WHAT’S MAKING MY MINI CONVERTIBLE SCREECH VIOLENTLY?

QMy Mini One Convertible suddenly developed a very loud and scary screeching noise from the roof and top of the windscreen area. It only occurs if I creep over 70mph. I’ve had the windscreen replaced twice, but it makes no difference. What is wrong? – ZD

A

Minis of this era can suffer odd whistles from seals around the window and windscreen frames. In fact, the windscreen seal would have been my first suspicion had you not already said you’d replaced it. Usually, re-sealing the screen should solve any whistles, unless the fitter didn’t reseal it very well, but I’d think this unlikely given you’ve had it done twice now.

Instead I’d look just above the windscreen itself, at the join between the screen frame and the convertible roof. It sounds to me as though the roof has come out of adjustment. In a nutshell, it doesn’t seal properly with the top of the windscreen; instead, the lip of the roof juts out just a little too far as it latches into place and when it does so it pulls the outer windscreen seal with it, creating a tiny gap in the seal.

That allows air to rush in; above a certain speed, it’s this that creates the violent screeching you describe. The good news is that it’s possible to adjust the hood. If you’re handy with a spanner, you can do this yourself by closing the roof, removing the cover to the motor, removing the motor drive unit, locating the soft-top in the correct place by hand then replacing and tightening everything. If you’re not confident carrying out DIY tweaks, a BMW or Mini specialist should be able to make the adjustment for you.

If it turns out that the roof is adjusted correctly, it could be that one of the seals between the roof and the screen is at fault, in which case you’ll need to replace them. And if that fails to solve the problem, the next thing to check is whether the windows are sealing correctly against their rubbers in the folding roof.

If the seal is imperfectly formed, it may be allowing air in at its leading corners, creating a whistle that would sound as though it was coming from the area you mention. If this is the problem, you might need to fit new seals around the windows.