F56 Steering wheel Return To Center?
 

For you folks out there with F56's, does your Steering wheel Return To Center (RTC) after turning or have some resistance while turning/cornering? I drove a 2022 Clubman JCW and that seemed to RTC better than my car. I noticed this since new i.e. before the mods. Dealer alignment and they checked the programming too. Ty

I had that issue, dealer performed end stop programming after alignment.
Did they do that?

Yes, dealer said they did that.

Strut towers binding?

Not sure how to check that, I'll lift the front wheel/s and see if that makes a difference. I'm going to be test fitting an O.Z. wheel today.;)
Sport/green/mid doesn't effect it.

Is resistance equal left or right return, or more one side?

Equal, I was going to try backing up and see if centers. Is this a trait of the F56 chassis?
Dealers going to let me test a loaner when one's available.

FWIW (data point) I have never noted resistance of any meaningful kind to RTC, or float from center, in my F56. Cooper S, MY 2017, October 2016 manufacture.

Can't compare it to a '22 as I have never driven a '22. Also, as it has always felt "fine" (subjective) to me, I have never really thought much about it. The center point seems to be consistent and, well, centered.

When I drive I don't generally take hands off the steering wheel to let it "fully unspool on its own," if you get my meaning -- so my reference point on this may be limited.

The car doesn't wander on the highway, stays pretty much spot on, when cornering feels as tho I can let go of the wheel and it'll stay pointed towards the direction of the corner i.e. I have to straighten it out. I'm out of warranty end of month so I wanted to look into this.
Please feel free to pay close attention next time your in a corner
I don't think? electric steering racks "Fully unspool" that was a fun trait of older cars.:)
Thanks for the input folks.

Ah, ok, I follow.

I was under the impression that return to center was largely driven by caster and toe-in -- both of those being alignment questions of course -- but I can also see how hydraulic (not-MINI) vs electric (MINI) steering racks absolutely would change... something or other, if not tuned for at least.

Yeah I'll check it out and report back. My 2017 has been out of warranty for a bit, in fact the warranty was buhbye when I bought it in the 70K mile range, but the feel & handling have been consistent the whole time I've owned it -- so I can definitely advise of my baseline once I've identified it for you. More to come.

Interesting issue. My 2019 JCW has the JCW Pro coilovers, same as yours, but not the brace or sway bars. So, pretty much the same. Mine is vague on center and wanders a bit. This is somewhat a function of tires. The craptastic Hankooks it came with were really bad. The Conti DWs are much better.

The RTC seems to be fine. Nothing notable there.

Typically RTC is a function of caster. I know that isn’t adjustable on these cars but it should be reported. You say it has been aligned, so I would guess you have the factory amount of caster.

How much is your car lowered? Not sure if that would make a difference or not.

Centering in reverse won't happen as caster is set for forward driving.

OK, looked at my work order from past. When mine wouldn't center.

They had to reinitialize the EPS. (Electronic Power Steering)

Also
EPS Start up - steering angle calibration
EPS-End Stop Learning.

"unspool" in hydraulic steering is driven by caster. Hydraulic only assists when turning, by way of overcoming a torsion valve which opens a fluid port to push against the piston in the rack.
When letting go of the wheel, the hydraulic pressure is cut off. No assist returning, Thats caster.

Now with electric, I presume its the same, not input to the wheel, the electric assist stops, and caster "unspools"

The EPS calibrations I mentioned above teaches the steering when your steering wheel is centered, and where the end stops are.
After calibrations, my issues went away, as my F56 would not return to center. As if the power steering was still assisting.

My work order says "start up/initialization" but the mechanic said that was the "end programming".

My car doesn't wander, more like once you turn it want's to stay turned. I have stock Pirelli's, when I had the GY Eagle F1 3R's car tramlined, cause those are basically slicks, the steering did feel more lively tho.
I lowered it 10mm when installed coilovers but haven't checked it since install, probably settled a bit.
You like the conti's much better than stock? I had 3 different tires (Yoko A052, Michelin PSS GY eagles) and I kept going back to the stock pirelli's. No autocrossing or racing.

I wasn’t sure if my issue would help with yours, so I put it out there for consideration anyway. There is some good info coming out in this thread, though. So glad I found it.

Your lowering is similar to what I have done. Nothing extreme. Just trying to thinking out of the box about this issue.

