Hey guys,

I just wanted to see what are the different possibilities for this to happen.

When I drive my mini my steering wheel starts to shake when I go over 50mph and it gets worse as I increase speed.

1. I had my tires balanced and the car aligned.
2. There are no signs of a bad tire or a bad/bent wheel.
3. The axles are in really good shape as I had all the boots replaced.
4. All my suspension components are tight and in place, did the wheel bearing test and the control arm test...all is in great shape also.
5. The struts/shocks are not leaking.

I am running out of ideas of what rotating part it could be. Hope somebody can help me figure out what else it could be.

Thanks!
Manny

 

When mine did that it was the axles, but it was closer to 65mph for me..

 

Were they intact and had no leaks when you replaced them? Did they have any signs of a bend?

Thanks!
Manny

 

No leaking, just worn gear teeth on ends..

 

Is your car very low?

 

Pretty low. Look in my gallery..

 

It's most likely your axles, but before you start throwing money at them, get your front wheels balanced again (at a different shop). If your wheels were balanced with stick-on type weights, they could have fallen off directly after the balancing. Be sure that the tech cleans the wheel where they are sticking on the weight.

 

This....and while you have it in the shop, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have the alignment checked again. I've had guys get sloppy and be way off on the alignment, and then I had to have it redone.

Also...how many miles to do you have on your current tires? I've had tires start to get really loud and vibrate at highways speeds...even though they looked fine except for worn tread.

 

Ok I got it lol!

 

Yeah, I'm friends with the guy who was balancing my tires and doing my alignment....I basically saw everything he was doing and helping him mount the tires and all. The alignment is on point also, I saw the results on the machine and everything was tightened....I helped too

So, in all I've exhausted all to my knowledge of what it can be...the last resort were the axles and I've already ordered them, along with some wheel bearings...mine have 165k miles on them.

 

My tires only have 6,000 miles on them and I rotate them. They are pretty new.

I'll swap out the axles and let y'all know how it goes. Those are the only other rotating things that can be going wrong...that I know off.

 

Like Helix said...sometimes a wheel will throw a balance weight, causing balance issues. It might be less hassle to have the wheels/tires checked for balance vs pulling out your drive shafts and swapping them.

 

I know what you're talking about..... They have been road force balanced 3 times each. The weights were sticking and were not thrown off the wheel. I have also moved the wheels from the back to the front. It's not a balance, bent wheel, alignment, & tire issue. I have already taken that out of my list as the problem. Thanks for your input though!

If it were a balancing issue the shaking/shimmy/wobble would only appear at a certain range of mph (say 55-65 mph) and fades a bit. Mine keeps getting worse after 55mph.

 

I had some pretty bad vibration at anything 70+ and it got MUCH worse the faster I went, to the point I was afraid to go any faster... If I recall it started as a very faint vibration at 55ish but wasn't seriously dramatic feeling until 70+.
Turned out to be bad balljoints and/or loose swaybar bushings (did all at once).
If your car is lowered, there is a LOT of strain on those ball joints, which is why mine were shot (previous owner had it lowered on coils).

 

+1 on ball joints. Chased a variable rotational vibration for over 6 months and that did the trick. MINI has a special value line kit for them too. 2 in a kit, it's like buy one get one free.

 

Was it the inner or the outer balljoints?

 

Most people will do all the balljoints at once considering they tend to go out about the same time, but if you want to shy away from dropping the subframe you can try the outers first and see if it helps.

Definitely get a proper removal tool for the outers, especially if you plan on doing them first to see if that fixes it (doesn't require the subframe drop).
We didn't have the tool, and spent a good 2 hours hammering to hell on the outers to get them to come loose, our brand new ball joint fork went from --= to --L , balljoint grease all over the place, and the bolt was so mushroomed to the point that it wouldn't fit through when it finally broke free and took even more work If your car hasn't been slammed on coilovers though, I suspect it wont be such a pain to break these 2 free.

 

"Maybe"

I did drop the subframe last year and changed all of the steering components with some MOOG replacement LCAs, inner ***** and outer ***** . I got the tools at home too so it won't be that much of a pain. I am going to shy away from dropping the frame right now and just replace the outer *****, got them OEM replacements for $80 shipped and getting them in today. If that don't fix it, then I'll do the inner ball joints. Thanks for sharing!

 

Are you saying you just replaced all this last year and it "might" already be failing ???

 

Well, I found out what the culprit was. Apparently last year one of the bolts that holds the ball joint in place wasn't tightened accurately, so it became loose. This being said, the inner thread of the spindle bolt hole, where the balljoint attahes to, stripped with all the vibration. This caused the balljoint to fail because of the extra strain and movement. I just ordered a used cheap spindle assembly on ebay to replace it before I even move the car anymore.

OK people, tighten well your bolts, lesson learned.

Peace be in the world,
Manny

 

My front shimmy manifests only 60+ mph when I take my foot OFF the pedal. I've had new brakes recently with tire rotation. I'll be taking it in this week for alignment, but fear something more serious.