So here's the story:
I fitted coilovers to my MCS a few weeks ago - not especially low - measured about 59cm from floor to top of the arch. I got the dreaded vibration so I raised it up about another 1cm and although it was still there around 20-30mph it wasn't terrible, but annoying.
As some people had said new driveshafts fixed it and there were some on ebay with a 2 year warranty for £32 and £35 a side from a reputable company, and it had done 82k miles, I thought I'd take a punt and give it a go.
Got them fitted at my local garage, drove to work the following day - no vibration - whoop whoop!!
Driving home, change into second - bang - no drive.
Get the garage to come and pick me up - they get it on the ramp - the offside (long shaft) has slide out of the bearing support!! I've only done about 30 miles on this thing!!!
So I contact the supplier via ebay telling them what has happened. They tell me to call.
First thing he says "is your car lowered?" "yes" I say. "Then it's your fault. The load on the bearing is too high on lowered cars. We'll send you a replacement as a good will but it'll go again soon on that one. Lowered cars are dangerous, the law is going to change to make them illegal and I wouldn't let anyone in my family drive a lowered car because they are dangerous."
I started arguing the fact that I think the esteemed manufacturers of coilovers and springs such as Koni, Weitec etc and the TuV might have something to say about that but then he just got shirty with me and said "I've worked in this business for over 25 years blah blah."
So there you have it - 30 miles is the going rate for a driveshaft....
Discuss:

 

Sounds like a gen2 mini....
Lowering DOES shorten the life of drivetrain components..FACT...angles are different...so stresses wear stuff out....just like spacers causing bearing wear/failure...
Even with this fact 30 miles is kinda low....but they did give you a replacement...
Here in the us, we have found 90% of the aftermarket replacement axels, which are almost always chinese made, are junk, no matter the warrenty...usually fqe made, sold under different names....all have lifetime warrenty.....most fail on unmodified cars in a few thousand miles....

 

So there's no way to lower your car and get 5 good years out of the drive components?

 

it helps if you START with a quaility part...a worn out oem part may/may not have the life left in it....lets face it...thousands of miles of wear on even the best part can be an issue

On a gen1 the typical 3/4 to 1 inch of lowering should be fine with oem....
On euro mini's there is a wider rang of hp....it is my gut feeling the cheap chinese axels were engineered to work fine with the lower hp MINI ONE, and they were made to physically fit...but from an engeneering standpoint, they simply are undersized junk....the diameters are smaller, and with any machine part with bearings and alloy parts...such as bearings, you get what you payfor imo.
Folks do have decent lifspan of oem parts on lowered cars/cars running spacers on rims, but remember....a race car suspension on a street car has a price...potholes can destroy coilovers,strutmounts,etc, and lowering a car does change angles on cv joints.
The OP bought a cheap ebay special....he got what he paid for...price out a cv joint..a quality one in 3 or 4x what the op paid for.......
just cause a part fits does not mean it is approprate for the job. High performance car, high performance parts. Cheap junk is just that ....on the way to the dumpster by tge way of your car, just add your labour and time.....

 

you could try to raise your engine. something im trying to figure out how to do right now

 

I don't believe this is something possible, the engine is already close to the bonnet.

 

its close but there is still more then a full inch of space between the hood and intercooler

 

Or you could just not slam the car that hard.
and how hard is it to raise the engine, space the motor up from the top of the passenger mount, and then spacers under the trans and fusebox, get a pair of jimmy joints quality rod and lengthen the torque arm, boom done.

 

space the passenger mount, drill new bolt hole for trans mount, drill new angled hole for the lower mount. boom done

by torque arm are you referring to the drive shaft? if so lengthening the shaft would only make the geometry worse. its not a matter of length. after lowering beyond a certain point the angles of the cv joints become to harsh and the bearings in the axle cant handle it. i dont even know how you would go about trying to lengthen the rod while still keeping it strong enough to handle all the torque that is passed through it

 

and not slamming the car isnt cool

 

Hmmm.... My car has 187,000 miles on it, and has looked pretty much like this since the 20k mark... All OEM parts in the drive train mind you.

