Immediately after driving away from the dealership after taking delivery of my new '05 MCS, I noticed a rub/thumb noise in time with wheel rotation, worse on cornering and braking to a stop, no effect of clutch in or out.

Turned out to be a brinnelled (pitted) front wheel bearing. Replaced and problem now solved.

Why would a new car have a defective wheel bearing?
1. Defect in manufacture?
2. Damaged in transit (how?)?
3. Bad seals with water entering bearing?

Any ideas?

 

Most likely defective during the bearing manufacturing or somehow damaged during the installation at the MINI factory are my guesses.

 

That was my thought too. Couldn't imagine how a few weeks on a boat then train could result in wheel bearing damage.

Interestingly, I shortened the story a bit. I acutally returned the car within 24 hours, and Mini thought the sound was coming from the left front wheel and replaced a pitted bearing while I waited (good service - wrong side!).

Since sound was still there I went back after the weekend and they replaced right front, solving the problem.

This implies damage to more than one bearing, but hopefully all is now well.

Thanks.

 

This is a bit strange... I just came home from my local dealership. I had to have a driver's rear bearing replaced. It's been making noises for a while... I was just about to do a search on bearings when on the latest topics I saw this thread. My service advisor said that bearings usually fail from either accidents or improper installation at the factory.

Here's my story:

I took the car into Crown this morning & five hours later I emerged with a new bearing on the driver's side rear. Under warranty. Only 4K left on it ... **doing a little dance** Normally these things happen to me two weeks AFTER the fact... LOL

In looking for a receipt for another purpose, I realized that I've been complaining about noises (grinding back then) from the rear since July - TWENTY thousand miles ago. I was told it was worn tires and/or maybe a stone under the brake pad in July - they recommended I rotate my tires & I did. I complained again about a noisy rear in November when I had a flat. They said my tires were getting worn and I should start thinking about new ones. Those were both visits to Towson - not my favorite place. Knauz in Chicago was my favorite, but Crown in Richmond has been really good so far (Throughout ownership I moved from Chicago to DC and now I'm in Richmond.)

I had even asked a friend to drive it, but he never heard anything except noisy tires. I felt like I was imagining things - that old XX chromosome car impairment problem.

When I had the car in at Crown last month for something else I told them I knew I needed new back tires (I had just put new fronts one). They told me "Yeah, it's really noisy back there." Well, after new tires it was still really noisy.

On my service visit this past week I asked them to look into the noise again. I was told it was brakes and then I let them know I already had plans to do the brakes the next day at a friend's anyhow...

Now some wrenching buddies (Chris, Adrian & Daniel) from the local MINI club (www.rivercityminis.org) entered the picture... and things finally started to get solved! They looked at my brakes & didn't think they were so bad, but the darn rotor lock screw was impossible to remove so we couldn't do the brakes. They all rode in the car and agreed the car was definitely making some bad noises. Adrian had driven first & told me, "Might be a bearing." We figured we'd try doing the brakes on Sunday first since I wanted to anyhow and if that didn't fix things, I'd have Crown go hunting down the bearing, etc. route.

I went back to Crown today (for an appointment unrelated to the brakes) and told the guy that I was getting a bit annoyed that I was being told "It's X. It's Y." I was beginning to wonder if they even drove the dang thing before proclaiming the "problem." I gave him the problem's history too & he mentioned that he'd heard some similar "not listening" complaints from former Towson customers.

Originally I had thought to wait on having Crown investigate & just have them break my rotors free. But then I decided that if the brakes weren't the culprit (which I didn't think they were), I didn't want to wait and then have an issue with them needing to order parts and me being car-less for the Dragon. I'm bound & determined to go to the dang thing this year as I've not been able to go before.

The service advisor was really nice about the whole thing and said he wanted me to take a cruise with a tech. (I had tried to get to talk to a tech at Towson, but they're very good at blocking your access there.) The tech drove it about 30 seconds before saying, "Yep, sounds like a bearing." Thank goodness somebody finally listened! :smile: I'm so glad I can trust the guys in my club to give good advice - they know what they have the tools to fix and what I should take to the dealership.

