play in the wheel. I wasn't pulling hard enough on it. If I grab at at 9 and 3 and yank it really aggressively its actually got a fair bit of play in it. Using the same amount of force there is still no play when yanked at 6 and 12, however.

This seems like a tie rod issue to me? If so, could anybody point in the right direction as far as parts are concerned? I see they are sold as a whole section or just the ends. What do I need (assuming the tie rod is the issue)??

 

I'd start by looking at the lower spring perch. I have Koni yellows and if the lower spring perch is not clocked correctly it will touch the inside of the fender well with the car turns. IMO Koni really screwed the pooch with the removable lower spring perch. There's nothing to insure that it won't move from the clocked position

I would also look through the top of the engine bay at the passenger side swaybar link with the car on the ground. Some aftermarket links will rub ever so slightly on the axle. I learned this with Moog links, they're made too thick.

Another place to look is the upper strut mounts, if you used anything other than Genuine MINI, Lemforder or Merlye you're going to be replacing them very soon. The Moog and KYB ones have been verified as junk by a few members here including me. The quality of rubber is rubbish and they sag.

 

Have you checked the lower control arm bushings?

 

-front control arm bushings are powerflex with about 1000km on them
-spring perches look good, no contact that I could see
-endlinks are actually off the car right now, and there were no marks indicating contact with the axle when I took them off
-my strut mounts are Sachs. They're another decent german brand I believe? no signs of cracking though.

I looked at the car some more today. There is no play in the tie rod ends at all. All the play seems to be coming more inboard from the rack area. I still dont know if this is normal slack to have in the rack? Like is it normal to be able to move the wheel like that by hand? Or is there an issue with the inner tie rods??

 

Power steering racks have bushings like everything else.

Polyflex sells steering rack bushings but I believe it involves dropping the subframe.

It's a problem or there can be improvement if aftermarket makes a solution. There is a possibility the bushings are bad.

Just my two cents.

 

Inner tie rod?

 

tie rod bushings?