I had an interesting experience with my MINI dealership having to do with rattles.

In the first couple hundred miles of owning my car, there was this ridiculous buzzing noise coming from my pass. side speaker (on the door). I brought it in, and the service guy tried to find the source of the buzzing. I told him it only did it for some songs. I found a song that usually buzzed, and I couldn't get it to do it! So I turned it up, way past the volume in which I usually listen to music, and got it to buzz. He basically told me, "Don't listen to your music so loudly, and you won't have an issue", and then dismissed me to the door and gave me my keys.

.....Thank you for wasting my time......

So, I went home, ripped the speaker cover off, and put about 10 pounds of felt tape in the cover, put it back on, and haven't had any issues since.

I sent a very nice e-mail to MINI USA about my experience...

 

Sorry to hear about your experience there. My rattles were not fixed either, even when they mentioned that they replaced two broken clips on my door.

Was it easy remove and replace that speaker cover? I NEED to do the same thing with mine.

 

Almost too easy... but only on the pass. side. The driver's side was a whole other story. On the pass. side, just pull it out slowly. Should come out pretty easily!

 

Thanks for the info! Why is the driver's side another whole story?

 

I had a squeaky rattle on the rear speaker cover. Used black electrical tape wedge between the cover and housing. That kind of fixed it unless I go over really bad roads. But in normal driving, I don't hear it at all.

 

I have never had a new car that had rattles and squeaks but I suspect this will be the first.

 

The driver's side speaker cover had the side mirror control built in, and in order to take the cover off, I'm guessing you have to take apart that whole system. Admittedly, I didn't try it, so I don't know how hard it would be. If it was buzzing like my pass. side was, then I would probably give it a go.

 

Hello,

I'd be super interested to know how you took the speaker cover apart. I have the chrome line interior, so there's that chrome ring around and I don't really know where to pull. I also don't want to damage anything but I do have that buzzing, particularly pronounced when I have the key in the ignition and it makes the 'gong' noise. I also have it all the way up cause for some reason I dig that chime. lol But it does buzz...

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

If you drove where I do (in the most densely populated state) with the idiots that I do, you'd embrace the concept of less people .

Every single day I drive through traffic jams caused by accidents. I once took solace in the notion of natural selection running its course, but now the DOT and NHTSA have effectively repealed Darwin's law. After rolling their cars on a beautiful sunny day, these fools just climb out, dust themselves off and hop in another shiny metal cocoon and do it all over again the next day.

Back on the subject of rattles, the MINI's build is like the perfect storm for annoying rattles: it's a solid car with a short wheelbase and taut suspension with tons of plasticky interior trim. The solidness of the carriage blocks out background noise quite well, allowing you to hear every creak, groan and buzz of the interior components.

As much as I'd love a quiet car, if that was my primary interest, I would have bought some old man's car like a Lexus or Buick. So I will go after rattles as they pop up, knowing that the car will never be refrigerator quiet.

 

hello,

first sorry for my english... I'm french.
My mini r56 got the same problem and I finally find the cause and the solution! It works really fine, you can find a pdf with photos on my website :
http://mon-enquete-enligne.fr/mymini...OOPER-DOOR.pdf

hope it'll help you and others..., tell me if it works for you

 

I learned the very first week I got my mini that if I wanted the squeaks and rattles fixed I was going to have to do it myself. IT is just way too inconvenient for me to drop my car off at the stealership for days to have them diagnose rattles (when most of the time their fix is the same as mine, or just plain doesnt work) I love my MINI but hate the rattles...but not enough to consider getting rid ofthe car.

Recently I had the same issue as the OP, and I fixed it by doing exactly what dmen's post describes.



Some of my other "fixes" or workarounds so far:

-Dab of silicon on the tach to stop a rattle
-Two pieces of cardboard( barely visible) around the circular part of the A/C controls (the mini emblem)
-Felt tape around the trunk latch
-A piece of sticky foam padding on the contact points of the secret compartment
-Driving with the doors locked to prevent the door lock pins from rattling(may try some tap on the base of the pins)
-Driving with the sunroofs vented open in the winter to prevent them from squeaking ( no fix for this squeak, the dealer has already replaced the entire assembly)

 

After reading this guy's PDF file I insulated that spot in the arm rest with Dynamat, and it completely got rid of all rattling and distortion from bass. My H/K system sounds amazing now. Can't thank you enough.

 

For me it was really evident on both doors and would rattle like crazy when the rear tires hit a bump at speed. Mini dealer replaced the door strikes and it went away but wasn't long (2-3 months) and it was back.
In the shop right now and they are taking a look at it.
Buzz only happened when sport mode was on. Front left corner of the dash board and can be reproduced by going 60kmh in 3rd gear.
Not very happy with how cavalier the dealerships have been when they know this is a common issue with their product.