Merging on to the hwy last night as I accelerated from 50mph in 4th gear to 6th, the front end of my R53 began to shake violently in an up and down motion as I reached 55 - 70mph. And I mean violently! The up and down shaking is more obvious under throttle yet subsides a bit when letting off the gas. It is so bad that the car seems undrivable at speeds over 50mph @ 2,7k rpms. There is no side to side shaking or movement at the steering wheel. I can visually see the hood and entire front end of my Mini bouncing up and down and shaking under acceleration.
There has been no recent work done on my Mini - The symptoms just came on without any advanced warning.
I haven't had a chance to get the front up off the gound to inspect the subframe components & wheels but upon last
​​​​oil change 3 weeks ago, I routinely looked over all subframe components and found no wear or torn pillows/rubber boots.
notes about the suspension:
_Lowered - riding on Bilstein B14 adjustable coilovers (2yrs)
_ Lemforder Upper Strut mounts (approx 20k mi?)
_CAB - Powerflex (40k mi)
_Wheel bearings/hubs Detroit Axle (25k mi) - no play at all
_Febi Inner & outer ball joints (30k mi)
_Meyle drop links (30k mi)
_Outer tie rods (50k mi?)
_Top motor mount - VibraTechnics (2k - 3k mi)
_Strut tower vibration mount - stock (20k mi)
_Lower engine mount - Power flex inserts (3k mi)
_Trans/gearbox mount - Power flex (35k mi)
_Crank pulley - PRW fluid filled (45k mi)
*_ Axles - Stock/ OEM (re packed @80k) feel and sound good - no clicking/clunking, no up and down motion, only a slight bit of in and out movement. (**Could axles cause this kind of violent vibration?)

Besides speculating that perhaps the strut mounts could be worn; I'll have to check to see if I'm **missing any wheel weights.
Any thoughts as to upper strut mounts could cause this?
Any insight as to what else may cause, what else to look for would be appreciated.
Thanks.
EDIT: CUT TO THE CHASE AND READ THE FIRST PART OF POST#20 FOR THE FIX!
spoiler ~ driver side CV

 

Yes, if the Front strut mounts have torn so badly that the bearing is no longer captured by the rubber then all you are riding on is the spring. Nothing is controlling bounce/rebound. Good Luck!

 

sorry to hear about the trouble.

i'd say a visual inspection is a must. front suspension, trans, driveshafts, breaks, steering, wheels

 

I had the opportunity to put the car on jack stands and did a look, touch and wrench overview.
Upon hands on visual inspection I could not find a single thing that jumped out at me that would be the cause of such violent vibration (@ 4k -5k rpms it almost feels like the front wheels are ready to come off the ground).
The tie rods seemed pretty tight. But I did notice a bit of inside tire wear and took a field measurement. I corrected a slight toe out (the car drives straight but vibration is still present).
With the front end up on jack stands, I couldn't determine any issues with the axles. Again no clicking/clunking or unusual up/down - in/out motion.
I ran the car while the front was on stands and revved the engine while in first gear. Obviously since there was no load on the wheels the engine was limited to revs of 2,5k rpms and the wheels turned silently and smoothly.
Wheel bearing were tight - Absolutely no play "around the clock" (12/6 & 9/3).
While revving the engine on jacks - The one thing that did catch my attention was that the engine physically jerked when giving it gas. From that point, I went back under the car and laid my cell phone camera placed on record so I could capture the movement (if any) of my lower engine mount. Being that there was some movement in the mount when the given gas; I'm not sure that it was significant enough to be the culprit. Unfortunately I don't know how to upload a video...(a little help?)
The suspected upper strut mounts/bearings look fine upon visual inspection (without removal). No tears no cracks and are each level @ 1/8" across the top of the M7 strut tower plates.


Right Strut Bearing -while up on jacks


Left Strut Bearing - while up on jacks


Left Strut Bearing - Wheels on the ground - straight edge across the top -1/8" clearance.


Right Strut Bearing - Wheels on the ground - straight edge across the top -1/8" clearance

Not to suggest that the bearing/mounts themselves are not squashed or have failed. However, I would think some evidence of cracks or tears would be the case (???).

 

upload video to youtube and post link here. thats how i do it.

are the engine and trans mounts in working order?

what a strange occurrence

rims torqued down?

