Pretty inexpensive and easy fix for a piece of mind. Less than $125 for a complete front hub assy with the new bearing from MOOG (advance auto parts) and I can't see a difference between LF or RF. Hardest part is getting the 4 bolts out of the back with the CV joint boot being slightly in the way and over-coming the rust. A 2 hour job for the LF just did it this weekend.
Did it because the dealer told the boss it needed to be done and she told me that was 3 months ago (70K) but I couldn't hear anything. Did it, she's happy and when the boss is happy everybody is happy.

 

Hey everyone,
I believe my wheel bearings have finally gone as well. I recently past 100k (mcs 03) and just had my 2nd inspection done with no warning from the dealer about worn wheel bearings. I have no wiggle apparent and it's only the extremely loud road noise. It makes me nervous when I turn the wheel and the noise increases.
I have an apt with the dealer but I'm worried about driving in the mean time also a price after spending a pretty penny on my 2nd Inspection...Any thoughts?? Thanks

 

Mine is a 2015 with 37000 miles, i was told i had cupped tires so i went and got an alignment then spent $700 on tires to only pull out onto a freshly paved road to hear the noise just as loud. I should have asked for a refund but it was done, i am 2 hours from the closest mini dealer so i am taking a day off and going up next thursday would love for them to let me take a test drive in a new one, see if i hear any noise, then put those wheels on my car to see if i hear any noise since they tried to say by phone at a different dealer that i didn't get MINI approved tires...I got Michelins. Anywhoooo i will keep you guys posted.. But the noise itself sounds like i am driving a JEEP or 4x4. but the noise goes away when i take curves to the left. but gets louder with curves to the right.

 

Hi,

I've been hearing some sound coming from the mostly the diver's side wheel area. i didn't think this was big a deal until recently when I noticed that my driver's inside tire was worn out more than the right side. I thought that the sound was from the tires so I got all tires replaced. I also got an alignment done just in case. After the tires were changed and alignment done, the sound was still there. I did more digging and thought it might be the bearing. I just propped up my car and tested the wheel for some give, but there wasn't any in either direction, so I'm a little stuck.

The sound is kind of like a high pitch, and only gets louder the faster I go. It's hard to hear at low speed. I tried by best to capture the sound in the vid below. You can hear it starting around the 10 sec mark. I have a different exhaust on, so don't get confused by the lower sound.

Would this be a bearing issue?

 

Yes that is almost identical to my sounds i had, they replaced the hub and the axel and bearings under warranty and as soon as they did, it was all quiet after leaving the dealer.

 

TY!

I'm looking to purchase this Wheel Bearing and Hub Assembly. Any other recommendations?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...&condition=new

 

Get this. OEM and cheap!
http://www.autohausaz.com/pn/62BWKH01A

 

I agree with kayode above. Although I like Amazon you really don't know who is filling the order as to whatever else they sell. The price from autohausaz seems very reasonable and they are a good supplier.

Eugene being a newer model you could do the job pretty quick. Yes it does sound like a bearing.
Good luck.

 

Sounds good. Thank you both.

 

Found these at O'Reilly. Front and rear
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...d=hub+assembly

 

Why?... The OE I posted earlier is marginally more expensive and has been proven to be of OE quality or better.

 

Choices. Options. More than one way to skin a cat

 

Got my hub assemblies in the mail today. Going to get busy Monday morning to banish the roar to the depths of Hell

 

Well, finally did this after two weeks of procrastination. Here is my advice on the job. I spread the job over 2 days. My 03 R53 has 213K+ miles on the original hub assemblies. This is the first problem they have given me. I watched a YouTube video by Mod MINI before tackling to get an idea of what to expect. After all that time, there was some serious corrosion build-up. I would advise soaking all fasteners in a rust release penetrant. I personally like WD-40 Specialist Rust Release Penetrant. I used an impact drill also to remove some of the fasteners. Wobble extensions allow for easier fit in the tight spaces. Only the passenger rear hub was bad, but I did all four because the parts are not expensive and I do not plan on doing this again anytime soon. Take your time, be patient and all will go well.

 

I ran my '05 R50 for about a year before the noise finally got to me. No discernible looseness in the hub. Jacked up the car on either side to run the raised front wheel to figure out which side was bad. Ditto Bugeter on execution, it's a fairly straight forward job to do. My wrinkle was larger wheel studs were needed than supplied but the supplier changed the hub without objection must have been a mid year upgrade in production. Its not an uncommon problem, my Mini had about 50,000kms which is annoyingly early but I also have '10 cobalt with the whirring and I had a Sunfire with it, before a tree fell on it and totaled the car. I the old days one had to repack taper roller bearings on a regular basis but maintenance costs and production costs have eliminated those.