My '04 Mini will squeak while tuning at low speed. It sounds like something is rubbing and needs to be greased. Any ideas how to fix this?

 

I have some ideas, but I can’t hear it from here, so….

 

did u check the engine belt

 

If your referring to what sounds almost like a "creaking," during low speed turns, I know exactly what your speaking of. The front upper strut mounts have started to collapse and the sound your hearing is the rubber chafing on turns. At higher speed, the suspension is more unloaded than at low speeds so you generally don't hear it. If you want to test the theory, take some silicone spray and get WAY UP THERE where the upper strut mount is in the wheel-well and spray it down. It will temporarily quiet it down. I always know when mine are hammered because in addition to the creaking, I can look at the upper strut mounts under the hood in the strut tower and the center cap on the strut bearing hole gets almost even with the hole in the strut tower and the rubber surrounding the bearing hole will appear cracked and stressed. A lot of times, you can open the hood, have someone turn the wheels side to side and put your fingers on the strut mount bolts and you can feel the creaking.

I can always tell when it is time to change my strut mounts because they start talking to me! After several replacements and continued failures using OEM and Lemforder mounts, I gave up and bought some adjustable camber plates. Stay clear of Moog upper strut mounts, they absolutely suck! They were noisy right out of the box and REALLY stay clear of ANYTHING on Ebay or Amazon unless you want to be changing them every other week! If you drive "normal" Lemforder actually makes the uppers for MINI. If you drive like me...."spirited" or live in a state with crappy roads (Like Michigan) you may want to invest in some adjustable upper strut mounts. Not only do they not make all the noise and last longer, and you can get yourself some negative camber up front!