 

if you turn off the dsc you should be able to rev higher. careful with this, dont want to possibly jump off the stand

 

Hmm,
Well, I don't have a youtube account (don't really want one).
All engine mounts are Power flex - Top mount is Vibra Technics none are broken or worn. Trans mount is solid w/Power flex.
Wheels are torqued to 89# / no weights missing
DSC is never on. Switch on demand via center switch console.

Interesting to note though after another test drive - 2 things:
1) After tweaking the alignment the vibration (although still present) is not as bad.
2) Driving slow over bumps and speed humps; I can now hear what sounds like my front springs slightly creak.
Currently, this has me believing that my Lemforder Strut bearings are indeed collapsed (despite visually looking ok). As a direct link; I have to believe this has also caused my alignment to be off.
So, I'm guessing - Top strut mount/bearings and another alignment is in order (?).
It would be nice to go with fixed camber plates and (hopefully) be done with these prone to fail rubber strut mount bearings. Unfortunately It's not in budget at this time nor do I personally, really want any negative camber.

 

There is a possibility of one of the cords in the tire have broken down ?

 

interesting thought.
I'll have to take a closer look. Is there any way to see if that might be the case (bulge in the tread area?).
I'm riding on Continental DWS extreme sport (approx 20k mi w/good tread).
All the roads are extremely rough and bumpy out here.
Seems as if anyone I talk to that drives always thinks there might be something wrong with their car. Roads are that bad.

 

Vibration & noise indicates a feeling that the wheel is shaking , unbalanced or wobble and suggests internal belts have separated ; also tread pattern appears wavy or uneven . A quick way would be to swap front to rears and this would prove a tire problem…

 

Excellent advice.
Yes - That's pretty much what it feels like - as if something is out of round, unbalanced or like driving on the "Oregon trail".
Rotating the tires, front to back was one thing that I had planned on doing while I had the car on jack stands before patrolling security ran me out of the Walmart parking lot. I guess having a car up on jack stands on "private" property is frowned upon.
All kidding aside - (although true), I'll see if I can find a less than active spot to swap the tires around and report back to let you know how it went.
Thanks again - good advice!

 

Didn’t you say recently that you had a bunch of snow? Snow packed into the wheel and/or tire can cause a violent vibration.

I had that happen on my Mk IV GTI when driving in greater Boston during many snow events. It was unsettling…

 

Yeah - we had about 4" of snowfall overnight.
By daybreak the sun usually burns it off by 9am so all that's left is wet mud on any given roadway.
So far it hasn't snowed much here. As long as I don't have to work - I won't drive my Mini until the roads are completely dry. No driving in snow.

BTW: The roads out here are almost as bad as Boston.
Especially those delpitated brick streets around the Harvard area (if memory serves me right).

 

Oh ok, not snow then. I did not realize you had the good fortune of having it all melt away. I have snow on the brain as we’ve got it up to our eyeballs, with no signs it will go away any time soon!

 

Hopefully that solves the problem , do you have a Americas Tire store in your area because they will spin the tires and check balance for free…

 

I don't think we do out here. I'll have to Google it.
That would definitely save me alot of trouble and trial-and-error.
EDIT: I just checked and actually there is one (the only one), conveniently located not far from where I'm currently working.
Thanks for the tip!

 

snow is a good thought, or mud. mud can do the same.

tires another good one. did not think of that.

youtube is owned by google. you can sign in with gmail account if you have one. super simple. videos are private if you dont set to public. hope that helps

 

if you wanted to spend a few bucks instead for faster answers, you could go to an independent tire shop and have them rotate the tires for you for probably $20.

i think the tires seem like a decent possibility. i don't see how worn strut mounts or motor/trans mounts would cause a vibration like you mentioned at high speeds.

 

I agree - regarding the tires being part of (if not) the issue.
I'm going to have the tires checked for balance and rotated when I go back to work on location (40 miles away). However, I'm also fairly convinced that I need to have the alignment rechecked after seeing the inner wear pattern and making the slight correction to the toe out I did. I had rudimentary tools and skill so I didn't go crazy tweeking the tie rods. But in doing so, did make a difference in reducing the intesity of the vibration @
65 -70mph.
In conjunction to my theory; I had also mentioned in another post (back in Nov 2025), regarding my rear collapsed springs on my B14 coilovers. This has also had a negitive effect on my front springs causing my ride height to decrease by 1"+ and additional unwanted camber. So the geometry is off as well. Those rear replacement springs/ordered were held up by Bilstein but should arrive in the first week of Feb. I'd really like to have those rear springs installed before/when I bring it into the shop to have the wheels checked...just in case they deem an alignment is in order.
Then again I'm not sure if I can wait that long....
But I agree; wheels are potentially suspect.

