Hello everyone, I recently acquired my 3rd MINI, a ‘16 F55 S 6MT hatch. I’ve done some needed maintenance to it including new tires, fixed the fogged headlights and replaced the bulbs, put new pads and rotors front and rear, and also ordered some new rear shock absorbers (Koni SAS) and new bump stop/dust covers. I noticed that when coming to a stop, the car almost seems to sort of wobble from side to side at very low speed. It’s not something I feel in the steering, but I can actually feel the car lean to one side more than the other. To me it feels like the rear left side rises up and it wobbles to the right front. I’ve checked the control arm bushings, upper engine mount, made sure the lug nuts were tightened correctly, and also grabbed the wheels on all four corners and shaken the car to see if anything felt loose, but I came up empty.

Does anyone have an idea what the cause of this may be? Could it be a strut that’s worn out, a bad alignment (I do notice a slight pull to the left under acceleration), or even the lower engine mount (I’m replacing Friday or Saturday when the new bushing arrives)? The car has 105K miles and I paid under $7K for it, so I feel like I got a good enough deal that these things I’ve spent $1500-2000 on are to be expected. It’s a one owner, never wrecked (as far as CarFax says and I can tell by little things like the dates stamped on all of the parts), but this one sort of bucking motion when braking all the way to a stop is a bit perplexing. I first noticed it honestly after getting new tires when the car rolled back a little and I hit the brake pedal and felt like the car sort of tilted a bit. Hoping it’s not the sign of some major failure.

Any of your suggestions would be warmly welcomed. It feels great to be back in a MINI after a long time away. My previous two were both R56 S 6MT hatches, an ‘07 and ‘11.


PS: I feel like the gear shift action is slightly notchier/difficult and there’s a slight slight bit of slack in neutral. Is there a recommendation for tightening everything back up after 9 years and 105K miles of driving? I’ve thought about a short shifter kit, but didn’t know if that would actually improve things.

 

welcome, pulling under acceleration "torque steer" is normal. I will have to give your other concerns some thought.

 

I would tend towards an alignment issue, or a shock that needs replacement. With 100,000+ miles, the OEM dampers are most likely over-done. You already bought new rears, go ahead and get new fronts. Then get a good alignment performed. (make sure the front toe is the same on both sides)

Also, triple check the condition of the front control arm bushings.

 

doing the front struts is not super easy to change yourself. Of course it can be done and I have done them several times and it is easy now due to the repetitions. But i agree with Nik and his recommendations. Good news is that all it can be fixed/rebuilt.

 

The struts I would probably try myself IF I had someone that could help me. The rears I know I can do myself… if they ever arrive. UPS lost my package and it took them 5 days of no scans to acknowledge it was indeed lost. Thank you for your thoughts. I was thinking it was probably a shock/strut and alignment but wasn’t sure. I also just discovered the end caps on the engine are seeping oil. It’s apparently super common now on the B38/48. I’m glad I watched a video on YouTube because it’s apparently a super easy job that BMW/MINI charges 6 hours of labor to perform.

 

The fronts really aren't that bad. Just need a cheap spring compressor, and a strut socket (the one with the cutout for an allen key) for the top nut.

 

Several videos are available on the fronts. Most don't show using the spring compressor but it is really really hard without one. IMO