Yes, I really like the Conti DWs. However, these have been updated to the Extreme Contact Sport. I have not driven the OEM Pirellis, but I would guess they are similar to my OEM Hankook. I use the DWs strictly as street tires and on the street I drive, maybe, 7 or 8 10ths at most. Of course the Contis are not RFT, so they ride better. They are “appropriately” stiff for the car and compliment the car’s suspension well On most pavement they are reasonably quiet; quieter than the Hankooks Turn-in is really good, grip is good; much harder to break loose than the Hankooks with an aggressive application of the throttle. No tramlining. They track better. Highest marks to the Contis for wet performance. In the wet, the DWs are amazing. I have been in flash thunderstorms that covered the road in standing water and had no issues at 50-60 mph. Overall, where I have no confidence that the Hankooks will do what I want from them, the DWs are just the opposite. From what I have read the Conti Extreme Contact Sports have the performance of the DWs, with improvements. So i would expect my comments about the DWs would apply to the replacement. I do carry a Harbor Freight 12v air pump in the empty tool well in the back, just in case.

I did not have that issue either, but driving straight, I would nudge the wheel a little to left or right, and it wouldn't straighten up, I was constantly correcting.
Im also lowered on Bridgestone Potenza S04 Pole Position, dumped the Pirellis runflats right away.

Just had a chance to drive my F56. No issues with RTC. In a corner, if I let go of the steering wheel it returns to center; it unwinds on its own the way I would expect it to work.

I think you and I are describing the same issue. Going straight on a road it takes very small constant corrections to keep it going straight. I called it wandering, but I think it is the same thing. Sorry if I sound confused, but are you saying the EPS calibrations corrected this issue? But, you’re not sure if it will correct MikeMJCW’s issue?

If I nudge my wheel while on the highway car will stay pointed in the direction of the nudging but I don't think i'm making constant correction to keep it straight (need to try it later on an open stretch). Maybe I'll have my son video it.
Thanks for everyone input.

I cant say it wanders but at just the slightest tap/nudge on highway sends the car aggressively into the next lanes, around sharp on/off ramps wheel will re-center, to an extent. My other non Mini's RTC at almost every speed.
Is there a fuse that can temporarily deactivate the power steering? If so will there be servo motor resistance or will the steering rack/motor lock up? In the 80's i had blown PS pumps, was a workout to turn the wheel.
Uploaded to youtube private link:

I think the only way to do video is to post it to YouTube and then link to it in a post here...

Paid some more attention, and did some more deliberate letting the wheel "unspool" yesterday, with my 2017 F56 Cooper S. Tires are Bridgestone Driveguard run flats, 205/45 RF17.

Net, I don't seem to have a return to center issue, and I don't have to do any real correcting while the steering wheel is at center.

- Re "unspooling," it doesn't unspool quite the way I expect from vehicles with power steering pumps -- I feel like it's harder to get a sense of how fast it's going to unspool, because resistance isn't changing a whole lot based on how far the wheel is turned. But it definitely does unspool, and it definitely returns to center.

- Re "wandering," so long as the road crown isn't trying to pitch me off the side of the road, my car pretty much goes in a straight line with the wheel dead center -- even with both hands off the wheel. If there is more road crown, I have to compensate for it, but that's true with any car -- the only question vehicle to vehicle is how much effort I have to put into it. On my F56S, I rarely have to put effort into it or think about it, which is a big difference from my MY1995 not-MINI other car.

The only real steering issue I have with my F56S is understeer, which has been separately discussed at great length elsewhere as compared to the non-S F56. Apparently the heavier engine in the F56S leaves many who have driven both S and non-S noting that the non-S handles better, while the S tends to want to, well, plow. Even my R56S was better than my F56S in that regard, actually. Pushing hard through a right turn at an intersection is always guaranteed to feel like the front end is going to lose traction. Different tires might help, but you get the idea.

OK that's great info. If you saw my video you can see how the cars keeps rounding the corner on its own. I'm hoping it's just a programming issue and my dealer can figure it out.
I had a 1982 ford Fiesta (in Italy) which was front wheel drive with oversteer, yes oversteer. Had no HP, tiny 13" tires but was a riot to drive on the mountain switchbacks, fishtailing a FWD car :lol:

I see what you're talking about in terms of the car continuing to round the corner. I haven't tried that particular scenario -- not a lot of that particular combo of "runway length" and not-sharp turn in my usual drives -- but I do seem to recall in general that if I want the car to take that kind of turn, I need to make sure I'm turning the wheel. Interesting.

I also did a spot check earlier tonight, my steering wheel definitely wants to live not only at center, but dead center. If it's in that spot, and I'm not dealing with road crown or other terrain that will naturally make the car drift left or right, I have to give the wheel an intentional nudge to get it to be anywhere but center.