This post isn't a problem of concern, just an observation.

Just curious if anyone else experiences a slight harmonic type vibration while driving in heavy rain. My 02 "S" picks up a strange vibration throughout the chassis when I'm driving on roads with maybe 1/8" of standing water at around 30-40MPH. I haven't noticed it at 60-80.

I'm the original owner, the car has never been wrecked. I have gone through 4 different brands of tires, (or tyres for our friends in the UK). The car has had a 4 wheel alignment. I've turned the traction control on/off. Either way its still there.

95,000 mile going strong....very few problems. As happy today, as the day I bought it. My cars resume' includes 2 punishing days on the race track days while it was still in diapers! Every MINI "S" owner should experience their car's real capabilities on the race track! Do a driving school if you don't have road racing (track) experience.

 

Great timing. We had a local MINI with 90K hard miles come in with a similar issue. Since we had already changed out the front control rear bushing we knew that was not the issue. We checked the wheel bearing, they were fine. Really couldn't nail it down. A few weeks later they got a tax refund and had us install IE front camber plates, new OEM Struts and TSW Springs. Once we removed the old parts we began to find the issues.
1, the struts were toast.
2, the OEM Top Plate bearing was toast too.
After installing the new parts the issues were gone.

With 95K you have 4 issues to check out,
Front Control Arm Bushings
Front Hub Bearing
Struts
Top Hat/Plate bearing

The control arm bushing is something you can get a visual inspection on and the front hub is easy to, just jack up the front and spin the tire and listen for metal on metal. The others need to be removed to know for sure.

 

This may sound a bit odd...

There have been cases where certain wheels hold some water on the wheel rim and that would change the balance. At a higher speed the water was tossed out and the vibration stopped. How to test for this...beyond my abilities..

 

Thanks for the tech tips. I'll check them out.

Regarding different types of wheels. I run both my MINI lights stock 17" rims and my MINI 17" BBS rims. Both have the same result.

Regarding the worn parts. Very well could be. I have slight mushroom and a crack in the rubber mount. Although I think I've had the issue from day one.
I definitely need to work on the well taxed suspension.

Happy Easter!

 

Being OEM wheels you can discount the water buildup theory. If it was a problem we'd of heard of a lot more issues.