Greetings, This is my first mini so I'm not sure what is "normal" and what can be fixed. I bought this 07 R52 with 125K miles on it. The suspension was all stock. It felt like a lose bucket of bolts. Big vibrations at idle, a "thud" when you accelerated or decelerated. Kidney punches on every bump. etc.

So far I have replaced the following.
1. Control arm bushings (OEM)
2. Outer ball joints (OEM)
3. Shocks Koni Special Active (red)
4. Shock mounts
5. Engine mounts
6. Both axels
7. Front wheel bearings
8. Rotors & Pads
9. New tires
10. Alignment

Pretty much every issue above was solved. No more idle vibrations, no thud, takes bumps OK, etc. I have two remaining issues I don't know are normal or not. I'm assuming not.

Issue one is at 50mph it feels smooth and rides nice. At 70mph it feels a little shaky. Increased vibrations, lots of road feedback. By contrast my Tesla S is smooth as glass at 40 mph or 100 mph. So what causes increase in vibration with increase in speed? I'm not sure what else there is to change? Swaybar stuff? Does your R52 do the same? Just doesn't seem like in 2007 that would "normal".

Second issue, I hear people talk about torque steer. I'm not sure if this is that, but essentially when I accelerate it pulls slightly to the right. When I let off the throttle, there is a distinct pull to the left for a second. It's not unmanageable, but it's clearly there.

Thanks for your help. I'm really enjoying this car. Especially with the top down in So Cal weather.

 

Does it have stock or aftermarket wheels?

 

Stock 17" R52 wheels. 4 brand new tires, all 4 were just balanced.

 

my 07 JCW S is very harsh ride on rough surfaces at high speed but I put that down to the "run flat" tires, what tires are you using?
Russ

 

Well I just had them install regular tires. The run flats that Les Schawb could get were 3x the cost of normal tires. I figured I'll just ruin the tire and get a new one. Next time I'll plan ahead and find a better deal on runflats.

 

Was going to say the aftermarket wheels might be missing the hubcentric rings, but you have stock wheels.

It could be a bad balance or a bent wheel. Assuming the backs don’t have an issue, one quick way to check is to rotate the fronts to the back as the back is less sensitive to those things.

 

Yes, check the balance, sometimes the stick on weights can come off.

 

I'll throw out there to consider the inner and outer tie rods.

 

Thanks everyone. I ordered new tie rod ends. I plan to also change the inner ball joints. I may have gotten a bad axel as well. Going to try those things and will report back. Clearly not normal.

 

Turns out issue 1: I had two bent rims on the right side of the car. They didn't register on the balance machine but the tech said he could see it. He moved them both to the rear. The shaking is gone.
Issue 2: The shop that did my control arm bushings, did not torque down the driver side inner ball joint. It was moving 1/2 inch in every direction. Torqued it down and the "torque steer" and jerking is gone.

The bent rims in the rear cause a slight vibration at 70 but not bad. Generally feels good. Not a Tesla, but probably close to 'normal'. I'm still going to change out some more suspension parts to make it all new.

 

Thanks for posting the resolution to your issue!

 

There should be somebody reputable in your neck of the woods to repair your rims. If not totally at least to a point that you can easily live with?