 

I think the brand of axle your using is junk. Get quality axles and you shouldn't have a problem. Been racing my MINI on OEM axles for 6yrs that have over 50k on them and not broke them.

 

oem axles are the best from what i have seen. the drive shaft shop makes some race axles that are supposed to have a higher tq rating and are apparently better for lowered cars. thats all i know about them but i have never had any personal experience with them

 

dont really see how lowering a mini would be entirely catastrophic to its components, specially since Mini SELLS minis that come Lowered from the factory!

but, i do agree, that if dont upgrade the REST of your suspension, ya, your prolly going to blow through some parts. simple physics. i think what a lot of ppl end up doing is just lowering a car with springs or whatever, and then not re-adjust the camber, caster, ect ect, and not get camber plates and all the other bits that adjust the rest of the car to the new lowered stance.

 

It is not only about the tq rating of the axels, but also the angles that they must work...
With machined compotents, and especially ones that have bearings, you get EXACTLY what you psy for. To save a buck or two cheap import ones have physically less material, cheaper bearings, and i suspect substandard machining...when called to opperste at greater angles than normaly seen...it is stress...on a slight different thrust line or spot in the bearing races....and boom!! The oem ones are nuilt and ARE sold on factory lowered mini's...look at the jcw kit...so we know they can handle 210 hp, and about 3/4 of an inch of lowering, and still be "in spec" with the oem parts....
The fact that mini/bmw has clout in getting the oem to make a quality part that they will buy tens of thousands of helps....
now on ebay....a few thousand...if the part was made with the same quality parts, the materials cost would be the same or higher....so only savings SHOULD be labour...but they loose rconomy of scale, have higher shipping costs....so to get the costs do low....they make them cheap..cheaper grade steel, bearings, etc....heck they KNOW they don't need to last the life of the car...25% will do...the car is used, owners sell them...or maybe 75% of the life on the car is used up...parts needs to "just last long enough", they add a warrenty most folks will never use or follow through on to make it look good, amd vola!! Cheap chineese junk!!
sure less markup, but everybody who touches the item is making $$, just like the oem.
End rant!!

 

Too many people with expensive high performance MINIs wanting to put cheap crap on them. IDIOTS!

 

+1 ^ .... sometimes there is a reason its cheaper

 

+2^

 

there is definitely a big possibility of breaking the cv joints in the axle when you lower your car. i have personally seen my friend break two of his axles on separate occasions and have personally broken one of my own. there are also many examples of this throughout nam and other mini forums. it has nothing to do with camber plates or control arms which have nothing to do with and are no where near the axles. one inch is fine the angles of the axle dont change enough for there to be any danger but once you start getting past 3in or more your car will start to vibrate and you axle will begin to tick as the bearings go bad. then you take a turn too hard or you hit a dip in the road and boom! your suspension traveled too high up and you popped the axle out of the cv joint and your f'u*ked. some people get off lucky and just rip the cv boot up spewing axle grease everywhere, its an easy fix but then youve possibly got oil on your belt line. neither is a pretty picture, even if your car is all stanced out

 

iv never heard of a mini putting out too much torque for the axles to handle tho

 

My 2010 fCJW Clubman with a high 90k miles (i.e. mostly high-speed running) now needs both driveshafts replacing, with a knocking when turning left or right.

It was on AP Racing 30mm (but more like 50) lowering springs for much of its life (say, 10k up to 90k) and is now on the standard springs, and also had a 273 bhp remap on it up to the 70k mile marker!

On balance, 90k probably isn't too bad, but there are probably not too many owners with such high mileage out there.

 

Go back to OEM, mine has been lowered for most of its 300,000+ mile life and the only axle problem I've ever had was with aftermarket. (I should have just replaced the boot) I went with a reputable company, and they failed with a thousand miles. Same issue yours had, slipped out of the carrier bearing. They replaced free of charge, next one did the same thing. The company said they would never do mini axles again.

Nik