Last week I hit a speed bump (wider than ave speed bump, but about as high) going a little too fast since I didn't see it. The bump was on an unlit portion of the down sloping exit to Universal Studios Hollywood.

Since then, I have been paranoid listening to every rattle and awkward noise for any signs of damage. I think I finally found one, but it might just be paranoia...

Sounds like road noise, but it starts at about 30mph, and gets louder in relation to speed, independent of engine RPM, braking, or acceleration.

- I originally thought it was just the tires, I have 17" Dunlop runflats on S-Lites and know they are prone. Tires are pretty new, only a couple thousand miles on them. I've just never heard road noise this loud in my (or any other, for that matter) car, so I want to make sure it's nothing more serious.

After doing some searching, it seems like it could be a wheel bearing, maybe a CV joint? One thread with a similar description said it was the transaxle , but the 6-speed isn't showing any other weird symptoms.

Anyone have an idea of what a too-fast (40-55mph) speed bump pass might do to my poor Cooper S' suspension/steering bits to cause this?

 

Kinda sounds like a wheel bearing to me. If it starts getting louder as you put more miles on it, I would definitely say that it's probably a wheel bearing.

I've had a bad wheel bearing and you could start hearing it at 30mph as you stated. As it gets worse, it will start to get louder. It is possible to hurt a bearing by hitting a bump unexpectedly....

With all that said, I would wait a while and see if the noise becomes more pronounced. It's entirely possible that you've spent so much time looking for noise that you're just worrying over normal road noise. You will know that something is wrong with the bearing if it gets louder than any normal road noise.

 

I noticed the noise on friday, but it wasn't too bad. Last night was the first time I felt like it was a lot louder than just road noise, which is why I decided to finally reach out to all you knowledgeable folks so eager to help

(Thanks for the quick response... btw)


I'm tempted to give it a little more time to see if it stays constant or gets worse... but is this something that will most likely just keep getting louder, or will it catastrophically lock up while I'm on a freeway without warning?

 

It will keep getting louder. I'm not sure what happens when one fails on a MINI, but I've read some horror stories about it on other cars. When mine went, I had no idea what the noise was and it took me a month or two before I got it fixed. It kept getting louder and louder until I was absolutely sure that it wasn't just the new snow tires I had installed.

 

That Kinda sounds like mine. Is yours intermittent? I just posted this today:

Vibration - sounds like rumble strips! 02 MCS
This is an intermittant sound only. Can't feel any vibration. All of a sudden it will sound like running over rumble strips for about 5 -30 seconds. It can be going straight or cornering either direction. Pressing the clutch in doesn't affect it. Pressing brakes doesn't affect it. Turning off the Traction control doesn't affect it.

Seems to be coming from the right front, but it's hard to tell on a sound. Tires and brakes look fine. Local shop said that if some of the tires have Nitrogen and some have air that this can happen. He said Run flats should only use Nitrogen? So I thought I'd try that first.

Any other Ideas. Does this sound like a motor mount problem? I read a lot of info on here about the mounts going bad and it seems like that is more like a knock that can be felt.

Thanks

 

Mine wasn't intermittent...it was constant and only varied due to speed (louder and more often as speed gets higher)

 

I read your post, but mine's a little bit different. It's more of a constant low-pitched whine or humming noise. And above 30mph, it's always there (gets louder in relation to road speed).

I really have no idea what yours could be if it just occurs at random. Does it only happen at certain RPM's or under heavy/partial throttle?

 

Throttle and RPM make no difference on mine.

We'll figure it out sooner or later. I'm going to subscribe to your post too as I'm intersted in how it turns out.

Good Luck.

 

Could it be a bent rim or the tires out of balance? You could have knocked off a balancing weight with the jar. That would cause speed dependent noise and vibration.

 

Bent rim is a good guess. The runflats transmit almost all of the road shock to the wheel, and it could've been enough to knock it slightly out of round. Maybe jack the car up (use jackstands and a wheel chock!), stick it in third or fourth gear and watch it spin. Might see a wobble.
Those wheel bearings on the front of the MINI are pretty darned stout units. It would take a serious whack to do some damage.
-skip-

 

Bolts seemed tight, rim looked okay, so i took it to Steve's auto clinic. We went for a quick ride and he agreed that it is a bad wheel bearing. After making some quick turns to see if it was louder with the car's weight on either side, it looks to be the driver's front wheel that's causing the noise.

New hub will be in on tuesday, so the MINI is parked until then. With this wonderful weather, the motorcycle will do just fine in the meantime.

 

i did a LF wheel bearing replacement @ about 85k and the symptoms are pretty much exactly as you describe

my theory is that the bump made your senses more acute (paranoia and contrition - a combination i know well) and now you have found a problem before it became serious...

of course i could be dung infested too...

 

the fact that a bump or w/e makes so many of us mini drivers so paranoid tells me something about the mini

 

Took it to Steve's Auto Clinic this week, turned out to be the front driver's side wheel bearing. Replaced and everything seems fine once again...