New Coupe S with rear rattle clunk-clunk mystery?
 

Hi all, looking for some problem solving help!

My lovely better half picked up a brand new 2012 Pepper White/ Black 2012 Cooper Coupe S 6MT (traded in her 2010 Cooper Clubman 6MT) It's gorgeous and we got a great deal from MINI St. Louis where we bought her Clubman and my 2010 Cooper S.


Anyway, it had just 9 miles and was fresh out of the PDI when we went for an extended highway-city-her steep driveway ground clearance test drive. Brilliant! Its quick, handles tight so we went back to dealer, bought it now with 35 miles!

Get it home, look at the new bits and pieces etc, remove rear shelf, look at stuff and get to know the car...put shelf back in properly and securely.
Drive it later and now with 46 miles we have an annoying rear parcel shelf/ or/and floor rattle ‘clunk-clunk’ noise when you go over any road surface imperfections or even expansion seams. It 100% was not there on the test drive or the drive home... was like a vault!

Any help or advice what has happened? It did have a set of the thick MINI rubber mats in the back weighing the floor down a bit, I installed them and noise came after...coincidence?
Any help from others with a similar ‘rattle in the rear cargo area’ and a fix would be appreciated.

Cheers!

It is the rear hatch latch. The adjustment is very precise to eliminate the rattle. The catch on the hatch bottoms out in the latch and causes the rattle. Your dealer can fix it. Mine was adjusted 5 times until it went away. Since then it's been great.

Thanks CHKMINI...That makes perfect sense, a not quite locked in place or loose latch is excatly what it sounds like.

I'll be heading to MINI for this adjustment as a rattle on a new 30K car kind of kills the new car buzz a bit!


Cheers.

You can do it yourself if you like.

Just open the hatch and turn the black rubber stopper looking things a slight bit to the left. That will "unscrew them" and provide a slightly larger gap between hatch and hatch lid.

I had the same issue and a few minutes of noodling - gone!

We adjusted the stoppers on mine but it wouldn't correct it....helped it though. They had to adjust the center latch position to eliminate my rattle.

My R58 did the same thing for the longest time, until I found a definite solution. It's a bit Mickey Mouse, but it works:

Grab about an inch of really good tape (I used electrical tape at first, and then replaced it with a bit of felt tape; hockey tape would work too), and wrap it around the striker on the hatch itself, where the latch would grab on to it. You're basically increasing its thickness, so that when the latch grabs on to the striker, the striker has no room to move around and clunk. It'll be silent motoring from there on out!

Trust me, it works!

I have had this issue since I was rear-ended in late October. Adjusting the rubber stoppers helped but over time it has recurred. The dealer finally agreed to replace the lock parts....back ordered and waiting for them to arrive by the end of the week. I'll let you know if the "clunk clunk" disappears. :eek:

Also had a vibrating rattle that turned out to be a loose rear spoiler that the dealer fixed with a new clip and felt backing.

Thanks ARTGUY, I adjusted the rubber stoppers last night after raeding your reply but to no avail.

We will have to have the latch looked at and adjusted by our MINI dealer ...Good news is she still loves the car, especially how much quicker it is on the highway than her 2010 non-S Clubman.

Thanks again...

Thanks Herby...well at least I know that its not just our car! No spoiler rattles on ours though..good look getting rattle free with yours.

Cheers-:thumbsup:

Thanks rosvick, I may well try this tonight as it will drive me insane until I find time to get it back to MINI!


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+1 on the felt tape thing. Mine had felt tape on it already when I bought it, and one day I decided to replace it because it was getting tattered. While I had it off for a few minutes I took it for a test drive and the noise you are describing was present.

After re-taping, I have to make sure I shut the hatch lid pretty hard or else the hatch-open warning blinks on my dash. One good push usually solves it.

hatch rattle
 

the tape thing is how my dealer mini of tampa bay fixed mine!

Using felt tape to fix a $40,000 new car?.....take it to the dealer and have them eliminate the rattle the right way....adjust the center latch. If the CEL light comes on I hope that you wouldn't accept them putting a piece of black electrical tape over the light to eliminate it :-) Just saying'

I agree completely with what you're saying. However, living three hours away from the nearest dealership, I can't just drop it off and have it back by the end of the day - I have to take an entire day off work just to get it serviced for anything. If there are any minor problems that crop up, I just fix them myself. It's just easier for me to do so.

Boot lock parts were replaced and the clunking is gone. Since the rattle from a loose rear spoiler has also been eliminated I can now look forward to more peaceful, relaxing motoring. Finally! :thumbsup:

Mine is in right now for the same issue (and noise around the windows). They are replacing the latch plate

Looks like a few more people here need some assistance in using the search function. This issue has been brought up and addressed many times over the many years it has been around.

The latch has not been addressed well by MINI for a long time. The latch was once chrome, a black one replaced it... many people have brought to the dealership multiple times and the dealer has not been able to fix it with replacements and everyone ends up taping.

I, too, had this same issue and used electrical tape to fix the issue. No more rattle sounds. Save yourself the frustration and just tape it. The rest of the car is great.

The Coupe has a different issue than the hatchback had. The Coupe bottoms out and all the tape and rubber adjusting is in vein. The lock, not the loop needs to be adjusted to eliminate the clunk. Search that!

Well, I don't feel the need to repeat myself, but coupe owners have given the same feedback.

Everyone says the tape works. My advice is to save yourself the frustration of fighting with the dealership and take the easy road, that's all.

My thought exactly! If it's a simple fix, it works, and it doesn't require a trip to the dealership, then I'm game for it!

In fact, I've fixed almost all the random rattles in my R58 so far, partly because I can't be bothered with repeat visits to the dealer for the same issue, and partly because my home dealer is three hours away!

Hope that window wind noise gets taken care of.....I know you have been having issues with that for quite some time now:no:

Right now, it is Day 5 in a loaner Countryman for me, while they're "replacing the window gasket..."

Ask if there is a mechanism in the door panel that adjusts the window as well.
This is how my dealer fixed the issue, had to remove the whole door panel to adjust it, no new gasket or any of that.

They told me the adjustments weren't enough - that's why the new gasket. The first one they got was too dense keeping the window from sealing properly.

Just to add to this, I found I had a rattle after getting the car washed at the dealership. I left, and was driving down the road doing "WTF?". Got home, popped the hatch, and it appears the car wash fella didn't put the partitions that hide the boot from being seen in through the window. Snapped everything back in place, and voila, noise gone. At least that one. :grin:

I've got some weird squeaking noise from over my left shoulder when driving, that I'm trying to track down...before I loose my mind and go medieval on it. :lol: