Hey all - My 2003 Mini Cooper has a light rubbing noise coming from one of front wheel wells (I think its the front driver side.). I notice it the most when it is coasting or driving at a low speed. It kind of sounds like a brake pad rubbing against a warped rotor, but they seem like they are in decent shape. I say it sounds like a warped rotor because it is pulsating type rub. I bought my Mini in February, it has 45k miles on it and has a very clean carfax report. I am just a bit concerned because the Mini is my baby

 

Might be your brake dust shield(s). Jack up that corner of the car and spin the wheel with your hands. Metallic noise? Tinny?

Take a long screwdriver and, through the wheel, push back the dust shield here and there (and re-spin) until it clears the rotor and the noise stops.

 

I'll have to check that this evening. It would make sense because my wheels get a huge amount of brake dust and grime on them constantly and make the wheels look almost black when they are more of a silver color. I'll let you know what I find!

 

Luckily when I bought my '06 MCS it came with a second set of wheels/tires. It was running 17" R99s with Goodyear RSA RFTs. I was convinced it was brake drag so I changed out the pads and rotors. To no effect. Then I convinced my self it must be a bad hub. But reading other threads hear at NAM I saw that it could be the tires. So I swapped out the 17's for the 16's with a set of Dunlops. The care quieted down immediately. No pulsation, no speed related noise.

I'm continuing to run the 16's while deciding on tires for the 17's (probably end up with Michelin PSS).

So if you've got a friend with a mini, see if you can borrow their car for a 1/2 day and swap wheels. It really only takes 5 min on the road to confirm if its tires. Then you have to swap the wheels back again.

carl.

 

Unfortunately I don't have a friend with a Mini and I can't check it today because it is poring rain out today. As soon as I can I am going to pull the wheels off and check everything and clean it all out. Maybe I should rotate the tires? It did sit on the car lot for two months before I bought it.

 

Good luck, my car only had 20K miles on it (5 year old car) and the brakes had several spots where the pads had stuck to the discs. That's what I thought was the problem. But it wasnt...

Rotating the wheels may help see if its one tire with a flat spot.

 

So, I was finally able to get my tires off to take a look! Know what I found? A piece of twig stuck in my caliper!! Needless to say it was rubbed smooth in areas and scorched in others.

 

And this one. Now all I hear is smooth tires and pavement

 

Having the same issue but I think I may have a warped rotor. Any feedback?

 

Up!

 

The owner of this video, could you please let us know where the noise was coming from. Hope you still around to answer.

 

Turns out it was my runflats. They were old and the rubber was just making a weird noise. The owner before me thrashed the tires, causing them to bubble in a few spots. Most likely contributing to the noise. Hope this helps! (Once I changed to non runflats, noise went away and ride became more comfortable).

 

Awesome! Thanks for the reply. I will try that out!