Hi All,

I have an '08 Cooper with 24,000 miles on it. A few weeks ago, I started noticing vibration in the gas pedal and steering wheel when I get the speed up to 65 or higher. At about 75, I can feel it in the seat. I called the dealership and took it in yesterday, and of course, they didn't feel the vibration or find anything at all wrong with the balance or alignment.

Does anyone have any ideas on this? I want to go back to the dealer with it but I'm pretty sure they'll just drive it again and tell me they don't see a problem. I'm not really very knowledgeable about cars at all, but it seems to me like it must be a balance issue. All 4 tires have weights on them, although the front driver side tire appears to be smaller than the other three.

 

check for a bubble in all the tires, believe it or not a vibration in the seat could mean a rear brake rotor is warped, My guess is still a balance issue as it happens at a certain speed

 

This is disturbing. Check the numbers on the tires and make sure they match.

 

If it was the weights on the tire, it would have been a problem right from the beginning, not after 24k miles, right?

I would start with the simple stuff --> Check Tire Pressure...
My second beater car has a leaky front left tire, and that one starts vibrating at high speeds every 2 or 3 weeks.. simple indication of unequal tire pressures.

Then, like JRoca mentioned, look for bubbles in the tire..

Don't know if you drive a Manual / Auto, but if manual, just switch to neutral gear for a few seconds and let go of the throttle, when you feel the vibration at 65.. that'd tell if it's the engine or chassis that's causing it

If still nothing, then I'd take somebody from your dealership for a joy ride

 

I'm guessing that you have factory wheels. If you have after-market wheels, do you have centering rings for the wheels?

Take it to a tire shop and have them spin balance the wheels.

If that doesn't solve it, and you have an iPhone, there is an app called "Vibration" that (surprise, surprise) records vibrations. With the iPhone firmly mounted (or duct tapped ) to the dash, record the vibrations. If possible, compare them to another MINI or similar car. Take that data to the dealer.

 

This thread didn't go too far before deteriorating somewhat, but it may (?) be of some help to you (https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...question.html). My last trip to the tire shop seems to have taken care of it. They did find one of the tires slightly out of balance and did end up adding another weight to the tire.

 

Actually, not neccesarily.... as tires become seated in and worn a bit, it's not uncommon that they need to be rebalanced.

Okay, back to the original problem.

Obviously depending the vibration, there are two common vibrations. One is when the rotors are worn but you'll feel it in the brake pedal and you'll see the steering wheel shimmy back and forth as you lightly ride the brakes. That's because the rotors are warped and it can transfer back into the steering wheel.

What your problem sounds like is a balancing or tire problem. If at 65 your vibration is there and you either speed up or slow down and it goes away, I'm guessing tire balancing. You may have lost a weight, tires may have seated themselves or you have an issue with the tires themselves.

Check your speeds on the highway and see if you can duplicate it. Many times when a tech gets a car they won't drive it at the speeds you do and therefore can't duplicate the problem.

Pay attention to speeds, temps, does it do it early in the morning when they're cold or anytime?

Air pressure though affecting handling and ride shouldn't cause an actual vibration (unless it's RIDICULOUSLY high or low)

HTH's,

Mark

 

Could be a bent (out of round) rim as well. Which sometimes only presents itself at certain speeds.

 

Agreed but usually a bent rim you can feel at a much wider mph range.

The easiest and best thing for them to do is borrow someone's wheels/tires and swap them out. If the vibration goes away, then you know it's in the wheels or tires.

Mark

 

the number and location of the weights will quite commonly differ from wheel to wheel. As stated it is possible over time for the uneven wearof a tire to require re-balancing; AND it is possible over time for a wheel to loose a weight ... slightly curbing the wheel can catch a clip on weight and I've had them just FLY OFF for no good reason. {hint, take digital pictures of the wheels showing weights and compare if you have a suspect problem...but note there can be weights on both sides....}

sadly, just taking the car to a shop to get the balance checked isn't that easy cuz there's a bit in the skill of the operator. Once you find a place/person that does this reliably well .... hold on to them. As valuable as a dentist or a barber!

Oh yes the machine is computerized and could be operated by a dummy ... NOT.

 

That's a great piece of advice. As a bodyshop, there are only a very few places I use to do alignments and get tires mounted.

It's kind of like a painter.... anyone can pull a trigger and put paint on a car. There's only a handful that I would call painters.


Mark