EDIT: In addition to the aforementioned; (in another post), regarding my recent unresolved steering angle faults...
I can't help but wonder if these recent occurrences are coorelated in some way...?

 

A simple fix...But not without a long (stupid) story

Preface: Having traveled across the country many times, I often prepare by packing a few prone to fail parts in my Mini.
About 2-1/2 years ago (@80k mi) I had refreshed everything on my front end/subframe with new parts. I had watched Mod Mini's video on replacing the axles.
In all humility, being the sheep that I am (when it comes to parts for my Mini), I went ahead and had purchased a pair of DTA CV axles to do the swap. However upon inspection, there was nothing wrong with my original factory CV axles.
So I decided to flush, clean, repack and refresh my factory CVs with new grease and new boots instead of installing the new DTA's.
Since that time - now 42k mi later (@ current 122,742 mi), I've been carrying those brand new DTA CV axles in the back seat of my Mini for 2wo years...just in case.

Acting upon the aforementioned advice in this discussion, that perhaps the tires were a real possibility for the violent shaking I was suddenly experiencing, at 9am, I went down the street to a big brand tire shop to schedule an appointment to
have my front tires checked for balance and round . The soonest appointment would be 4pm. So I figured I go and do laundry. As I'm heading down the road a few miles to the laundromat I noticed the violent shaking was becoming worse.
Now occurring even at low speed and RPM. Again, only upon acceleration. I was fed up. It had to be a bad CV axle!. I now know a bad CV axle when I feel one. So instead of hitting the laundromat, with those new DTAs still in the back seat, I pulled behind a strip mall and went to work on pulling the (22y/o) drivers CV axle.











The whole episode replacing the driver side axle took less than 2-1/2 hrs (I have arthritis).
Violent vibration problem solved!

So what's that got to with the title "dirty laundry" you ask?

Well, after finishing up the work on replacing the CV axle and putting all the tools away - I went to start the car for a test drive. However, I'd seemed to have misplaced my key
I spent the next 2wo hours tearing apart my Mini over and over looking for that darn key. I must have searched my gym bag and laundry duffel bag 5 times, dumping everything out without luck.
I'd pulled the gym bag out and set it on the sidewalk after searching it several times (to no avail).. so I could have better luck searching the interior without it being in the way. The key was nowhere to be found.
That is until while I was moving the gym bag back into the Mini that I heard a "tink" and looked down to see the key to my Mini laying at my feet.
Apparently the side pocket of my gym bag was unzipped the key had fallen into the opening and under the hardboard bottom base of the bag. As it turns out I had also unknowingly torn a hole in the bottom of the gym bag.
When putting the bag back into the Mini.. the key magically found its way and fell out of that hole.

Yes you guessed it - After along day and finding the key - The test drive proved to be incredible. The Mini pulls hard with absolutely no vibration during acceleration. The ride is as smooth as a lowered Mini on rough roads can be - Back to normal!

A BIG THANK YOU to all for your insight and recommendations!

 

Well, that’s great that you have solved it!

Did you not have any clicking to indicate a bad cv axle?

Are you going to rebuild the oem you pulled?

 

it's always great to find a reasonable answer to an issue, regardless of how you get there. glad you got it sorted out!

 

Thanks again.

During this whole time I never heard any sound coming from the suspension or CV's whilst driving or turning. Testing several times while on the ground or up on jack stands - turning the CV axles by hand; pushing pulling back & forth, up & down. Nothing.
It was only then on the way to do errands yesterday, that I started hearing a faint squeak as I puled from a dead stop. Which sounded very much like the front springs or indicative of the kind of sound the top strut mounts would make during colder temps.
Glad I pulled that axle - As I really dislike dealing with pulling the struts.
I'll be pulling and replacing the passenger side CV axle next week when I have more time to do so.

Yeah - I'm still debating but will probably save my original factory axles for rebuild...sometime in the near future.