Up on the lift, with a stethoscope, it was determined to definitely be a bearing - in a sad, sad state. The tech said my friend was right - when that bearing finally went I'd be in big trouble if I was on the Dragon. Lucky for me, they had one in stock so I just ended up in the waiting room for five hours (oh, well - better than cliffdiving, though not nearly as exciting!). Thank goodness for Food TV.

In the end, it only cost me $22 to have the rotor screws broken free. The poor tech looked a little annoyed when he saw the stripped out screws we'd tried to get off, but he used (I believe) an impact driver (kind of a torque bit that he hammered in first) and an air gun to get them off. Took him about 10 seconds apiece! He put two fresh screws in the messed up ones and I ordered four fresh ones to keep in my MINI kit just in case.

So, I am golden! The Dragon is a GO. Roger! Go Dragon! I am AMAZED at how quiet my car is now. I guess it got louder so gradually that I didn't realize how LOUD it had really gotten or I would have been complaining much more forcefully.

I have learned one lesson though. Having an XX chromosome pair does not mean I don't know when my car's not right. I'm going to trust my own judgement a little more next time & try to get opinions that have some real experience behind them when I'm unsure. It's so nice to know people I can trust to steer me right in my local club and on NAM.

Oh, I have a July 12, 2002 build MCS - bought new with 46K on it now.

 

NekoWoman, I know what you mean...you wonder if you are imagining the noise. I actually made my MA get in the car and drive it, with me in the passenger's seat...that way if the service techs didn't hear anything, I had a witness!

Trust your instincts/judgement...whether XX or XY! Even after only 700 km in my MCS, I know better than anyone else how the car should sound!

 

What kind of noise does it make?

When I've got my front wheels up in the air and turn them, they'll make a slight grinding noise for part of the rotation.

Dealer said they couldn't hear it and someone else said that was normal.

Luke

 

The best way to listen for bearing noise with the wheel off the ground is to first pry the brake shoes away from the rotor, since they rest slightly against the rotor and will make a slight grinding or sliding sound. With this done, any sound coming from the rear axle will be from the bearing, any sound coming from the front can be from the bearing or the CV joints.

Bearing noise can sometimes be heard from inside the car with the windows rolled up, a sound similar to driving on a roughly paved road even when on the smoothest of roads.

On some cars (like mine), a sound not too different from squeaky sneakers can be heard at low speeds. In my case, it was the tires making a light 'squishing' sound against the rim. New tires and rims took care of that.

 

If you can pull the rear pads off the rotor when the caliper's still on the car, I commend you. I'd say take the time to remove the caliper, pads & rotor and then see if spinning the hub makes noises - it'll be an hour well spent and a mystery solved. Just don't forget to use an impact driver on the rotor lock screw or you'll possibly strip bits & the screw with a breaker bar & torque bit like we did.


The noise at first was a grinding (around 25K)... like a stone between the pads & rotor (awful noise) ...after things were ground to bits (I imagine), there was a period where I couldn't always hear it, but it just kept getting louder until it was much like the loudest tires you've ever heard - like a low "wa-wa-wa" kind of noise. It was not necessary to open the windows to hear it. Sounded a little different on low speed hard turns, but pretty much the same on curves of any speed. I couldn't FEEL any differences -- and I have had a dragging brake before on another car which I could hear & feel. There was no shake, shimmy or anything. The car was straight & true.

It was definitely a rotational noise, but didn't seem to be perfectly relational to speed like a dragging brake noise is. It was noticeable 100% of the time from about 35K on through 46K (fixed). Early on (27-25K) I'd think it was making it, then couldn't tell for sure. It got progressively louder as mileage wore on. The shop finally diagnosed it with a test drive & then a stethoscope up on the lift (at least that's what the Tech said he was going to do). It took 4 visits and two dealerships before they finally got it right so if you think something's wrong - bug 'em!

 

The MINIs use unitized hub-and-bearing assemblies, rather than two separate pieces. The hub and bearing are pressed together and are not serviceable separately. This is supposed to make for more consistent assemblies and easier car assembly and servicing over individual pieces because the hardest to perform and most error-prone part of the assembly (pressing the hub into the bearings) is a one-time, from-the-factory deal.

Well, that was the intent. Some things dont make it so well into practice.