Hi there, I'm a first-time poster but long-time reader. I have no idea if what I'm describing is a common problem, I tried looking under terms similar to the title of this thread and didn't come up with anything. Your expertise is most welcome.

I have a 2013 Clubman, just 21 months old. Tonight as I was driving home (in town, 30 mph speed limit), I heard this incredibly loud boom/explosion sound and then what sounded like metal rubbing on metal. At first I thought maybe a belt or chain had broken loose and had hit the underside of the hood. I pulled over, popped the hood, didn't see anything out of the ordinary (not that I would necessarily know what I was looking at!). I looked under the car, didn't see anything dragging. Got back in the car, inched it forward and heard the metal on metal sound again and it sounded like it was coming from the front passenger side of the car. I had no low tire warnings and no warning lamps came on. Since I was right on the road (no shoulder), I backed it slowly into a nearby parking lot, I couldn't hear the grinding metal sound when it was going in reverse.

I called MINI roadside assistance and had it towed to the dealership. The wrecker driver said he didn't hear anything strange when he drove it onto the truck bed.

A couple of weeks ago I did get a flat and I thought I heard something like a metallic 'plink' right in that same region (passenger front) before it happened. I asked the service guy when it was being looked at if he thought it was related to the tire and he said it probably was (the tire that went flat was passenger rear). As far as I know they didn't look for anything else then.

Can anybody tell me what this might be? I'm not mechanically inclined at all so am at a loss. Thanks!!

 

I'll just take a wild guess that something got jammed in your brakes, the caliper/rotor. Based on your description it's gotta at least be in the wheel area, and it's nothing I've ever heard of before. Maybe a pebble is stuck in the brake caliper. Let us know what you find. I am interested.

 

If the metal-on-metal noise only occurs when the car is being moved, it could be your differential. Did you lose power along with the noise?

 

Will do neonsteve -- dealership didn't have time to look at it yet today.

milbournosphere -- I didn't lose power, which made me pretty happy!

I have never experienced anything like it before. The boom was so loud, I almost wondered if the earth was opening up underneath the car. Hope to hear something from the service department tomorrow.

 

Well?

 

I got my car back this evening (they weren't able to get to it prior to today). They drove it, they lifted it and couldn't find anything. They came to the same conclusion as neonsteve -- something possibly got stuck around the brakes.

I guess it's good news that there was nothing catastrophic wrong with it but I still wonder how something like a small rock (I was on a paved road with just a little gravel on one shoulder) could make a sound as loud as the one I heard.

All is well for now.

 

Well good except I would expect there to be some sort of evidence like a scrape on the brake rotor, front or back face or the cooling fins. In any case with such a loud noise I think you would notice if anything was still wrong with the car, so you should be good to go.