Well, long story short, I went sideways into a curb in a tiny traffic circle at about 20mph. Banged the shizzle out of the wheels, no visible 'bends' in the wheels, but I damaged the struts and control arms on the passenger side. Zero body damage. Front & rear passenger wheels took the entire impact.

My Mini dealership identified and replaced the damaged suspension components on the passenger side, and the two S-lites.

It's been about 2 weeks since getting the Batmini back, and within 2 days of getting it I identified a noise, and I've been trying to isolate the specifics of it ever since... Tonight I was able to tinker around on a highway and isolate more things which may help... well, other people and maybe my dealership mechanics, isolate the problem.

Traits of the noise:
-Slow, droning noise & vibration ONLY between ~71mph and 82mph.
-- Over or under those speeds noise completely dissapears.

-It's somewhat like 'road noise' from a road, but it's a slow deep vibration lasting about half a second, once every second.

- It's 100% definitely coming from the front left of the car.
-- Passengers cannot hear this noise.
-- Had wife lean over me while driving, and she was able to hear it.
-- Lean back, noise lessens... Lean over steering wheel, noise gets louder.

-With the clutch in, and still within the speed stated, the noise will continue until dropping below 70mph.

-In a straight line, noise is as above. About a halfsecond vibration, once a second.
-Turn right, while still @ speed, noise dissapears.
-Turn left, while still @ speed, noise doubles loudness & speed. Instead of once second, becomes two or more per second.

Because the clutch can be all the way in, I doubt it has anything to do with the drivetrain. This is furthered by the fact that turning increases or reduces the noise. The only theory to debunk this, is if it may be in a component like the transmission, and at a resonating frequency (71-82mph) a loose mount may relay the vibration.

I'm thinking it could be the wheel, axel, brake component...??? Actually, I really have no clue what it could be, since the car seems fine at all other speeds. The only thing I know for sure are the above symptoms, and that my car did not do this before the incident.

Any ideas?

 

I'm no mechanic but it sounds like it could be a wheel bearing issue.

 

^^^ wat he said.

 

On the passenger or driver side? Also while it's obvious wheels have bearings somewhere, I've no idea where or how it could cause an issue like this. Could you elaborate?

 

Hey Mr. Wagnbat.. you may want to make sure that the wheels are balanced perfectly - did you also use the same tires, it's possible you could have a broken belt in the runflat.

 

Perhaps this will help:
http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doity...h_bearing1.htm

I can't personally tell you how to be certain, but I have heard of similar sounding noises being related to worn/damaged wheels bearings. I had wheel bearings replaces on the E46 years ago but cannot for the life of me remember the exact symptoms at this moment.

 

It sounds like a wheel bearing to me. Could be on either side. If it is it will get worse and need replacing. I had a similar sound. It started like yours. Hard to tell what it was only happened within a 10mph window. Gradually the speed that the noise started became less and less. It also got louder and I could tell it was definetly on the left. Replaced the wheel bearing and haven't heard it since. It happened at about 10,000 miles and was replaced under warranty.

$ .02

Good Luck

cb

 

2 reputable Mini service centers have replied as well, leaning towards the 'wheel bearings'. One has advised I change the LF and LR wheels, and see if the noise moves before bringing it in for service. Good guidance I think...

Will post results after getting it back from the shop.

Thanks for the replies all... I wouldn't have been able to figure it out on my own...

 

had the same curb thing and noise after repair, and yup... was the wheel bearing.

 

If it gets your wife to lean over you while cruising at 80, it's not a defect, it's a feature!!!

 

"honey.. could you please pass me my beverage... "

 

Well, the car is still in the shop (6+ days now) and my SA (who's very knowledgeable) still can't figure it out. His top mechanic is out, so he has to pretty much rely on the reluctant bmw guys for a hand, and I guess they're not making the cut.

He says he's replaced the driveshaft, wheel bearings, and changed out the wheels, and the sound will not go away. Asked for permission to take it home and throw it on his lift tonight, and I agreed... Yes because it may help, and I trust him... But I don't know if it will be enough to solve the problem.

Anyone else have any other ideas?

 

They need to bump it up for a MINIUSA rep to come and see it. When I had suspension problems, Sterling made an appt for me on the exact day the Regional Rep was in town JUST to see the car. And it worked. Bump it up.

 

No other ideas of what it could be anyone?

 

Dealer figured it out.

Wheel bearing. BUT... Not on the drivers side, where the noise & vibration is. SA says 5 BMW techs were stumped, because after seeing the symptoms themselves, they all agreed the part was on the drivers side... But after replacing all the components on the driver's side, and the driveshaft... They then started replacing passenger side components, and fixed it. Rear right wheel bearing.

How does a right rear make the left front vibrate at a reasonant speed? I have no friggen clue.

 

uhmmm.. dunno.. maybe Bruce Wayne the BearingWhisperer can tell you.

Glad it's fixed! BatMINI was looking very sad behind the quarantine fence on Saturday.

 

I was gonna post on this, but in post number 12 when you said wheel bearings, I took it to mean the wheel bearing on each side, that is both wheel bearings.

I recently replaced wheel bearings (both sides). The noise was at first similar to a noise that I had when I had scalloped my tires. Since I'd recently come to the end of the life of my most recent tires, I thought that's what it was again. It seemed to be coming more from the passenger side.

I put on new wheels and tires and the noise was still there. Headed to North Carolina from PA. The noise got worse as I drove. I could feel a very slight vibration in the lower portion of the steering wheel and in the gas pedal. Noise got much worse, again, sounded like it was coming from the right.

The morning after I got to North Carolina, I jacked up my car and found there to be lots of play in the driver's side front wheel. It hadn't been there when I left. It was a Saturday, I was hours from any dealer and I called a MINI racer that I know and she gave me the name of a fellow who used to work at Flow MINI and had started his own shop.

Thank you Dan Zipkin!! He happened to have a used wheel bearing at his shop and brought it to me and put it on my car!!! What kind of service is that?!? Awesome!

O.K., so back to the original topic. We replace the bearing, and there is still the same noise, only less intense and seems like it's coming from the driver's side. Still sounds like a wheel bearing. But, I had no play in any wheel. More than likely I wasn't going to lose a wheel as I continued in my weekend's activities, but I didn't want to drive 500 miles home, knowing something like that was wrong, so I went into Dan's shop on Monday.

Got the car on the lift and with the use of a stethoscope identified that this time it was the passenger side wheel bearing, though the noise was from the driver side.

So, in the case of each wheel bearing the noise came from the opposite side. Very interesting. I suspected it to be your problem, but thought you'd done both sides.

While I have your attention, I'd like to again give kudos to Dan Zipkin for his superb help. He's located in the Lexington/High Point area of North Carolina. He went above and beyond to help me. He also helped me to identify some other maintenance issues that I subsequently had taken care of by my own shop, Helix in Philly. They were front control arm bushings (I'd heard a noise, which Dan quickly identified). He also noticed, in looking at the areas most prone to wear, that there was moisture on the dampener of the supercharger belt tensioner assembly. Very observant! I should note that I have 60,000 miles on the car with about 60 track days.

If anyone would like Dan's info, it's Grassroots Garage, 336-972-4596.

Glad you got everything figured out.