I have been having this issue for a while now and its been to the dealer twice. Its only been recently that i realized the connection. So I’ve been complaining of the steering feeling very twitchy so dealer did alignment and said i needed a better set of tires. Mine seemed worn from the alignment being off. Got new tires and no change. On the drive home from the tire store I realized that the tritchy feeling was directly linked to the throttle. If i give it gas at say 25 mph on, and probably lower just not as noticeable, the car pulls to the left pretty hard and as soon as you let off the gas either a little or all the way the car darts right. But the steering wheel never turns. Its like the front wheels are casters and the car just glides left and right depending on the amount of throttle. Its very unnerving to be in a left hand curve and give a little gas and suddenly your crossing the center line. It’s like torque steer at all speeds. I’m assuming my problem isn’t Clubman exclusive so im posting in the F56 page as well to see if anyone has had this problem or has a clue what the hell is going on here.

 

Torque steer is very common on front wheel drive autos, particularly in the MINI because the front axles are unequal lengths.

 

Duplicate post - see HERE for a healthier version of the same read.

Cheers,

Char

 

Yeah I agree. I've had a few MINIs and several fwd cars. This is VERY different though. I can honestly be in the center of my lane and just tap the gas or let off the gas and go from line to line on the road without ever adjusting the steering wheel. It's very abrupt and makes driving the car feel a little scary. I let my dad drive it last night so he could see what I was talking about and as soon as it happened he was amazed by how it pulled side to side with such a minimal throttle change.

 

Yeah I posted in both spots hoping for a better reach.

 

It sounds like to me that something is loose like the steering rack? Weird issue to have, but has to be something common between the two sides. So surmise the rack may be loose. Dealer needs to take a better/closer look.

 

Here is me just turnin the wheel back and forth quickly. Is the faint popping sound normal. It was much louder in the car. I tried driving with traction double off and it didnt change anything.

 

No the sound is not normal.

Cheers,

Charlie

PS: Many folks (myself included) use the "New Posts" Search as an entry page to NAM. That means all posts are in view, and duplicates stick out like an unnecessary sore thumb. ;-)

 

Front control arm bushings or ball joints.

 

That is pretty much where I was thinking to recommend you look. I would have to guess that the lower arm is moving about a bit, which will cause the alignment to 'wander' a bit, especially during load changes from power to coast. This 'slop' is not necessarily noticeable on an alignment rack. Replacement arms/bushings are not that much $$ and certainly wouldn't hurt.

 

Dropped it off at the dealership so we will see. The tech took a ride with me and was surprised by how it was doing but said he has never experienced it before. Fingers crossed.

 

So just as an update they have replaced the lower "dog bone" engine mount and said that made a slight improvement but think the transmission mount needs to be replaced as well. I have already replaced the upper mount last month and that didn't change a thing. $1200 more dollars Woohoo!

 

Turns out all of the engine mounts were bad at the same time. They said mainly the transmission mount and it was the one creating the problem.

 

Could've just tightened the mount anchors up and saved a lot of $$ I bet.

 

Yeah I'm honestly not sure. They said the trans mount was sagging a few millimeters and it was already at the dealer so I just said replace it. FINALLY my car drives like normal again so I'm content even though those 2 mounts ran about $1250 parts and labor.

 

Did they also replace the upper mount, that you did a month earlier??

Cause $1200 for the fog bone and trans is a little steep.
The trans mount is an easy fix after removing the battery and air filter box.
The dog bone, is the easiest of the three.

 

No that was just for the dog bone and trans mount. If I had been certain that was actually going to fix the problem I would have done it myself but honestly I was VERY skeptical. It's sucks to know that the trans mount is easy too since I could have done it myself. I think they charged for 4 hours labor on just the trans mount. Either way I know I took a small raping on the cost but it was there and it was the only way of ruling those parts out for them to move forward. I fully expected them to replace the mounts and then call saying that wasn't the solution but turns out it fixed it.

 

I understand your logic.
At least its resolved.

When my 2017 was under warranty, for a noise, they replaced all motor mounts both lower control arms with bushings, and strut towers.
I think the strut towers were the ultimate fix, You think if it wasn't under warranty they would have made me pay for their parts guesses?

 

They actually did all the same things to mine last year when the front passenger side started popping loud. And thats what I was afraid of this time. That this would turn into a trial and error situation. Initially when this problem started they aligned it and told me it was due to my shitty but fairly new Michelin tires. I despised the wet traction with them so I switched 2 months ago to Conti DWS 06 Plus. Obviously that didn't fix it but cost me $800. Then it was the top motor mount so I replaced that. Still no fixed so I took it back and thats when they replaced the other 2 mounts ultimately fixing the problem. Sad thing is that I have certified warranty but from what I can tell its pretty much a waste.