[davejenkins]

This is my first post so I am not sure if this has been covered before (I did a quick search but didn't find exactly the problem I have).

About two days ago I started hearing a faint scraping noise from the left hand side of the car. The noise is only audible if the car is travelling close to another object (e.g. guard rail or other cars) then it becomes quite noticable as it reflects off a hard surface. I can only hear the noise if the driver's side window is open. I cannot hear a similar noise coming from the passenger side of the car.

The noise is difficult to describe but sounds like metal scraping against metal. My car has travelled less than 900 miles. The frequency of the noise increases as the speed of the car increases. RPM does not affect the noise nor does gear ratio. Declutching has no affect. I have checked the tyres and found nothing in walls that might be causing the noise. If the car had not travelled so few miles I would have guessed it was bearing in the wheel or coupling.

Anyone else expeienced a similar noise?

I have a July 02 build Mini Cooper S.

[NEMINI]

sounds like brake pads wearing in .... just a guess

[MiNiGuY]

Quote:

Originally posted by GMINI03
sounds like brake pads wearing in .... just a guess

At this stage I'd agree.

After a short (approx 10 mile) journey carefully feel the wheel. If there is a hugely noticable amount of heat on that side compared to the opposite wheel, then it would be that the brake is binding.

If this is the case, I'd strongly advise that you see your dealer, especially before undertaking any moderate to long journeys.

[Pebble]

Probably not the case but I had an experience like this once. It was an autumn leaf that had got stuck behind the brake disk and the stick-like stem was making the scraping noise.

(this wasn't on a mini though!)

[davejenkins]

Just posting to give some more information and say thanks for the replies so far.

I looked around the passenger front and rear wheels and tyres to see if I could spot anything obvious stuck there but did not find anything. Without taking the wheels off I can't be absolutely certain but I don't think there is anything there that might be causing this noise.

I took the car for a 10 mile spin and, after parking, checked each of the wheels. They all felt equally as warm as did the discs themselves (I was quite brave here).

I am not Sterling Moss, but the car appears to drive as before.

If this noise is to do with the discs wearing in how long would I expect this noise to continue, or is this a kind of how long is a piece of string type of question?

[monica]

I've experienced the same thing. At first I thought it was someone else with some piece-O-junk car with it's muffler half falling off, then I relised it was me (either that or someone was following me.) Then I thought maybe my seat belt is caught in between the door and THAT was scraping but then I relised that I was wearing my seat belt (duh )

I don't want to call it a problem (yet) because so far it's just a weird noise, other MINI owner's have had PROBLEMS. Anyway I checked under the car and "nope nothing scraping under here."

and I thought it was just me.

[Quadra]

Same here, I get the same weird noise coming from the driver's side usually when I'm accelerating or going uphill. But it's not constant.

It's a "hard to describe kinda metal to metal" noise. I still can't figure it out. Gotta have the dealer look at it. Hopefully it'll make that same weird noise when they check it out.

[sjbartnik]

Well to rule out brakes, drive next to a wall where you can normally hear the noise, and lightly apply the brakes to see if it goes away. If it does go away, it's brake-related.

If it doesn't go away, it's probably something else.

[retroom]

This experience might be related to the noise you are having......

My wife's car, a '98 Camry, was having a similar "metalic" noise coming from what seemed like the left front tire (only noticable at low speed, 10MPH or lower). We had it check many times by the dealer they said nothing was wrong. The dealer rotated the tires and the noise was gone but returned several hundred miles later. We took it to the Goodyear Tire center to check out the tires, the tires were OK. They rotated the tires and the noise was gone, but several hundres miles later the noise returned.

We lived with the noise because the dealer said there was nothing wrong with the car and Goodyear said the tires were ok and they never seen this problem before.

After 25,000 miles the tires needed replacing, by the way the tire wear was normal and even. With the new tires the noise has not returned after 5,000 miles. Weird isn't it!!

The new tires are Dunlops by the way.

retroom

[ches]

Sorry I've been away. I've been soooo busy lately. Anyway, I did a search on "wheel scrape" and only found this thread.

I just started getting a metal-on-metal scraping noise. I'm at almost 20,000 miles, and I just had the tires rotated about 2000 miles ago. I don't know how that could have affected things but you never know...

The noise is intermittent and occurs in varying loudnesses. It's a very metallic scraping sound. It's reminiscent of the sound a bent backing plate makes when it rubs against a brake drum.

When the noise happens, it's most noticeable when the driver's window is down and when I'm making a right hand turn. Braking doesn't seem to affect the noise, not does pulling up on the handbrake.

I brought the car to the dealer, and they said they couldn't reproduce the noise. They did say that the driver's seat was unusually noisy and ordered me a new seat. Well, that was certainly nice of them but what about this wheel squeal?

Anyone else have this noise occur? It's driving me nuts!