Hello all!

My name is Austin, and my wife drives a 2004 R50 Base Cooper.

It was her dream car when she bought it and still loves it. I personally drive a Volkswagen GTI. So German vehicles are my passion.

However, since we have been together, the Mini has had some fairly major repairs. New transmission, power steering pump, axles, strut mounts that were blown out, and a few other minor things.

Needless to say, I refuse to take it to the dealership. I laughed when they told me that the transmission repair would ultimately cost me more than the vehicle was worth.

Anyways, on to the issue at hand.

After the tires were rotated here recently, a strange rubbing noise has come up. I immediately assumed that a tire was rubbing, but none show any signs of irregular wear, no wear on the lining in the wheel wells, nothing seems to be rubbing that I can visually see. The rotors do need to be replaced, and I have not thrown out the fact they one may be badly warped and is causing this noise, but when you get right down to the rotor, the noise doesn't seem to be originating from here.

The noise seems to be present mainly in the front end and favors the passenger side. It is only audible at low speeds, once you are up to speed, the noise goes away. It does vary in speed of the sound depending on the speed of the car, if this makes sense. It is not a constant scrubbing sound that I am hearing. It sounds like a high spot on a rotor to be perfectly honest.

I guess as someone on Car Talk might say... It makes something of a *WooshWooshWoosh* sound.

Anyways, my question to you all is, What have I missed that I might need to take a look at.

This is quite a bit of a rambling post, but any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

Since the wheels were rotated , they might have bumped the brake shield protection plate. If its a scraping noise. Check the shield first. It set close to the rotor and can get bent in a little if someone bumps it , then touches the back side of the rotor.

Looks like this #9.




Driver side: Left

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/34116754927/

Passenger side.: Right

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/34116754928/

If its a low hum noise (grumble ) with scrapping it could be the wheel bearing. You can sometimes feel it in the steering wheel and also when you spin the wheel while on the service garage rack, you can hear the low hum scrapping.


Let me know what you find , I am here to help.

 

I just replaced the passenger side axle last monday (the noise was present before this tho). That plate you are referring to, I did check that and actually removed it when I removed the knuckle. I toyed with the idea of it being the wheel bearing, but it honestly sounds more like a rubbing than a hum or grinding. I think that it is weight relative as well.. I have lifted the car and turned each wheel (mounted) and rotor (wheels off) and the noise isn't really present. However, if someone on the heavier side rides in the car or multiple passengers, it seems to be louder.

The best way to really describe the sound all comes back to a tire rubbing the guard in the wheel well, but it isn't or if it is, somehow it is not showing any tell tale signs of wear on either the tire or plastic.

It's sitting on stock suspension and wheels, so it wouldn't be related to that unless something has changed significantly that I am not aware of.

Thanks for the fast response!

 

I had this happen to my honda. My guess is still that brake shield.

You might not be able to see it if it only happens under load while moving
slowly. (EXACTLY what happened to me).

But the sound and such you are describing is exactly what I had.

 

Did you remove the plates and re install them? I would check the plates near the rotor as it spins. It does not take much to bend them inward and get the scraping noise.

Thanks

 

I had this happen to my GTI after I replaced the rotors a while back and it was this brake shield. I will go around and mess with this to see if I can get rid of this noise. I really hope this is it. But yes. I removed the shield when I removed the knuckle while I was replacing the axle because I had a strange suspicion this was it. I made sure nothing was touching when it was reinstalled, but its not impossible that it only makes contact under load. I will look at this a little more and see

Thanks again for the responses!