Okay, I searched like a good MCO member - and found some topics similar but not quite. Whenever I have the steering wheel turned all the way (both left or right) and I begin to move in reverse or forward. (ie - to park or making a tight turning radius) there is kind of a 'chirping' squeak. Kind of like rubber soles on a basketball court. Any thoughts on what this might be? (I have 16 in. wheels).

 

Do you have a MC or MCS?[LIST]

 

it's an 03 MC

 

Its because one wheel is spinning more then the other when u turn. The outter wheel must travel a further distance than the inner one and since the MINI doesnt have a limited slip differential (something like that) one wheel will have to slip and break loose which gives your little chirp.

 

>>Its because one wheel is spinning more then the other when u turn. The outter wheel must travel a further distance than the inner one and since the MINI doesnt have a limited slip differential (something like that) one wheel will have to slip and break loose which gives your little chirp.

This is incorrect. What you have described is what may happen if she had a limited-slip differential.

It is true that the outer wheel must travel more distance than the inner wheel during a turn. That is why the differential exists. The MINI has an open differential to allow this to happen (as do most other cars). An open differential will not result in any tire chirping or scrubbing on tight turns.

What an open differential also means is that your car is basically one-wheel-drive. If you have one front wheel on ice and one on dry pavement, the open diff will direct all the power to the wheel that is on ice which will spin while the wheel on dry pavement that has good traction will not get any power. Therefore, you will go nowhere.

(The traction control works with this principle by applying the brakes to the spinning wheel if necessary which has the effect of routing the power to the other wheel which hopefully has better traction).

This limitation will be readily apparent to anyone who has autocrossed their MINI and found that their inside front wheel just spins and spins when attempting to power out of a tight turn :smile:

A limited-slip differential mitigates some of this behavior by allowing a certain amount of slip (so you can still turn) while also making sure that power is always directed to both drive wheels so that even if only one wheel has traction, you can still get moving. This could result in some slight scuffing of the tires on really tight turns *in theory* but nightowl hasn't said whether her car is equipped with a limited-slip differential.

Finally you can go all the way (useful for 4x4s) and have a locking differential which routes power always equally between both drive wheels which is useful for powering out of mud and such but makes turning a bit of a challenge! If you attempt a turn with a locked differential you will get a lot of chirping and scuffing protest from the tires. Which is why vehicles equipped with locking differentials have a switch to turn the locker on and off.

So if nightowl's car does not have a limited slip differential, I'm not sure what would be causing the chirping noise she is hearing. Perhaps the tires are rubbing on something under the car or perhaps it's just noise made by the power steering pump -- they tend to get noisy when you hold the wheel at full lock.

 

All this talk about diffs is fine, but I have an 03 MCS with the stock (open) diff and I also often get chirps at full lock at low speeds. Seems to happen mostly in parking garages (that smooth concrete floor). It seems to be happening more often now than it used to.

 

>>All this talk about diffs is fine, but I have an 03 MCS with the stock (open) diff and I also often get chirps at full lock at low speeds. Seems to happen mostly in parking garages (that smooth concrete floor). It seems to be happening more often now than it used to.

Yeah chirping in parking garages is common, but it's not because of the diff. It's because the tires tend to slide a little (at extremely low speeds even) on that smooth concrete surface when turning. It's not very grippy.

 

Ok then i'm wrong with the diff stuff but i thought the chirp is from one wheel spinning more than the other cuz i get it sometimes... *shrugs*

 

Okay, i have the sport pack on the MC if that at all means anything. Besides that there is nothing special going on with it. i was just wondering if anyone else had been experiencing this and if it was something i should have checked right off. Or, if it could wait till my 10.000 service. (Besides that it's kind of embarrassing that my paraelle parking can be quite chirpy)...

 

I had the exact same noise. Sounds like the classic bad CV joint "snik" or "click" or "chirp". Only happened when starting off in first or reverse.
Put two new driveshafts in and it solved the noise on the passenger side but not the drivers side. Finally traced to a bad wheel bearing in the drivers side. It was a bugger to diagnose but MINI of Peabody did a stellar job as usual.
BTW, the noise turned up around 27,000 miles.

 

At full wheel lock left or right you will here the power steering pump chirp. To determine if this is what you are hearing, bounce the steering wheel back and forth against the wheel stop at full turn.

 

In my 03 MC I can easily duplicate this chirping behavior. When I come home into my carport it sounds like I am sliding into the spot at incredible speeds. Even without moving forward or backward the tires just don't have the grip on the smooth surface. The power steering pump is noisy, but nothing like the distinctive sound of rubber squeeling. I'd guess it's just on certain surfaces, or while moving slowly.