I know - off topic... But...
There must be a big difference in suspension between the F56S and the F56 JCW as the JCW is very neutral. I was surprised when I first took the JCW to the track at the lack of push, even with stock camber.

 

Interesting. So my next MINI needs to be a JCW huh?

 

Front sway bar takes care of the understeer, let me rephrase that.
Adding a rear sway added oversteer, front sway bar took away oversteer to neutral. No more understeer.
H&R 27mm solid front with H&R 25mm solid rear. Along with H&R springs. Its litteraly a go kart.

As far as the video goes, I see and that is not right.

Have the dealer redo the alignment, along with the programming I mentioned earlier.
Get a printout if the final alignment specs too.

 

Alignment from 9-20.

 

Nothing odd about your actual alignment. It looks like the caster is on target and close from one side to the other. All else looks good, too. Back in the day, caster would drive the RTC. Not sure about these cars today.

 

Alignment is fine.

but it’s 18 months old.

 

understood, car behaved this way since new.

 

Best get it in to the dealer before you miss out on the warranty. You should be able to take a mechanic or SA out into a parking lot and show them what it is not doing.

 

I should have stayed more on top of this but I do have earlier records and a case # with Mini just in case. I'll update once dealer revisits this issue.
Thanks all for the input.

 

End stop done, wheel seems to favor left of center tho, alignment was off a bit, car steers better, seem to RTC a little bit better.
Alignment form 6-22

 

Glad you got a bit of an improvement.

One thing that I noticed in the alignment was that in your pre-alignment your front toe was 0. I am not sure if this could have played into your RTC issue, but I do know that it can play into the steering not staying on center when going straight. Maybe that played into your issue. As flor it now favoring to the left, that is likely the correction for the crown of the road and maybe noticeable now because the toe is now correct...

 

Is the wheel a little off center to the left? But goes straight with the wheel off center, and goes right when centering.?
Thats the toe adjustment needing a little more on one side, and the same amount less on the other.
Meaning the toe was set with the wheel not perfectly straight.

Or does it pull to the left when letting go of the wheel? Could be a little bit of tire radial pull.

 

Brought it back, they corrected it, wheels is centered now, not favoring left or right. Tested a 2022 F56 Cooper S (closest thing to my car on lot), that RTC'd a tiny bit better than mine but also had more play in the wheel, sits higher and was softer.
Thanks to all for your help, now I might "finally" be ready for Dragons Tail!!

 

Enjoy the Dragon!

 

I'm wondering if I have a similar issue. Just picked up a 2017 JCW and i made a quick lane change today and while I expected the car to RTC after the lane change, it didnt and I had to push it back to center.

I rented a F56 MCS before the JCW and it would RTC rather quickly. thats what made it feel like what everyone says a mini feels like - a go cart.

I feel like my JCW now doesnt have that same feel and steering is very dull. its responsive but it doesnt give me much road feel and quick to RTC feel I had in the MCS.

 

Most people feel the F56 JCW is much better with the “go kart” feel than the MCS. So, maybe yours does need the alignment done. But whatever shop does it, they will have to be able to do the things talked about in this thread. These were all new to me and I wonder if they are dealer only things... If your car is a MINI CPO, definitely go back to them. Good luck with it and let us know how you make out.

 

Do you know if independent alignment shops are able to do the EPS learning/reinitializing? Its not CPO but the dealer is about 3 hours and several tolls away. I'm just wondering if its worth it to bring it there for this if an indie shop nearby can do it

edit: just took another drive. It seems the initial 5-10 degrees of steering (either left or right) it doesn’t RTC. anything more than that I think it will RTC just from how the car naturally is. Do you guys think this is normal or should I go ahead and try the EPS reinitialization?

 

Sorry - Don’t know about independent shops being able to do this. You would have to ask. If you have what you think is a good one, stop in and see what they say. Sometimes they are more willing to talk face to face about unusual things. Also see if the call out being able to do BMWs, as they will be the same.

My JCW is a bit “dull” on center. Not sure if it is the same as yours, but not strong self centering on mine. I had it realigned by the dealer shortly after I got it with no improvement. I am not sure all that they did, though.

I know this is costly, but something to think about when needing to change tires. The thing I found is tires make a real difference. I got mine new and it came with Hankook AS RFTs and they are horrible. For one, it would wander going straight. In the summer I now put on Continental DWs (it is now called something else). A huge improvement, in all respects including staying on center. From reviews I have seen, another option would be Michelins For the track I run Falken RT660, a 200 TW tire, which is a major step up from the Conti, but wear fast.

 

I may have to ask around then. Since this is my first time owning a Mini, I'm just not sure if its just the characteristic of the car or not. It definitely wasnt during my MCS rental. I udnerstand though its a different car, different tires, wheels, etc.

With that being said, I do have Conti DWS on there from the previous owner. I've had DWS tires before on other cars and I feel they are a bit soft so maybe thats exacerbating the issue. Also on the stock 17" wheels so maybe with the bigger sidewall, it plays in the factor also. Either way though, I just feel like a Mini shouldn't feel like this lol.

 

The DWS is a very soft tire. A friend who had them on a MINI and ran them at a higher pressure by 3 or 4 psi to get them to handle well. So, if it were me, I would run them at about 38 - 39 psi. The tire pressure tag on my JCW says to run the tires at something like 44 psi, but that is way to high and with my Hankooks it made matters worse. Hope that helps.

 

The 2022 F56 loaner didn't RTC at the 5-10 deg like you mention. The 2022 JCW Clubman loaner RTC'd better than the 2022 F56 and my car.
I drove a few different Mini loaners over the years and they do tend to feel dull on center but have good turn in. I ranted about (on a different thread) how unassisted racks had road feel and liveliness.
It appears to me to be trait of the car electric/steering etc. checking the alignment cant hurt and its not that costly.
Happy 4th!!

 

have you checked tire pressures just before or while in motion? my car sits parked most of the day with only the two drivers’ side wheels in sunlight, so it can really pull hard to the right for the first 20 minutes or so of driving. threw me off for months!

 

I actually meant to update, the dealer filled the tires to the recommended pressures for the runflat tires (over 40psi) even though I have non runflats now. Lowered to around 34-35psi and reset tpms. Seems to have helped a bit. There’s still a little “slop” for a lack of better word in the middle which I think may just be the characteristic of the car, tires, wheel size, etc.

 

Interesting point

Yeah, that MINI recommended tire pressure is wrong for any tire, including the RFTs... I think it is for decreased rolling resistance and improved gas mileage.

I think your description of “slop” in the middle fits with what the rest of us has been saying, which would be “the car”. However, as was noted above, a basic wheel alignment, that can be done by a quality independent shop, might help if the toe-in front and/or rear is out, or rear camber is out. I would also suggest raising your tire pressure on the DWS tires by about 2 psi and see if that helps. It might, given that I find that the stiffer sidewall 200 TW tires I use are better than the softer DW tires.

 

Hey Guys! Just reviving an old thread related to my issue with my jcw.
I had a 2018 jcw that had this “aggressive” (i cal sharp) handling, noticed changing lanes at the road, I LOVED that feeling. I have just traded it into a 2020 jcw that doesn’t do that, feels kinda dull. Tyres are different (old had pirelli P7, new has dunlop sportmaxx, both RFT). Is there anything i can do to match the steering i had before?