OK... I give up! I need some insight! :impatient :impatient :impatient PLEASE!!!!

What is the deal with the squeaks and rattles????

My company car, 03' Ford Taurus, which I have beat to death is as quiet as a locked vault compared to this car.

Last night I went around the interior and jam areas with torx wrenches and screwdrivers; and tightened up all bolts and screws I could see...Which wasn't many....
Today I take it for a test drive... It does not sound like it helped!, at all!!

I have squeaks and rattles coming from everywhere. The door panels when you grab them, the dash when you push on it, the seats when nobody is sitting in them, the front part of the sun roof when it is not cracked open or you dont pull on the front of it.. if the road is not butter smooth....they are Everywhere!!!!

I am notoriously very bummed on this since my very first car in 87'.

Does anyone else have this problem??? Or is this just my car.. er' I mean "my wifes car", or is this a typical MINI thing that I just need to accept for having the funnest car that we have ever owned???? I mean come on, this is built by BMW?? My buddy's 73 2002tii was tighter than this! And that was in 91' when it was 18 yrs old!!! After we cut the top off!!??, WOOPS... who would of known how cool that car was to be???

Has there ever been anything posted that shows a... say.... 30k miles "tighten up interior procedure"??? Or just points to look out for???

My car just came out of warranty so this is something I would like to take care of my own. At the final warranty appointment I had the rear hatch "D" bracket replaced, it helped...but it seems that everytime I get in my MINI I have a new squeak or rattle.

This is driving me crazy.....

Please help before my wife calls the shrink on me......

BTW the car is a 03' MCS JCW (custom sig to come)

Thanks, Jasun (I feel better now)...

 

Squeeks and rattles are common in MINIs. MINI actually has a "anti-rattle" kit they install into cars upon request due to dash rattles. This is what happens with so much plastic.

 

For a while, I had an annoying rattling from the hatch. It cleared up once I tightened all the fasteners in the hatch area (you'll notice that there are about 4-6 screws that you can tighten up in the interior hatch area). There are also adjustable rubber stops on the hatch itself that can tighten up the fit between the hatch and body... it may help to tweak those.

I have a 2003 MINI Cooper S with about 28,000 miles on it, and the hatch was the source of the majority of the rattles (or maybe I'm just masking the other rattle sources with my loud exhaust!).

Hope this helps...

 

My 02 cooper was like that...uhhggg!! I hated it, I traded it and got an 05 , knock on wood, no problems yet, 25,000 mi.

 

Today, I have started to notice a rattle in my dash, it only seems to happen in the 2100 to 2300 rpm range though , I just recieved my jcw intake so when I get this installed I will see if they can fix the rattle as well

 

I get a squeaky kind of sound when I go over a driveway apron at an angle and the car rocks a bit and then recovers. It's the weirdest thing, like the springs are squeaking, but I've never experienced anything like this in any other car before, like nikki said, even in old cars with umpteen/dozens/thousands of miles on them. My MINI has only 16k on it.

 

Folks, cold weather brings this out in a major way. Turn up the stereo and pray for Spring!
Or, drive yourself nutz chasing every little noise.
I prefer the "it's all good" mantra. Helps keep sanity closer at hand.

 

This is the first time I have noticed this, Last week was in the 20's and no rattles ( I have been driving a lot without stereo to enjoy the SC) and today was 66, so I don't think the cold is the problem, with mine at least

 

I call it the 'Seattle Rattle'. The roads up here, especially the 5 freeway and concrete stuff, are just jacked up. They allow studded snows, fer crissakes! And it hardly ever snows!!!

The road texture is the absolute worst I've ever experienced in a civilized country, and it's a constant rumble, slowly shaking my finely crafted machine to bits. I try not to let it drive me crazy, but on a cold morning with no stereo playing I hear little noises everywhere.

However, Li'l Pepper is screwed together a little better than my last car, an '83 Wabbit GTI 300K on the clock. That car is still going strong, albeit loudly. We'll see how this one is doing then, eh.

 

I drive one of the first '02's. Rattles are a way of life. Early in ownership, the dealer adjusted the hatch. I lubed up the drivers seat as it would creak whenever I pushed back (like braking). It hasn't given me any problems yet. I still have a rattle in the dash, off-on rattle in the tach, and some various other squeeks. I'd like to work them out someday but it's not very high on my to-do list.

 

LUBE THE SEAT?????!!!!

Thats exactly what is at least "squeaking" the most. How do you lube the seat???

Is there a 'how to' here somewhere?

The seat really is the biggest source of the 'squeaks'.

The rattles are a different story I am sure....

If anybody knows how to lube the seats... Do tell??

 

My '04 is really solid, one of the most solid vehicles I've owned...unless it's cold outside...

Occasionally in cold weather (32* or colder), I hear a popping noise when I go over bumps slowly. Have yet to figure it out. Doesn't seem to come from any one place, and I can't get it to do it often enough to really figure it out. Sometimes it sounds like the sunroof, sometimes it sounds like one of the pillars. Might be one of those things I'll never figure out...

When I first got it, there was some pretty bad rattling. Turned out to be the rear seat belts rattling against the interior trim. An adjustment to the buckles was all I needed to fix those, thank goodness.

 

now, that i have no interior...My common squeeks are from the sway bars and mooroof. Thats about it.

 

When you say "no interior"... how far did you go?

Do you have any idea how much weight you might have lost?

Is there really "worth it performance benefits" for the street?

I think I am finally prying this car from my wifes clutches! An interior diet could very well be a soon reality.

Pics please of what type of diet program you have been on and results!

Thanks, J

 

It's been a couple years since I did it so I'm going by memory. You need to pull the lever to flip it up (like letting someone in to the back seat). Then put some lithium grease on all the hinges you can see down there.

You might try searching MINI2, thats where I learned how to do it.

 

02's through early 04's are notorious for rattles. I have no solution other than accept it. That is what I did. Except now I blame it on the car being on H&R springs.

 

While I don't like the rattles either, don't forget that our cars are built to be lightweight so they handle well and get good fuel economy. To do this, they have to skimp on sound deading, etc.... If you want a plush, quiet car, you should have bought a Lexus or something.

Our 2005 F150 is VERY quiet, but it also weighs 6900 lbs! (it's a TANK!)

 

I wouldn't say the 2800+ lb MINI is exactly a lightweight. Light is <1 ton.

 

Mine's 3 months old and the passenger seatbelt has a small annoying noise to it. But the oddest noise is when I am sitting at a light or a drive through with my foot on the brake there is a popping noise coming from the hood like something is hitting it from the engine. It randomly happens, but nothing I can repeat for anyone at the dealership.

 

Just found this thread and thought I would chime in, I sold my first 03 MCS because I could not stand how badly it rattled and how bad it was put together. I am one of those people who hates the noise a tv makes (on mute, just the screen on) and is somewhat OCD. So I could not stand any "noises" (unpleasant sounds).

My 06 was great for the first few thousand miles (on 215/45/17) non rft summer tires. After I put the runflats on for the winter months things started looking bad. Took it into the dealer once to have them sort through some squeeks and rattles. I still have a buzz coming from the headliner by the map lights, rattle from the sunroof, squeeks from the downtubes and lower dash etc.

My new solution: buy ear plugs.

 

The rattles and squeaks are definitely affected by weather/humidity. I have a few rattles when it is cold and/or dry. When the weather is "normal," the few little "quirks" vanish.