i have a 2002 cooper nos-s. i get a vibration throughout my car when i go 50 mph and higher. it is more like a pulsating vibration that is very annoying and really concerns me. it has been like this for about six months now. i know its not the wheels/tires because i put a new set of rims and tires and still have the issue. any help please?

 

How many miles on your MINI? Does it vibrate under acceleration or all the time? Do you feel it in the steering wheel or in the car itself?

 

i have about 48k miles on the car right now. it vibrates at specifically 50 mph to 70 mph only. i do feel it in the steering wheel, vibration that is. i have no lowering springs just factory height. it is weird that only starts at 50 mph and the fact that it has been like this for 6 months now after i put roughly 5k miles on it so far.

 

If you're feeling it in the wheel at those speeds it could be something as easy as re-balancing your tires Sometimes wheel wieghts fall off or just move a bit. I would start there first.

 

i had the problem with my stock tires then i went to aftermarket rims and tires. as soon as i installed them i have had the very same problem. the question is why precisely at 50 mph everytime i get the same issue?

 

do you have aftermarket wheels? if so did you get hubcentric rings for them?

 

yes i did get the hubcentric rings. i am going to look at the engine mounts because from other forum questions, others had focused on that as being the problem.

 

Typically, vibration from 50 to 70 is tire/wheel related particularly if you feel it in the steering wheel. It may be a pain, but I would switch out wheels and tires with another MINI and see if the vibration goes away before doing anything else. Doing so would at least isolate the problem before spending more time and money.

 

i don't really have access to another mini. i do have the original set but i had the exact same problem with those wheels. i looked over the mounts and wheels bearings and everything checked good. what are the odds i have the exact same problem with the aftermarket wheels? also what future damage will i cause to my mini?

 

Anything interesting happen to the car just before you first noticed this vibration? Do you notice the vibration more during acceleration? If no to both questions, and we assume its not in the tires/wheels, you could have bad wheel bearings. (front wheel) If you notice it more during acceleration, it is more likely CV joints.

 

i bought the car used with a clean carfax report. so pretty much since i bought it, it had the vibration. the vibration i get starts at 50 mph but none prior to that; just at 50 mph. i checked the bearings by trying to move the tires in and out but they were solid. once again the vibrations start at 50 mph but nothing from accelerating to that speed no matter what gear i am at or rpm not even up or down hills.

 

Most collissions do not appear on CarFax reports unless the bodyshop is connected to a dealership that reports to them. The only damage CarFax will always report is where the state motor vehicle department has totaled the car per insurance industry policy. This would include repair costs beyond the fair market value as well as smoke and water damage.

If the car did have an accident, one or the other wheel shaft could have been "tweaked" coming out of true or out of balance.

Bearings can go bad without getting loose. If they are really bad, you might feel some grinding when you push on the wheels while you are turning them. The only way to tell for certain is to remove them, wash them and spin them in their race to check for any "catching". Don't try this unless you've already cleaned and repacked bearings in the past. You can do more harm than good if you don't have the "feel" for tightening them back on.

Unfortunately, the previous owner may have sold because they couldn't sort out the problem either. Take it to a dealer if its still in warranty or a good community auto shop if not.

 

What happens to the vibration if you take your MINI to 60-65 and either put the car in neutral or push the clutch in? If it continues to vibrate and the tire/wheels have been eliminated from the cause, then I agree it is likely a bearing issue, either wheel or axle bearing. If it stops vibrating, it's likely a drivetrain issue.

 

i will look into that. i was hoping it was something easy. thanks for your help guys.

 

Whenever I have a wheel go out of balance, it seems normal to me to have like "harmonic" frequencies-vibration is worse at exactly certain speeds. It could be that the person balancing or the equipment they used didn't do a good enough job. A bad tire is also a possibility.

Can you jack each wheel up and spin it-check for whether it's turning true? Wouldn't take much wobble to be felt.

CV joints are a possibility.

 

I have had to replace both left side wheel hubs due to vibrations, two months apart. Mine started about 35mph. The left rear was easy to isolate, I just hand spun the wheel and you could feel it. The left front was a bit more difficult, I eventually removed the calipher and hand spun the wheel and could detect just slightest drag. Both are easy to replace, about $180 each. '02s are starting to show this issue.

....Les