March 20, 2020 (Friday):
Noticed a harsh, bumpy ride when driving. Upon arriving home, pulled the car into the garage, checked the tire pressure, and forgot about it.

March 21, 2020 (Saturday) / odometer 060691:
The "bumpy ride" continued on the way to work (06:45 a.m. / pre-dawn). Also, from the driver's seat, it seemed like the right side of the hood was slightly lower. Upon arrival, verified the right rear suspension had obviously collapsed, and the fender was close to the tire (see photos). I presumed it was a broken spring, or shock.

I scheduled a service appointment for next week, but hoped to get a response from others who may have experienced the same thing. Could a broken shock cause the sagging as shown in the photos? I don't recall hitting any major pot holes on the previous drive. It seems like what ever failed, did so while the car parked was in the garage after the previous drive, because the bumpy ride started as soon as I left the house on Friday March 20, and I didn't notice it before that time.

 

This looks similar.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

You need to look underneath and see what is broken. You should not be driving it without knowing what is wrong. It could be very unsafe.

 

This looks just like the one posted recently, you have to have something broken like a shock, spring, or upper strut mount. You should NOT be driving it until it is fixed as it could be very dangerous as it could come apart and cause you to loose control, depending on what it is.

 

It was a broken spring. Also replacing the shock.

 

Wow! And thanks for reporting back. I was just going to ask :-)

 

Back in the crib. Right rear spring and shock replaced. Also had serpentine belt replaced, and had them do the 10,000 mile service (oil delta).

 

Thats good its fixed, so the stock spring cracked?

 

Yes, the car is stock (including the springs). Seemed premature for such a failure, but the car was sold in October 2014 (as a 2015 model), and it has 60,700 miles. Was unaware of hitting any major pot holes, etc. so not sure why it happened.

 

Yes, i seen one other person on the forums talk about this, we have a guy with an R60 at our place and we have not really seen rust on the spring. Do you have a picture of the old spring?

Thanks for the info.

 

No picture. Sorry. Should have asked for one, but didn't.

 

Ok, thanks for checking.

 

April 1: No fooling - this morning, the left rear spring broke. Got it in for service again. I guess it makes sense since both springs were under the same stress, but it definitely came as surprise. Pulling out of the driveway, there was a loud bang. Otherwise, no indication that anything was about to go wrong.

 

That is nuts!

 

I'll second that emotion.

 

FYI - this morning (as the left side spring broke) I asked for some detail on the condition of the right spring. He said they are covered in a plastic coating to prevent rust, and there were no untoward signs of stress, damage, or other mean, nasty, horrible things. So, not much useful information.

 

Thanks, on older BMWs we see them rust then crack at the rust spot. No so much a MINI thing we have saw.

 

I've experienced two suspension spring failures this summer on my 2012 MINI Countryman. The driver-side front spring failed while the car was parked for approximately two weeks in my driveway. The passenger-side rear spring failed yesterday while headed straight at about 50 mph on a smooth expressway. The car has about 97,000 on it, and has not been driven aggressively. I've owned and driven many vehicles and I have not previously experienced a spring failure on any of them. I thought I should add my experience to this forum.

 

My right rear spring let go in my 2014 countryman do you have to change the whole assembly or just the spring.

 

E

 

Just the spring. Some might recommend changing the left spring, too, since that way their characteristics (spring rate and height) will be perfectly matched.

 

My right rear spring failed just a short time after my left front spring failed. The rear spring was an easy swap, but the front was quite complicated. On the front spring, my mechanic had to order multiple assemblies as he received the incorrect RHS assembly more than once. Ultimately, I believe he ordered both sides (LHS and RHS), and then matched the parts that were needed. I wondered afterward if the LH front failure led to the RH rear failure that occurred shortly thereafter. Perhaps, it was stressed when the left front of the car dipped down. I would say have all your springs checked out, but there is nothing really to check. There was no rust on either of the two springs that failed. It was almost as if they had work-hardened after 97,000 miles.

I sold the car after the second spring failure. This was after two headlight failures within days of each other, and an exhaust system (flex tube) failure that the dealer quoted as a $2500 repair. I was lucky to find an independent shop that did custom exhaust work -- $250 and ten minutes later, I was happily on my way.

 

We can get the springs, just PM your vin. I would replace in pairs so you dont have one sag. Otherwise just switch over to aftermarket /performance springs all around.

 

This seems to be a common issue with the Countryman. I have a 2015 that the rear driver's side spring failed on. I also heard of another 2015 that both failed. Does anyone know why this isn't a recall with Mini?

 

I'm waiting for someone to blame it on runflat tires.