Hi all,

Back to my car as work has had me flat out with no time at all to address any issues.

I may have previously mentioned that my 05 plate Cooper S Cabrio had the interior half leather, half fabric removed and replaced with a tan leather interior from a sidewalk, looks great, gets lots of comments as it almost looks semi retro. Wheels have now been changed to lightweight 'ish' BBS 17' alloys, still with those hideous run flats. Matt black viper stripes front and back, 2 spots applied up front, complete brembo red callipers, aero side skirts and the american wheel arch spats with reflectors, all in all, loving it, however....

Firstly, anyone recommend me in the direction to wheel spacers? what sizing do most use? (cars not dropped, so rubbing should't be an issue).

Main issue, my car is making a terrible noise when turning on full lock, or even almost full lock. BMW have said steering fluid needs changing, so i shall consider that, an INDE who i've used and trusted said it could be the steering pump / rack etc, possible bills of some £600+. Cars only done 25k full history, no accidents, anyone else experienced this type of noise? any outcome?

Hope you may be able assist, cheers, Mark.

What kind of noise? Clicking, moaning, grinding, thumping, etc. all of these have been described here. Give us something to work with. Cool buggy! Is that a gun metal finish on your rims. Looks cool!

hi macguyvic

thanks, i'm enjoying the car, very lucky with the alloys as i'd been searching the market for some good un's, was looking at breyton until i saw the cost and feedback re our good old english roads, steered clear, saw the BBS and yep, they match the colour of the car, spot on, even more so with the red callipers.

The noise i'm getting is a moaning, and no, before you ask, the wife isn't in the car at the time. Most certainly nothing grinding, but it's so audible people can hear it externally when turning the wheel.

Some have commented pump, rack etc, I'm surprised if it is bearing in mind it's low mileage, but, i could be that unlucky *** who has to cough up some bucks. It's been suggested it's just the norm, but that isn;t good enough, if it is, i'm gonna bite the bullet and get the rack / pump replaced (unless it's another issue), no point in owning a nice car and letting the issue run it's course.

Any thoughts? cheers, M

if its amnornal moaning its your power steering pump, tends to whine / moan louder before packing in completly, you can save the life of it by taking it off and cleaning the carbon dust from the electronics and maybe will last another year or so.
However with its tendency to fail on the go id replace it for the newer model of power steering pump which doesnt have the design flaw.

although all that said it does "moan" louder on full lock, they tend to be noisey pumps on the mini, post a video of the noise?

to change the pump it takes 15 minutes (if your handy with a spanner) and you can get your own refurbed for £200 thats if you dont want to pay mini prices.

many thanks llamagp

good to hear it can possibly be refurb'd. think i'd seen somewhere on here there's a company in kent who do such works, i'll drop them a line, good place to start anyway.
cheers
m

Hi, i've got a 2003 Cooper s, My steering was making a horrible creaking type noise but only when i was moving off etc at slow speeds on full lock or nearly full lock...Mine turned out to be the front strut top mounts, apparently the rubber wears over time causing the creaking noise...Might not be that but it worked on mine.

yeh, i had checked that walsallchris, thanks, not that type of sound though, also, fitted a GTT struttbrace, so that tightened to whole area, noise was before this too.
thanks, m