Well, on my way to pick up my carpool buddy, going through a tiny traffic circle I go through every day, I lost traction and understeered right into the curb at about 15-20mph.

Was able to drive the car to his house about 1.5 miles away at 35mph. There's nasty curb rash on the tires and wheels (front and rear, passenger side), but no body damage.

While driving, I had to hold the wheel about 20 degrees to the left, and there was some minor wobble and occasional rubbing noise from the right side tires, though I couldn't isolate which.

A co-worker of mine did something similar last winter, and it was about $3k in drive-train/suspension damage. Hopefully I'll skate by with just some tire and alignment damage. I'll be calling Mini Roadside assistance after I get off work to take the car to Tate. Or should I have it taken to Tate?

Boooo... May be missing some Mini events this month. :/

Still trying to figure out how the hell I lost traction... It's a tight circle, but I drive it twice every day. It was dark (5:30am), but I didn't see anything like a puddle or oil or anything. There were very very light patches of occasional fog, but I don't know if that's enough to cause loss of traction at 25mph, as I've taken that circle up to 35+ before.

Oh well. Any suggestions? Maybe I shouldn't take it to Tate? Would Roadside Assistance allow me to take it elsewhere? At the moment, I'm 90% sure I'm going to file an insurance claim, to ensure any and all damage gets repaired.

 

have them take it to towson or sterling!!

if the steering is about 20 degrees off, i'm guessing the A-frame
or similar suspension piece will need replacement.

good luck

 

Theres a new service rep for Mini's at tate. I talked to him last week about my car, he seems like a real nice guy .

 

Ditto! But the service dept will not change with just one person. It will take time to change.

 

Yeah its a little to early to think clearly . I ended up thinking of that after i posted that .

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Since misery loves company, I should mention that a UPS truck backed up into my poor mini while it was parked two weeks ago. Dented the front left side of the hood by the front light. The dent is not too bad, but it also pushed the wheel well scarily close to the tire so I think it might be rubbing over bumps and as a result, there are power steering problems with the car now (I always hear that loud whining steering noise).

On top of that, I took my car to a popular local car wash this past weekend and after driving it out of the parking lot, noticed I had a 6 inch crack in the windshield that was not there before. Went back and talked to the manager. I couldn't prove it was caused there, even though I know it was (somehow). I guess I'll end up claiming that on my car insurance.

So the mini is in bad shape...

Should I not have it fixed at Tate? The estimator was just out yesterday and wanted to know where I was going to have it fixed.

 

yea sometimes their is oil or other substances on the road that you dont see


i was on a onramp in winter and slid into the crurb messing up the alignment a little fixed it but the bearing acually faild a few months later

spitting sparks they dont take a collition that well so i would definetley replace the bearing

but goodluck on the fix !!

 

i did see a report that a penguin escaped from the city zoo.......coincidence?


sry to hear about the car, maybe its time the wife got one as a back up....catmini

 

So sorry to hear about the Batmini's injures.

As far as Tate goes while it's true that service won't change in a day the new guy is working really hard to make things right and since he is new now is the time to take advantage of the momentum. I am returning the Yellow MCSa tonight and if you call him now maybe he is able to schedule you in.

The British mechanic Harry (I think) seems pretty good. Again, I think the Tate will try to make things right because they are so desperate for good grades particulary with DCMM members watching and reporting.

Yes, definitely time for the CatMini !!!


MD STREGA2

 

I agree 100% with Marina. Take it to Tate and see what Will can do for you. I also recommend Harry, the Brit tech. He seems knowlagable....hey, at least he's a Brit.

 

not to be all insensitive and threadjack and such, but...
how am I going to get my DVD of Summit Point now?

oh yeah, you may have taken that roundabout faster before, but how much tread do you have left on your tires after summit point? I know I'm in need of new tires (but then again I already had 20,000 miles on them at that point).

 

I take it twice every day. I take it to pick up my carpool mate, and after I drop him off. I know how fast I was going, and still cannot figure out why the Mini broke loose.

Still debating on what path to take to get the Mini fixed... But I'll likely call Will @ Tate first.

 

moisture brings out oil from the road.. that's why it's slippery when it starts to rain but gets a bit better after it gets washed out..

 

the first thing that came to my mind when reading this was - 'how much?'. I'm curious if these damages, which sound like they're more than just a minor scratch, are going to be in the 3 digit dollar range or just below that.

and if there is a local body shop for the minis, i wonder if they are more expensive than the dealer? My first instinct for body repair would be to go to Auto International in Annapolis, since they do all sorts of european cars - but I remembered that they've never worked on mini before. hmmm....

 

Dunno about a body shop. From what I saw in my shocked state of mind, on the side of a dark road, at 5:30am, there was no body damage... Only cosmetics noticeable was some NASTY curb rash, including long 'claw rake-like' scratch up one of the S-Lite spokes.

Driving the car however, there is definitely alignment issues. I am definitely expecting this repair to exceed 1k, but I don't know by how much.

 

Wow. Sorry for you Wagn. Thats a real bummer

 

Sorry to hear about BatMINI.


I am sure that they will fix it up ASAP!

 

Well, after getting off work and snapping some pics with the camera phone... It seems the right (strut?) is bent in two places on the rear right wheel. Front right wheel looks okay except some nasty curb rash...

Will said he'll give it some special attention tomorrow, and let me know what's what.


My carpool buddy thinks he knows what he's doing. He really likes the Mini jack tho. You can see the rear right wheel is at a nasty camber tho.



This is the good left brace/strut.



This is the bent right one. Looks bent in two places. With the Mini jack, couldn't see more damage than this.





Tow truck pic. :( First pic of my new license plate holder. Says 'Wagnbat & The Batmini'. Poor Batmini w/The Gimped leg.

 

Ouch!

 

is that the control arm? think on the bright side. now you can get aftermarket control arms.

 

I was thinking all day 'how the hell could that have happened if nothing was there'? The wife made me think back to Summit Point while I was describing what happened... My Mini never broke loose like that. No one's Mini broke loose like that, that I saw (except on the skidpad obviously). And the only person I heard that drove off the track, was someone that freaked out during the slalom... Not because the Mini went out of control. I also thought back, and at no other time, DCMM driving events, spirited driving through backwoods, or even harsh turns, has the Batmini ever broke loose on me before.

Drove by the scene again in my F150. There is 100% definitely some kind of moisture accumulation right at the entrance of the circle. F150 is kind of high, and I didn't have my camera, so it was only a visual inspection this time. But I for sure saw something right at the 'limit line' to enter the traffic circle.

Tomorrow I'll have to bring my DSLR and see if I can't snap some solid pics of it. There may even be more than one 'anomoly'... I think I saw two, but again, dark, early, etc. This is a crappy 1 minute sketch of what I think I saw, and if the blue is moisture, it is right at the point where I would be transferring weight of the vehicle from the left (turning right) to the right side (turning left), which most likely would have caused the skid.
http://mappage.net/mini/batmini_wipeout_sketch.JPG

Somehow forgot to upload pics of the damage to the wheels. Will do so when I get home.

 

hey bro sorry to see that your mini is hurt...hope all is well

 

...hope he's back with you quickly!

 

Sorry to hear about your accident. Hopefully its all repairable (which it looks like it is ) But nothing against anyone. I've noticed A LOT more accidents lately. And remember one including me. Traffic is so bad its unbelievable. But back to you... Glad your alright and the MINI is fixable!

 

OH noes! Sorry to hear about the Batmini But glad to hear that he's fixable!

Good luck!