'06 R53: What's causing the howling noise?
 

So, I've got an R53, 2006 with sun roof.

When getting up to speed (autobahn), it'll start to making this howling sound -- sometimes.

Sometimes, it starts at around 95 mph -- sometimes more, sometimes less. Sometimes not at all.

At first, I thought it was coming from the top of the windshield area. Now I'm thinking it's from up front, below the windshield.

What's causing it and, much more importantly, how do I mitigate it?

Under approximatly the same conditions, on a windy day, I noticed that the windsheild wipers tend to vibrate and make a screech that will scare the heck out of you the first few times it happens.

It's Blimey's screams of envy coming across the pond.

Could be wipers, could be cowl vent, could be the A-Pillar covers. I've heard of them making whistling noises when they're not fully on.

Blimey / Paul,

I said that it sounds like howling, not like a crying little girl.....

Wipers, vents, pillar covers -- things to check tonight at the house.

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BWAH HAH HAH!!!!

You mean old bully, you hurt my feelings.

I hope somethin flies off that ugly old black car. Somethin 'spensive.

:wink:

Could always strap one of the kids to the bonnet and have them adjust things while you drive at that speed until it goes away... which one do you like the least? I mean your kids, not MY kids...

Yeah - I've heard some comments about the seal around the windshield making noise...

My vote is the cowl vents. I got it one time going 75 into a 25 MPH headwind giving me an apparent wind speed of 100mph. I turned on my wipers and the sound did not change.

A little painters tape over the cowl vents would be a good test of this theory. :thumbsup:

Probably like a giant blowing over the top of a giant beer bottle...

If it makes a difference, mine makes the same noise at high speed. If you have not made your Mini howl, you have not been fully appreciating the cars capabilities!

Mine is caused by the windshield, and I suspect is has to do with the moulding and weather stripping around the windshield.

Gromit -- how did you confirm / deny that? Do you think it's the moulding / weather strip, or do you know it's the moulding / weather strip?

Mine too
 

My 05 MCS does this sometimes as well - Try putting the AC on recirc and see what happens - mine goes away if you do this. But I dont run at 90+ most of the time.

I actually tried the re-circulation trick yesterday -- no luck. I was doing about 110, though.

For me, success is being able to hold 110 or 120 without the howling (or hearing Blimey crying about it -- Bring it on, Paul, bring it on.... :lol:)

When it started howling, I could place my hand on various parts of the windshield, and push slightly from the inside, and the sound would change, or go away completely until I released my hand.

To me, that says weatherstripping or molding not fitting properly. Air possibly getting up under the molding, and creating a harmonic vibration.

Abu, check this thread. I'd read something about the A-pillar being a potential problem but hadn't had too many episodes personally.

I'm curious to know how/if you remedy this as I'll probably use your fix!

Cheers!!

Poppa Bear -- Yeah, I had skipped that thread because of the horrible subject line. That'll teach me, I suppose.

I've got some more research to do, and some more driving. It's a most curious problem, probably moreso for us here in the old country.

Dude, you're evil. And you're a crafty little bugger, too. Tormenting me this way. :mad:

By the way, Heroes season finale tonight... :)

Just start playing around with painter's tape - for the windshield, run a strip across the top to "seal" the joint between the windshield and the trim, and the trim and the roof...

At some point you're bound to find something that makes a difference. And each test is an excuse to drive triple digit speeds...

Abu, seems like you're one of many as I've found another thread with the same issue. Good luck!

Cheers!!

Sorry bro, that is me passing you! :wink::thumbsup:

As others have mention, painters tape is a good test for this. You can run this tape down various areas to see if you can deaden the noise. I have a howling noise at 90, but I know for a fact it is my tires. Those Dunlops are noisy buggers, but they do have pretty good traction.

I have the noise too, but my son was in the pass. seat and said it was the wiper vibrating. I think I'm going to try the tape idea to see if it is for sure. Thanks for the tip!

hm. my car never made a whistling noise but today while going at bout 60 mph my car was making a whistling noise coming from the windshield it seemed. there's too many tiny things wrong with my car. T.T able to live with it. but it bothers me sometimes. oh well.

You can hear it in the background, here.

hmmmmm... is it me or is that so called howling more like a horrible screech? Or perhaps the video is making the howl more pronounced? I've certainly never heard anything like that before. You should bring a passenger with you so they can feel around and listen to where the howl is coming from, I certainly wouldn't want you to be distracted trying to pinpoint a noise when you're doing a 100+ on the autobahn. :)

GotMINI

I have got the howl on my '06 from time to time. Seems to mostly come from going into the wind. I also noticed mine was coming after I opened the sunroof during the day and closed it. The last tme I got the howl I just opened the sunroof a little and closed it and the howl went away. I was still driving into the wind at speed.

It is a Factory's defect, but they won't fix it...
I got the same issue... An annoying noise after 70-90mph... It comes from the windshield. The dealer replaced the windshield (under warranty), but it didn't fix the isssue... Sorry about that, I have had to ignore it. Otherwise you'll have a hard tiem with the dealer...