I'm having a problem with a bad vibration shaking the whole car.

It's not the CV Shafts, tire balance, engine mounts, or wheels. All have been replaced or checked.

Thoughts?

 

Also, It's pretty much happens only when my foot is on the gas pedal..

I've been told it could be the gearbox... I'm hoping it's not...

 

Year car, and model?
No codes right?

 

Do you feel the vibration in the steering wheel?
Could be wheel alignment such as the toe being off.
Could be lower control arm bushings worn out letting the alignment change.

 

2003 Mini cooper S.

Just changed all the bushings last year too.

Vibration in the steering wheel, the whole car shakes lol... If I have a drink in the cup holder you can watch it shake pretty violently.

 

Does it only when car is in motion not when stationary and engine operating above idle?

 

Yes. Only in motion.

 

I'm having a similar issue. In 3rd gear when I am flooring it in my r50 to hwy speeds I get a bit of a vibration. In my case it is very likely the CV axles though.


I honestly think that in your case it is the same problem. Highly unlikely that your transmission just all of the sudden is out of balance. If that was the case, the bearings would have probably exploded by now.

 

Details please, what exactly does the above mean? What has been checked?, How? What has been replaced? Why?

My money is on a bad CV joint simply because it is load dependent. A bad tire or bearing would likely be causing noise/vibration continuously. If the trans were bad enough to cause the symptoms described, it would be making an unholy racket, leaving little doubt as to the cause.

 

More details:

Just changed driver CV Shaft in the past few months. That was improperly installed and fell out when I was driving. We replaced that shaft with another one. (Maybe it coming out did some more damage than I thought?)

Passenger CV shaft was replaced last year.

Driver side was purchased from NAPA, Passenger side Autopart International.

Could be bad parts???

Just mounted and balanced my tires on rims in much better shape than my old ones.

 

The mechanic said he had to shave a few 1000's of an inch off the driver side shaft to get it to click in. I mean could that be something?

It started off barely noticeable. But has gotten worse since.

It's been happening since before I changed the Axle. Maybe it's the passenger side.

 

Worn splines. Need new axles. Just did mine on 2003 R53 and all smooth.

 

Is there a noise that accompanies this vibration?

 

I have noticed a clicking once in awhile when I pull out.

Other than the entire car shaking everything and making noises, none that I notice on high speeds.

 

What would be a good replacement? Should I just change The passenger side since I just changed the driver side?

Think the axle coming out on the driver side tore something up in the gearbox?

 

OK, so the vibration has been there with two differnt sets of tires or same tires on different rims?

 

i had the same problem like a month ago, really bad vibration when stepping on the gas pedal. I replaced both driver and passenger side axle with the halfshaft as well. The vibration went away but the right axle keeps popping out of the half shaft almost every time i hit a dip and destroys all the bearings, even if im driving slow it might still pop out :( 5 axles later still having the same issue.

 

I know it was not in a Mini, but both times I had really bad vibration it was because of Ball Joints or Wheel Bearings. My brother just had super bad vibration with acceleration and motion in his VW Golf and it was the ball joints. I had a Chevy Blazer also ball joints. I had a Hyundai Accent... Tie Rod Links and wheel bearing.... 92 Honda Civc - Ball joint - Car actually had wheel go horizontal while turning, which caused it to hit the ground pretty good.

If it's none of those I would start saying CVs. I doubt it's transmission related since it hasn't blown up. Plus usually with tranny issues you will hear grinding from the center of the car or noise from the center.

I wish you luck!

 

Well I decided to try replacing the driver side CV axle.

Worked like a charm. I'm pointing my fingers at a bad part. Bought that last axle at Autopart International.

Thanks for the advice!

 

I'm having the same issue. Vibration under accel but only in 5th and 6th gear. Does anyone recommend a supplier for the shafts? Nothing would tick me off more than having to do the job twice because of crummy parts.

 

I've had the same issue, except my R53 is nearly 300hp. I refurbished coilovers, put a new set of tires/balancing them.

It was the cv/axel all along. DO NOT BUY A REMAND AXEL W/ CV. Go to car-parts.com and find a low mile wreck. I got my entire assembly for 110$ with cv and all.

cured all my front end vibrations. For your information, I go through a set of axes every 20bmiles at tthis hp. My next set will be RMW specials which come with Porsche 993 cv joints.

 

on car-parts.com myself looking for low mile axle for my left side... what do you consider low mile? most seem around 100k on them for around 100$

 

I hear nothing but good about driveshafts from the driveshaft shop. They only come in pairs and are made in USA for $400 for the pair. They also have racing set rated to 425 wheel hp for $800. With that said. I have cheap $100 axles on my mini now too. They have lasted 4 years and I have a slight vibration just like this post is talking about. I'm slowly rebuilding my mini and I will be getting new driveshafts within a year. I too had to grind my cheap Chinese axle down to get it to clip in.

 

So here's the deal...
ended up being axle, shot to hell bushings and sloppy ball joints.
The garage did the axle and then said it would be 6 hrs to
drop the subframe and do bushings. So... I'm going to follow the minimania guy on YouTube and cut off the old ones WITHOUT dropping the subframe and then also do the ball joints myself. Btw, bought a rebuilt axle for it

 

Also... with needing bushings and outer ball joints.... it's not safe to take it on a 4 hr trip is it? 😉