The small stuff.....

There is a semi-famous old saying "Never sweat the small stuff." That saying may not be as wise as I once thought.

If you have the windshield in your MINI replaced, make certain that the windshield wiper arms are not switched left to right. I learned the wisdom of this little tidbit the hard way..............

I see that curiosity is getting the better of you, so I'll spill the beans.

After the glass was replaced, I noticed a strange noise in the car, starting about 65mph and getting worse as the speed increased. It was a screechy, rumbly type of noise. Like running on a rumble strip with a bad bearing in an idler. I noticed that the noise was modulated by wind. It was not an engine-driven noise. I could draft a truck and the noise would stop. Get back in the wind and the noise got louder the faster I drove.

I took the car to the MINI guru this morning. We went for a drive, and the thing howled like it was possessed. The MINI guru asked me to pull over to the side of the freeway and stop. He removed one of the windshield wipers. We drove again, and the noise was still there, but much decreased. We got back to the MINI shop and compared my MINI to other MINIs on the lot. Sure enough, the wipers had been put back on swapped side to side. He swapped the arms back like correctly and we took another spin. It was quiet to about 95, which should be fast enough in most cases.......

The MINI guru said it had happened before. Why exact position matters is still a secret. The LH and RH wiper arms have different part numbers.