So my wife bought an 06 R53 last year - it needed a lot done, but it was the color she wanted (PW). So I have been gradually chipping away at the issues one at a time. But, it is noisey. It's got a lot of buzz-like noises, a lot of rattling, and a lot of vibration from the engine. Not like internal stuff broken, like bad vibration isolation and damping. I have replaced her lower engine mount and the upper, and today, I just replaced her completely shot control arm bushings. After the motor mounts, I though for sure the last thing that would lead to a quieter, less vibratory ride would be the control arm bushings. But no, the racket, vibrating mirror and dash persisted.

So, it had to be one of the mounts that was defective. Her's has the awful (IMO) hydraulic mount. My car has almost no motor vibration in the cabin. I have added poly inserts to the lower and upper rear mounts and still need to replace my upper front - but the earlier cars have 3 mounts, and that got me thinking about whether the earlier cars were generally quieter in terms of motor noise and vibration transmitted to the cabin? Has anyone owned both a 02-04 and an 05-06 for significant time? Are the facelift cars generally noisier from the front? I am not talking about creaks and rattles in the passenger compartment, but noise originating from the drivetrain...

I got most of the vibration on hers figured out now. It's a defective motor mount - the one I just installed last fall. I confirmed this by jacking up the motor and putting some spare gasket material that I had tripled up over the bolt and retightened it all back down. That eliminated 80% of the noise, but not I can hear much better how different the engine sounds from my 03 - it really is 'buzzier'. Don't know how else to describe it. Again, her engine is healthy. Maybe the new mount will eliminate it, maybe not. Thoughts?

 

What kind of material are the motor mounts? Poly mounts will not improve NVH, if that's what you installed.

 

The motor mounts are stock type Lemforder. Have you owned both pre and post facelift?

 

I have only owned a pre facelift myself, and that's really vibraty etc.
I have a polybused bottom engine mount which is noisy at idle but then fine. If you say you polybushed the rear, I did and did not notice extra noise however polybushing the shock top mount on the rear made my car undriveable, very twitchy on the road so I got shot of them.

Might be worth having a look at your exhaust, check for any aftermarket parts as they can have an effect, but also check the hangers as there a funny design and its possible if the rubber broke its sat on the outer rim of the hanger which is rubber coated metal and could cause noise.

 

I have an 05 MCS and have never owned a pre- facelift car. My car has a lot of NVH. I also have a Magnaflow exhaust so it's not quiet especially on the highway. It makes a lot of other noises too but I just turn up the radio🤣
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I currently own both versions, and there is no significant difference in NVH. Could be other potential issues.

Does the problem exist when you idle, when the motor is under a load, or all of the time? Does it change with RPM and/or with vehicle speed? Did you check the header or exhaust for any leaks or body contact underneath?

 

We have an 05 MCS - since 11 miles. No NVH issues. I’ll say Runflats are gone, and that made a big difference. This is a car with a UUC cat back, and a Dinan intake box / Dinan Pulley - not crazy mods, but noisier than stock. Window gaskets made a big difference - if they are not seated correctly ( after a windshield replacement, you get more wind noise.

 

When you say undriveable what do you mean? I just replaced my stock shocks all 4 and on the rear I put the Powerflex poly bushings. I noticed now the car really pulls to the right/left when I accelerate or decelerate, especially on the freeway. Could that be caused by the rear poly bushings?

 

I doubt it. I have poly upper rear strut mounts and no issues. It sounds like something is loose in the front end to me. Have you had it aligned since the replacement?

 

I tried today, but they told me the driver wheel bearing was too lose. So I ordered the parts and have to replace that first. It's definitely out of alignment.

 

My 04 I have a full built engine , as stiff as I can make the car with all performance suspension and bushings and extra bracing everywhere..I also removed rear seats , put in front racing seats , all different interior and belive it or not.. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY 0 RATTLES .
that wasn't the case just last week though , lol it used to be a fricken ratlle box but i went through and put in new push clips and larger screws in the stock spots to secure all the interior panels aaaaand I shot hot glue behind certain parts to give a buffer between the panel and the steel of the car.
I also put in a few hard to spot screws in spefic areas in the trunk to stop the rattles back there from my exhaust..
I couldn't believe it when I went to go for a drive after doing all that , I spent 2x hours only tightening all the panels up but omg it doesn't rattle ONE BIT EVEN OVER pothole , speed bumps ectect..if you'd like I can show you in the trunk the 3x screws I put in that stopped all my trunk panel rattles.
SIDE NOTE : i did have an 06 facelift for awhile which was most stock and imo it had 2x the amount of cabin rattles and vibrations as my built mini had at the time..

 

I have owned both pre-facelift and post facelift vehicles at the same time....I never noticed any difference in noises or other items that you mentioned with comparing car to car

Bryan