07 just-a-Cooper, 23.000 miles with clunking noise coming from the rear of the car. Not loud, not metallic in nature, just a clunk at every, I mean every imperfection, no matter how slight, in the road surface. Something about the frequency of the clunk is maddening and I can't pin down it's location. The only thing to do is drive faster, so the road noise covers up the clunk.

I've played with the rubber bump stops in the hatch door, threading them in and out; checked the spare tire mount to make sure it's locked down; and looked at the exhaust hangers. Can't find anything amiss and can't stop the clunk. Anybody have any thoughts or a similar problem? Broken shock mount?

 

This is very similar to a problem that was just corrected in my 07. It turned out to be the body sway bar bushings and I had them replaced at the dealer under warrantee. Sure is nice not to hear that clunk anymore. I went in for the 2 year birthday service and had the bushings replaced at that time. The time to complete the service and replace the bushings was about 2 and a half hours so just the bushings shouldn't take very long. Maybe this is your problem also. I could not isolate the problem myself but the dealer did easily. Guess this is a fairly common problem. Good luck.

 

Also check the rear center brake light. My Mini would make a rattle on every bump. The dealer installed felt to isolate it from the chassis to fix it.

Check that the rear seats are fully latched and the adjustable latch is flipped all the way.

 

Try this one: I rotated the tires in fall. I torqued the wheels down to the correct setting. I took it for a drive. On the way back I started swerving the car. Everytime I would swerve I would hear a clunk. It scared the crap out of me. I drove very carfully home thinking the wheels were loose. It turns out it was the plastic ***** that hang from the strings that help open the cover in the boot. When I swerved they were swinging and bouncing off the sides of the car. Now every now and then I hear them bumping in the back.

 

I took my Mini to Rasmussen for this problem and they removed the interior bits, ran it over some bumps and found the problem (and of course resolved it). According to the invoice: "Found sticker/latch assembly causing noise. Adjusted stricker..."

 

Well thank you, wfpdx. Rasmussen is my dealer, too. So, maybe they know the secret. I'll be heading in there next week. Does your invoice refer to a "striker"? Isn't a striker part of a latch or lock assembly?

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody.

 

I've been having this problem too. I've tried a couple of things mentioned above to no avail. I've looked everywhere. It's driving me NUTS!!! The dealer can't find it, not that they have even come close (the noise is in the back, yet they replaced a part in the front suspension ). Anyway, I will pass this info along to them the next time I go in so they can hopefully finally fix this.

 

I'll make sure to post whatever transpires at the dealer.

 

Another thing to check. With the rear hatch open, see if you can press up on the headliner at the center of the opening, about 2-3 towards the front. There is a plastic bracket glued to the top of the headliner that lines up with a piece on the inside of the metal roof. The glue can fail leaving that plastic bracket to rattle in roof's catch. My car was delivered with this piece unglued. You can pull down on the center of the headliner and look in between the roof and headliner to see if it's holding or to use some new double stick tape or glue on it.

 

I had a simular Clunk sound. What it turned out to be was the mount for the rear license plate. The dealer replaced the inner mount. To confirm if its the license plate, try taking the rear plate off and take it for a trip aound the block. Just bring the plate with you in case you get pulled over!

 

Yes, it is. But they spelled it "stricker" both times on the invoice. I always thought it was "striker"...

 

More clunking to be heard in this thread.

 

I had the same problem, it was the sway bar bushings like Slimmini said. It was a bit irritating and I am glad to have it fixed. Apparently there is a recall notice out for Just-a-Coopers between a certian build date for the rear bushings, or at least that's what the dealer told me.

I also had, and still have, a faulty boot latch which makes the boot lid rattle every once in a while. The dealer still can't seem to fix that one though, maybe third times a charm?

 

While searching for the source of a rattle in the rear of my car today I discovered that this little bracket had come unglued (I'm about to come unglued too if I can't fix this rattle). I plan to re-glue the bracket tomorrow and I hope this stops the noise. However, there is a plastic "grid like" doohickey to the left and right of this bracket and attached to the headliner that looks as if it might be rattling against the top of the car.

 

Same problem here - sway bar bushings were replaced.

 

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I'd like to offer some info that might be helpful to those with strange noises in the rear of their cars. Mine was less of a clunk, and more of a tap. It occurred with forward/backward motion rather than up/down motion. I.E. I would notice it most when accelerating or slowing down. Certain imperfections in the road would activate the annoying sound as well.
I found the source to be the plastic emergency fuel door release, which is hidden behind the access panel in the driver's side hatch. Open the hatch and look to the left, behind where the tail light mounts. Remove the panel that allows access to the rear of the tail light, and look for a small green plastic string hanging loosely in the area. That's the manual fuel door release, and the source of the annoying tapping.
I secured mine to a near by metal bracket with a zip-tie, which has completely eliminated the noise. Hopefully this helps some of you!