Hi,

My mini seems to be going towards the left when riding in highway. I think a wheel alignment is due since i had to change a tire and a wheel. I do not want to go to the dealer. Do any of you know a good wheel alignment shop around DC area. Another think i noticed was, if my tire pressure is at 35psi the ride is more erratic. I have lowered it now to 32psi and i see there is more road grip and control. has any of you had the same thing. Which is the right tire pressure. I have a 17" run flat tires.

Thanks
ramu

 

I'm not sure of any particular shops, but one thing I like about the dealership is that they use the weights that stick on the back of the wheel where they aren't visible.

I don't recommend running the pressure lower than what MINI calls for on the doorjamb sticker. Depending on how many miles were on your tires when you had to replace one, it may be that there's enough tread difference between the new tire and the older tires to cause this variation. There's certainly a threshold where you might need to consider replacing the other three.

I'm kinda in the same situation, I have one tire that's only a few months old, but the other three are completely worn out. I plan to order a fresh set of 4 in the next couple weeks.

 

Thanks for the info. I have run just 12k mile on tires. So I dont know if there would be a serious worn issue. Also I do not have any vibrations at all. It is just the car sometime going to the left. I have been asking around and not many of the shops seem to use deadweight on the cars to account for the passenger weight when doing alignment.

 

Unfortunately, I have no advice about where to go outside of a dealership, but a word of warning - be careful about where you do go! When I was in Pensacola, FL, the nearest MINI dealership was about 4 hours away, so I went to a place that was supposed to be reliable. I can't prove that they did it, but I'm pretty darned sure that they ended up screwing up a tie rod while trying to adjust the alignment!

When I finally got to a dealership, what would have been a (admittedly ridiculously overpriced) $150-$200 alignment, ended up costing a bit over $500!

Oh, and of your ties are the Pirelli Euphoria@s, my fronts were worn out at a bit over 11k miles. Ditch them and either get a decent set of non-runflats or a good set of runflats. Tirerack has Kumho SPTs that come in a runflat type, allegedly great handling, and reasonably cheap (around $130), if they ever get them back in stock!


-Paul!

 

I will say this - as terrible as the OEM runflat Pirelli Euphori@s are, the OEM runflat Dunlop SP Sport 9000s are pretty darn good, and last a decent amount of time too.

 

Edge, I have the Dunlop SP Sport 9000s (came stock) with about 8.5K, so what is "decent amount"?

I would sure use the psi as stated on manual and door jam. At 32, sure more road grip; however, more grip more wear too.

 

I was simply stating that I achieved a satisfactory amount of grip, use & wear from the set that came with my car. If I'm not mistaken, Scavenger felt the same way about his.I always run a higher pressure than the stock numbers, because I like the increased stiffness. I believe I increased mine up to 38 psi.

 

Yeh, 3 of my original Dunlop SP Sport 9000s now have roughly 30,000 miles on them. I'll be ordering a new set of tires soon, I still have to decide what to get.
If you want to stay with Runflats while maintaining the best possible performance, an upgrade from the Ephorias to the SP Sports is probably a great one. The Kumho's that Paul! mentioned are certainly priced attractively, but Tirerack told me that Kumho was back-ordered on these by 4 or 5 months.

 

I dont have the Pirelli's. They are goodyear 245/r17. I did increse the pressure now to 35. The ride is better now. I am also contemplating if the intial moving around was because only my left rear tyre was new while the other three had 11k miles on it.