Been happening for a few months now and is much more noticeable when the rear seats are folded down. It is not a super loud noise and is not consistant but seems to happen most often over smaller cracks in the road and not when hitting the occasional bigger pothole. Maybe this is just because I cannot hear it over the thud of the runflats on larger hits.

What I do notice is that if I open the boot and push down on the bumper to make the car 'bounce' I can hear a slight knocking that sounds somewhat familiar to what I hear when driving. It happens only on the switch from the pushing down to the springs pushing the car back up. Best I can describe the sound is a cross of a knock and a slight click.

Before switching over to my winter run-flats I checked the sway bar bushings , control arms, and endlinks and they seemed to be fine to me. I know it is not the hatch since I can make the knock by pushing on the bumper with the hatch open and I have also slightly adjusted it as a test prior to discovering how I can make it happen. I have also removed the jack kit and boot shelf to be sure they were not the issue and no avail.

My MINI is lowered so I am trying to narrow down the possibilities and check everything I am not thinking about before taking it into the dealership for regular maintenance and the recall.

Thank you to anyone in advanced who can help remedy the problem and I can take photos of bushing and the like if they will help. Has been lowered for just over a year now which seems soon for bushing problems. Maybe they need some new lubricant?

 

Have you grabbed a buddy to have them stick their head down and pinpoint the noise as you compress the suspension?
Since you're description is somewhat vague, having another human helper will give you better results.

- Erik

 

I would check to make sure the end links are tight and not rattling in the sway bar hole. Also check that the spring is tight in the perch. The top shock nut might not be screwed all the way down or the top bushing has compressed allowing a little movement in the spring.

 

Tried with the g/f and she couldn't pin point it since there is a good amount moving around down there and the car is too low to get under it and move it up and down without injury. It seems to happen most when the car is rocking left to right over bumps like frost heaves(sp?) in the road. Sorry for the poor description, it is really hard to describe.


I moved around the endlinks with the car under and not under load with my hand and they seem very tight since I actually have to try to rebalance me sway bar anyways once I get the summer tires back on. I tried moving the spring with the car on jack stands and nothing seemed to move much but maybe I will just remove the struts and double check. It seems like the noise is coming from the top of the struts on either side of the car from what I can tell so maybe its time to get back up on the jacks and check.

Anyone have the torque specs for the top shock nut or a reference for all the torque specs on the rear suspension?

Thanks guys

 

I have the same sort of noise. I only hear it at relatively low speeds over mild fluctuations in the road surface. More like a knock. Oddly it's much worse when there's a passenger in the car. I thought it might be the spare under the car, but I removed the spare and carrier, and still hear it. It's definitely not the hatch. I'm thinking something in the suspension (hence the change when the car is loaded differently).

I thought I would lick it when I found the source of a rear end squeak, but that was yet another sound coming from the rear.

I'm going to check out the suspension this weekend. More joy...

 

I'm having the same problem and have not been able to pin point it! I'm super lost on this ....

 

Also might want to check that the exhaust is not hitting on something. Maybe a weak or broken hanger is letting the exhaust move a little too much. Just grab the exhaust (probably best to do when the exhaust is not hot) and wiggle it around, side to side and front to back, to see it it hits anything. When I installed an aftermarket exhaust it hit near one of the rear hangers and made a noise that was not very loud but transmitted through the car very well. I have also had the middle rubber hanger get a little weak and let the exhaust rattle very slightly.

 

I have really no experience with the Mini suspension, but I have rebuilt more Miata suspensions than I care to admit to. Usually a knocking or popping sound can be attributed to a fastener not properly clamping on a bushing in the suspension. You might try cranking on a few of those bolts for giggles and grins.

 

Most likely your sway bar bushings. If you grab the sway bar and can move it side-to-side then you've found the culprit.

 

I was going to say that - we had 2 guys here that went crazy with the same type of noise. Ended up being the sway bar bushings. Very hard to track down if you don't know what to look for - dealer quoted one of them several thousand dollars in suspension work to fix it. --- double check your bushings!!!

 

I know this because I chased it FOREVER!!!

 

I had this and solved it/sourced it to my trunk. The latch receptor on the car side (not the hatch side), does not hold on to the U latch on the hatch perfectly/snugly. So when you hit a bump, it makes a small clack noise. To fix it, simply wrap the U receptor on the hatch in electrical tape, never happens again.

I brought this up to the dealer and they replaced the receptor on the car/chassis, and fixed it for a month, then it came back. Back to the electrical tape it went.

 

I also suggest investigating the hatch's (trunk) lid lock (51242754528). I had my sill cover off while I was installing my Integral Audio 1101S Subwoofer and found when driving around that the lock (in the car, not the striker) would rattle like crazy. The sill cover mutes the sound, but without that cover, it was clearly the culprit. Not sure if the mating of the plastic box (electrical and motor) and the metal recepticle is bad or can be fixed/adjusted yet. Will tear it down this weekend and see.

 

Just a followup to this one (the hatch lock rattle). With the sill cover off, I was tapping the lock mechanism on the rear sill and heard a very-easy-to-produce pronounced rattle from within the plastic motor housing...



I removed the lock (marking the current location with electrical tape for easy re-installation), popped open the motor housing and found this odd shaped piece of hard rubber/plastic loose inside (see top item in photo below)...



I could not for the life of me figure out where it is supposed to go. It doesn't appear to be a broken off piece, so I left it out and confirmed the lock would still catch and release manually. I put the latch back in and it functions perfectly with no rattle. It works remotely and manually and is dead silent now. I figured if I totally hosed the latch, I'd just get a new one (like $50).

So for those of you with an annoying rattle in the hatch, check out the latch. You'll need to pull off the sill cover to get to it. I think this makes four separate rear-end noises I've slayed. Am I done? Who knows, with the Integral Audio subwoofer installed and the tunes cranked, there's little else I hear now.

 

Added to my list to possibly check. My last MINI had this noise issue that kept returning and I wonder if this was the problem.

I know have a similar noise in my JCW but I suspect it is the rear sunroof panel.

 

For those who stumble across this page through search. Was the end links after all, they were rusted and seemed tight where they adjust but under stress of the cars weight would knock. Replaced the Alta links with the sealed WMW version and the knock is gone. A stethoscope really helped pinpoint the issue.

Thanks all for the help.

 

how many miles are on your car? my '11 seems to have a small click noise too in the pass rear, 14k miles. doesn't happen over every bump, that's ******** if the endlinks are gone already.

 

I had the similar knocking (clunking) during slow turn or over bump most noticeable in the front for several months.

Finally the dealer was able to track it down after a couple visits. It ended up the Sway Bar bushings replacement for about $200 - Parts and labor.

Car has 63K miles and the bushings worn down.

 

-

 

I had a left rear suspension knock/rattle that drove me crazy for a couple years! I checked for loose and/or worn parts several times and could not find anything amiss. I finally replaced the rear sway arm bushings and connecting links and the noise is gone Neither the bushings nor connecting links seemed worn when I inspected them after removal, but the rattle is fixed. About $50 in parts and 1-1/2 hour of my time.
RRG