My wife just picked up an 06 MCS and we have noticed that on hard accelaration the torque steer is terrible! the car almost wants to go into the other lane in some cases. I am trying to figure out if our car has an LSD or not? Would this help the torque steer by giving both wheels traction rather then one?

Thanks folks!

 

she doesnt have one, and yes it would help a great deal.

http://www.mini-madness.com/index.as...PROD&ProdID=36

 

Was the LSD Not an option on the 06 models?

 

The Factory LSD was offered as an option starting in January 05 on MCS builds. So if she has a manual transmission MSC then it's possible that the car has an LSD. You should be able to call up MINI USA and give them your VIN, they should be able to tell you what's in your car.

 

It was a $500.00 option according to the window sticker for my '06 MCS.

 

Something doesn't sound right. MINIs are supposed to be much lighter on the torque steer than most FWD cars due to the equal-length axles. At least that's what I heard. Loss of traction should be a non-event with the DSC (unless you have it switched off).

 

My favorite is when I'm at a autocross and I go into the first turn and start to pull out of it and *ZAP* no power, thanx DSC!!!

 

I would guess that you are experiencing what happens when you accelerate down a road with some amount of rutting. The car tends to try and follow the grooves, but because it is narrower than the ruts it is wandering from rut to rut (side to side). Take it to a level parking lot and try it. If you still have the problem I would suggest a service visit to make sure there is nothing wrong under the hood.

 

Also, the stock runflat tires are known to "tramline" like crazy. One of our local freeways has grooves cut into the concrete and the runflats follow the grooves like they were rails. Non-runflats will help a lot too.

 

... Check out your toggle panel sometime bud.

Agreed. I don't think it's torque steer.

 

No tourque Steer on MINIs as a result of equal length drive shafts

1st I'd say tramlinning, what ScottinBend decribed
2nd I'd say check your (tire) pressures
3rd I'd say its alignment issues

Chack your order sheet, it shows up as a $500 option, worth every penny

 

I'm sorry, can you point me to something that disproves this? I believe that I stated (and you are welcome to re-read it) that the equal length axles reduce the effect of torque steer vs other FWD cars, not eliminate it.
Otherwise, take your green smiley-face and....

 

I think that was more directed to the thinking that the MINI has equal length drive shafts. I'm really not sure why that one keeps getting perpetuated. I have seen many a MINI with the engine taken out and the drive shafts are nowhere near equal length. You can even take a look at some parts info here. The drive shaft on the passenger side of the car is far longer than the one of the driver's side.

I believe, however, that there was some engineering that went into them so that torque steer is reduced.

 

It keeps getting perpetuated because that's what it says in MINI's own marketing materials. I did some digging around and I believe it is actually the half shafts that are equal in the MINI.

 

From MINI (and the same was said about the R50/R53)
"All MINIs are born with immunity to these symptoms. See, equal-length drive shafts allow you to steer straight during full acceleration, virtually eliminating the regretable torque steer found on many other dront-wheel drive vehicles."

And before my alignment got screwed up in the wonderful days I could let go of the steering wheel on a straight, flat recently paved roads at speeds I can't post here, I could mash the throttle and not have the slightest pull from the car.

so

 

No torque steer... that's wishful thinking.. There is torque steer.. plenty at times.. Equal half shafts helps reduce torque steer.. not elminate it. Torque steer is based on several factors.. Under hard acceleration the tires are clawing at the road finding traction.. uneven surfaces help contribute as the wheels seek traction.. The LSD helps on smooth roads.. but can make things worse under the right conditions.. LSD really shines when one of the wheels loses traction in a corner due to unloading... the other wheel gets tractions and you can accelerate out of the corner.. without LSD.. you sit and spin and lose speed until the drive wheel can grab again..

Check your tire pressure.. try a smooth road..

 

here is my mini loosing traction.



I will be getting the above mentioned LSD from my first post very soon!

 

I think we need to clarify what exactly "torque" steer is. It has been historically accepted as a definition of the bias a front wheel drive car will have while accelerating of going twards one side or the other. This can be attributed to unequal length drive shafts. On one car it will consistently pull to the left. On another it may pull to the right, depending on which drive shaft is shortest. Be eliminating the difference in length you will greatly reduce if not eliminate the consistent pull to one side. It will NOT eliminate the "wandering" of the car while accelerating on uneven roads. You will even find this wandering happening on ocassion while on a nice level road/parking lot. This has more to do with the car shifting torque from one side of the car to the other. This is where LSD comes in.

 

That is correct, the part that connects the wheel hub and the rest of the driver shaft are the same length on both sides. However the section of the shaft that extends from the transmission to the half-shaft are nowhere near equal length. The passenger does have a mounting bracket that secures the section between the transmission and the half-shaft to the bottom of the motor to provide a more stable platform instead of letting it hang free.

But I still posit that what MINI says about equal length drive-shafts isn't exactly the whole truth. While marketing may say the drive shafts are equal they must be using some other definition of drive-shaft. My definition would include be more along the lines of the shaft going from the transmission to the wheels, not just the section from another shaft to the hub.

 

Torque steer wasnt really noticable till I installed the Quaife. Even before the turbo with the quaife it pulled either left or right under hard acceleration. Since the additon of over 100hp to the wheels, you need to have both hands on the wheel when doing hard acceleration or you may end up in a Jersey barrier or off the road, but the plus side is less overall wheel spin, even though it still lets you know your starving for traction in 1st & 2nd under moderate to hard acceleration.

 

Quaife is worth every penny IMO, but you can still spin the tires. This was the first run at the Indy Worker Invitational two years ago, which was just an excuse to kill off a set of tires at the end of the season.

Can't tell from the picture, but both wheels are spinning. I'm just moving forward fast enough that it isn't coming over the fenders.

Scott
90SM

 

my point exactly! in my pic only the inside tire is spinning (like crazy i might add) so all power and drive is being lost.