Brand spankin new to the forum, my first post... Just got my mini a month ago! 07 mini cooper s-Already put a JCW tune kit, front strut, gear shift light, alarm and i'm loving it...

Wanted to see if anyone else is expierencing this... ok your Heavy on the gas, still in first gear, high in rpm's, ready to shift,... car gets squirly, (tires kinda shake back and forth a little)...then you shift! and try to correct it, now in 2nd.. not likes its going out of control but... well yes it feels like its a little out of control but your not.now i know what your gonna say... not so heavy on the gas... but i just got my JCW kit and shift light on. I'MA BE HEAVY ON THE GAS!... SO DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO CORRECT THIS?
Do i need a missing link to the puzzle i dont have? I would have thought the front strut bar was going to correct this but it does not. Do i need engine bushings or a rear strut? ( dont think it would be a rear strut thing but i'm looking for direction)... also what about lowering it with the JCW Sport Suspension? how would that effect this? thank you in advance for reading... i'll look forward to any reply's

 

I could be wrong, but I think your are experincing "torque steer!"

 

sounds like it would be something like that... but what is torque steer? it does feel more like the steering wheel is doing the shimmy then the wheels. shoots its probably both... how can i correct it?

 

I know it sounds silly, but at least it's easy...check your tire presssures all the way around. I had a similar feeling on my new to me '06 and it was a combination of tire pressure and wear. (although the tires did not look worn.)

If your pressures are good my next question would be - Have you ever owned a fast FWD car? As roy stated above, could just be torque steer.

Cheers,
AND welcome!

 

a big thank you to you!
well i just had the tires balanced and rotated 2 days ago, i'm sure they did the correct tire pressure... and i'm coming from a truck.. always had trucks, still do too. it is fully loaded with everything but a lot heavier so it dont squirl around too much. other then that, no...

 

OH YEAH, new to hot FWD's!----I'd put money on that what you are feeling is torque steer.
If you feel like you've got to wrestle the steering wheel a little to keep the car going straight when accelerating hard - that's torque steer. It's particularly bad at intersections because you have the "grooves" in the road from heavy trucks that our cars have to stradle and it really magnifies it.
It's just our poor little cars trying to put all that power down AND steer at the same time.
The MINI's don't even have it that bad!
If that's all it is, you'll get used to it and learn to compensate. No worries.

Nice work on getting the JCW kit!

 

Yea, torque steer is very common on high powered front wheel drive cars. Anything that is different from side to side - tire pressure, pavement grip or smoothness different from one side to the other will make it more pronounced.

Just hang on and show it that you are the boss. I replaced my runflats with not runflat tires and the torque steer is not that bad under normal circumstances.

Some have reported that LSD can make it worse as the LSD tries to direct the torque from one side to the other when it detects wheel slip. I don't have LSD but can still feel torques steer on occasion.

Happy Motoring!!!