Our new (7000 miles) CM all four has started to make a pulsating ticking sound that seems to be coming from the left front wheel. You can hear it from about 30 mph or higher, and it varies with road speed, not engine speed. it is not that loud, but it is definitely noticeable. The sound does not change if the brakes are applied. I am thinking that it is a wheel or axle bearing, or perhaps an antilock brake sensor. Any ideas? Has anyone else here had the same problem?

 

Have you checked the tire? Look for a nail head or bolt in tread. just a thought.

 

Or a piece of gravel in the tire tread will do the same thing.

 

Thanks for responding. Good ideas, but perhaps I misdescribed the sound when I mentioned ticking. It's probably more like a pulsating metal rubbing against metal sound rather than ticking. And I noticed today it seems to slowly be getting louder. I was thinking that it might be that some dirt got into the brakes, but the noise doesn't change when the brakes are applied, so I don't think it has anything to do with the brakes.

I made an appointment with the dealer. Unfortunately they are booked for more than a week.

 

Yes, I have probably the same noise. '13 CM 7000 miles. Please post up what they find so I can be more exact when I schedule my service appointment.

 

Only thing I can think of would be a wheel bearing. Odd that it would fail so quickly though. Youtube some videos to see if what you're hearing sounds the same.

 

Will do. I have an appointment for Thursday.

 

It does not sound like a wheel bearing. In my experience wheel bearing noises will change either when you apply the brakes or take a curve, which changes the forces being put on the bearing. I am now thinking that perhaps it is a CV joint. Hope it is not something in the transmission or the final drive. I will try to post the noise.

 

Wyoracer, no results on our car yet. The good news is the dealer hears the noise (I was concerned that they were going to try to blow us off by telling us that there is nothing wrong) but the not so good news is that they still have it as they are still trying to figure out what the noise is. At least they gave us a loaner… It's the same car as ours except it does not have nav and keyless entry.

 

A couple of notes on the loaner car.

If I had it to do all over again, I would order 17 inch wheels rather than the 18's that we have. I think the 17s handle just as well as the 18's and the ride with the run flats is noticeably less objectionable with the 17's versus the 18's. In addition, you can get all season tires factory installed.

The loaner car also does not have the xenon lights that our car does, and the xenons are worth every penny...huge difference.

We have the Harman Kardon radio upgrade in our car, and the loaner does not, but the standard radio sounds better than I remembered.

 

Wyoracer, I spoke to the Dealers service manager late today. They are still trying to diagnose the problem, so we will not be getting the car back until at least next week.

He told me they are, at Mini's suggestion, removing specific parts and then driving the car to see if the noise is gone.

But what surprises me is that given that the noise appears to be so clearly related to road speed (for example, the speed of the tapping noise seems to be exactly 50% faster at 45 mph versus 30 mph) he mentioned that Mini had them try removing the grill and also the license plate bracket.

I am not expert, and they certainly know their cars far better than I do, but I wonder if they are first checking for potential issues that can be checked with little labor expense...before they start to look at items that would be very costly to remove and inspect...like the front axle, front diff, transmission, transfer case, etc.

Also, given that they have been manufacturing the same car for several model years pretty much unchanged, one would think that we would be far from the first owners to be experiencing this, and that they would recognize the noise right away.

Or perhaps they do have an inkling that it's something expensive, and want to rule out the inexpensive fixes first.

In any event I will keep you updated.

 

Yes keep us posted... I am very curious to hear what it is.. Good luck!!

 

Hey Wyoracer, given that you seem to be hearing the same noise as us and you have just about the same mileage on the car as we do, we were wondering if your car was built at the same time ours was.

Ours was built the first week of December. When was yours built? We were thinking perhaps BMW purchased a bad batch of some component from one of their suppliers.

Also, which transmission does your car have? Ours is an automatic.

 

The dealer called us on this again a few minutes ago with an update. Sounds like they are now thinking that the noise is something in the powertrain given that it varies by road speed. He specifically mentioned possibly a bearing or the transmission. They said they have their most experienced technician on it, and he has emailed BMW for more suggestions as to what to check.

 

We heard from the dealer again. Mini told them they think it might be an antilock brake sensor.

That makes a lot of sense. Note my original post at the top of this thread… I thought that might be it. In my limited experience I have not heard what a bad sensor sounds like, but I did think what I was hearing was similar to what other people have described.

Mini told the dealer the fix is to update the software, and the dealer told us that takes eight hours! Must be an exceptionally slow interface

Hopefully they have found the problem, and we will get our car back soon.

 

They now believe the problem is a wheel bearing, and have ordered a replacement.

 

The noise was caused by a hairline crack in one of the front wheel bearings. They replaced the wheel bearing and the noise is gone. Even though the noise did not sound like much, I am glad we got it repaired. It was clear that it was gradually getting worse, and if we did not have it looked at, I would think it could've led to a catastrophic failure at some point down the road.

 

Glad you got this sorted! Cracked wheel bearing...interesting...