We recently began hearing an odd noise at low speeds when driving our 2007 MINI Cooper. It was sort of an odd pulsating sound and we couldn't identify from where it came. After a while of this, we finally checked the rear tires and there was significant where on both tires and we had cord showing on the driver's rear tire. This was mostly on the outside edge of the tire and it was intermittently spaced.

We went to our tire shop and got the rear tires replaced. They reported to us that the rear strut on the driver's side had failed and caused the wear. They advised us to replace both struts. They then quoted $800 for the repair. We said thanks for the information, paid for our tires and left.

My father-in-law trusts this shop, but I rarely spend that kind of money without doing additional research on the issue and/or getting a second opinion. So I took it to another shop to get their opinion. They said that they didn't see any oil leakage from the strut, but their technician said it felt bouncy and probably needed new struts. Needless to say, I was less than confident on this response. We thanked them for their advice and left. On a positive note, they didn't charge for their diagnosis.

Anyway, since we had the tires changed, the odd pulsating sound has gone away and the car handles much better. I have checked the struts for oil leakage personally and have found no evidence of a leak. Yet, I still have doubts, so I call the MINI dealership.

I repeated my story so far to the service rep at the dealership and he was skeptical of replacing the struts. While he said he could replace the struts, he would feel better if I were to schedule an appointment for the MINI to be looked at by their techs to confirm if this were necessary. So, we have an appointment on Wednesday for them to do an evaluation. This will most likely be a minimum of $100 for them to evaluate the car and I know their quote will be much higher than the local shop.

So at this point, I have a few questions:

1). Based on the above, do I need new struts?

2). If not, what else would have caused the tire wear and noise?

3). If I do need to replace the struts, Is this something I should do my self?

As for Question #3, I've read k-huevo's post and it seems straight forward. I have a friend who would help and I think between the two of us, we could do this. So I'm mainly wondering how well this has gone for others

 

The noise would be from the uneven tire wear.

The wear is probably due to worn struts. It could also be due to a loose connection of some kind (a bad bushing, a worn ball joint, a broken part) but is IMHO more likely to be from a worn strut.

Not all dead struts leak. Some of them wear or fail internally, and that makes them feel soft without necessarily leaking fluid.

I don't have any experience on working on the MINI (yet!), but changing struts is a reasonable DIY job on many or most cars.

 

To add to Felines response, the OEM struts are weak and don't have enough damping from the factory to begin with.
You'll be very much impressed on the ride and responsiveness when you switch to a sport-oriented strut / shock package from vendors like Koni, Bilstein, or H&R.

- Erik

 

Replacing the rear shocks is pretty easy. If you opt for Koni's you need to enlarge the hole in the spring hat. Stock shocks are super easy.

 

We're talking rear so these are shocks, not struts which are on the front (no ball joints either). Having tires close to failure (cords showing) will definitely cause NVH. The question is what caused this kind of wear? Taking it to the dealer is probably not a bad idea since they can inspect the condition of the shocks, bushings, trailing arms, control arms, alignment/camber, etc.

 

Since there is negative camber on the rear wheels I would suspect alignment in addition to anything else that is wrong. Has the car ever been in an accident?

A set of Koni Sport shocks or Koni FDS shocks will make a world of difference in the ride and handling. Do yourself a favor and replace all four (two struts in front, two shocks in rear).

 

Unless your car has really low mileage or has had the struts and shocks replaced recently I'd recommend you change both Front and Rear to maintain balance.

I would also recommend the you consider KONI or Bilstein's. Much better than stock and only a few dollars more at around $700 per set when OEM are about $500. I would also consider doing IE fixed camber plates at the same time.

Just my 2¢

 

FYI... I replaced the rear struts with Bilsteins. The MINI rides much better. Thanks for all the great feedback.