Quick story - I replaced the struts, mounts and some misc parts (nuts, bolts, etc) a few months ago when my passenger's strut blew out (what a mess!) - I tried the dealer but they wanted $1400 and a 2 week wait for an appt, so I did the job myself - amazingly easy work (and only $600 including an alignment when all was said and done). I reused the springs and rubber seats, etc but the struts were brand new [got them from parts.com, they do have German text on them but I am not sure they are OEM]. This job was done with appx 120k miles on the car.

Fast forward to last week - 126k miles on the car - car is now making a distinct hollow "clunk" in the front end whenever there is lateral movement - think Nascar drivers heating up their wheels. It sounds alot like when an older refrigerator/freezer's compressor shuts off. It's intermittent at slow speeds, to the point where it almost sounds like something's loose and clanking around in the engine compartment (in fact I originally suspected the exhaust). The noise virtually goes away at highway speeds (say above 40-50 MPH) and I am pretty sure that it's not just road noise drowning out the clunk.

I had the car up on stands last weekend and checked everything I could, including my strut job and besides a cracked engine mount bushing (it's not moving, I videod it while shaking the car) and a loose coolant tank (fixed that and it wasn't the problem), everything *looks* solid including the LCAB, sway bar & bushings and links (sway "tie bars" that connect the sway bar to the struts). Now, I did the inspection when the car was off the tires (obviously) which also means that the suspension behaves differently while it's stressed/weight loaded. If I stand and force the car back and forth via force on the roof rack, I can recreate the noise. At times it seems like it's coming from one side, and at others (while driving) it just seems like it's coming from the middle of the car.

I've googled this quite a bit and it seems that many people get stuck in replacing parts "just because" and unfortunately this adds up. Most people suggest the sway bar stabilizer links (2x$40/ea), the sway bar bushings (2x$30/ea), the LCABs (2x$60+/ea) [LCAB=Lower Control Arm Bearing, btw]. These may not be the exact same vehicle, but are mostly other MINIs and some other BMWs.

 

Found noise like yours in a 2011 r55. The sway bar end links were the culprit, the factory ones have plastic on the inside that wears out over time. I replaced mine with the OE plastic versions, and as my drive to work involves Crossing several railroad tracks, I blew them out within 2 months. I recommend getting some of the upgraded versions that are aluminum, or, as I did, make your own.

in the end I used m8x1.25 mm all thread, cut to a length of 12.5 in, and two normal thread spherical ball ends, and two reverse thread spherical ball ends. I ordered all of this from Granger for about 30 bucks. I did not pre-load my sway bar, I kept the wheels on the ramps and installed the threaded ends till they were slightly taught. No more clunking, been 50,000 miles. Also don't, for the spherical rod and joints, I used ones that had a 8 mm diameter hole. This way I could use the M8 by 1.25 threaded bolts and nuts that were Factory

I also changed my sway bar bushings, on both the front and the rear.

*** note to save you or pain in the butt later***
Save up and buy the complete lower control arm assemblies. The ones with the inner and outer ball joints, and the lower control arm bushings. This way you only have to take off your bumper and drop the subframe once. You can get it done in a Saturday if you start before lunch. Have 2x4s ready to use his jack stands if you don't own four. It's not that bad really, just tedious.

still don't understand why mini wants to use every size millimeter bolt, and 13 different torques sizes. I think some mechanic slept with an engineer's wife, and he said I'm going to screw you guys down the road. Who knows, but have your full Torx bit set and everything from 9 mm up to 22 millimeter.