Take .07 of a mile of gravel road, add 1 LY/W Mini slowly...and I mean SLOWLY. Drive in 1st gear (I'd go slower if I could) to avoid potholes, gravel chunks and dust...lots of dust! And what do you have?? A dirty car and worries... What I'm afraid of is that it might eventually take away the tight ride my Mini has while on paved roads. Correction: Good paved roads. While I'm on my slowness odessey, some big truck or car filled with nasty no-gooders come up behind me like they're on a nascar run and actually try to pass me on a narrow road. When they pass (and they ALWAYS do) I swear they TRY to dust me out and ping me with gravel. Does anyone else's MIni have to suffer the pangs of forced gravel driving?

 

I feel your pain! I had a long gravel stretch I had to drive in a previous car (Chrysler Sebring Convertible) and had similar experiences. After a couple of weeks it had more rattles than I could count and had to have the top adjusted because of the vibrations.

The MINI doesn't see gravel. It made two trips to my in-laws house just after we got it, but none since.

For gravel driving, we have the wife's Trailblazer(and no, we don't try to pass and throw gravel on anyone) or my daily driver (Chevy Malibu).

What part of the Show Me State are you in?

 

I have a gravel driveway for the parking area at my house. The front drive is brick and there are large trees up there that I would NEVER park my mini under. When driving up the drive I never go over 5 mph. My boot is ALWAYS filthy! I will soon get a spot in the garage but for now I just have to live with it.

 

I, too, feel your pain, dix. You must have one tough little MINI!!

 

I too drive up a gravel road about the length of a football field. It is slightly uphill and worse yet it is almost all washboard. Talk about rattlin your brain. Landlord won't pave or grade cause it's about a mile long and he lives at the end and loves to gun his truck all the way up and down.
I still wouldn't give up my country life though. I'll take the gravel over city livin any day. I just use the Cal duster alot.

 

How long have you had the car? Have you noticed any rattles developing? I live off a cobblestone street (in the city!) and I haven't noticed any change... yet I usually drive at about 25 mph, as the tires tend to "glide" over the bricks, rather than fall into them...

 

there's a quick way to kill your shocks.

 

Had the car since Nov 05 and no problems yet. No shock mushrooming or any of that stuff. Hell the 8" high speed bumps at the strip malls are worse than the gravel road. The rains this year really washed the road out and new gravel was brought in but the washboards are back. Since it's so short I just drive reeeaaallll sloooowwww. Pisses the landlord off when he comes in behind me The only time I speed up a little on the washboards is when the wife is in the car, fun to watch her bounce, if you know what I mean.

 

. good thinking

 

dude... have u seen the movie "Cars"? Remember when McQueen was straped to "betsy" the road paver, He desided to do it fast the first time. When he finished, the road was super bumpy. I kid you not, they did that by where i live. there's a 400 foot strip of fresh pavement that is frickin bumpy. Just like in the movie. ... those bastards!

 

MINIs are definetely not built for off road driving. Given the ultra stiff body, short wheel base and tight suspension you can really feel each and every single peice of gravel under the tires...

 

Hahaha. I want a wife now.

 

No you don't. Want mine? <looks around to see if she's watching>

 

I can see Springfield Mo. lights on a cloudy night.

 

Here in Fairbanks I encounter alot of crappy roads, including a mile every day just to leave the house. My Mini is still rattle free .
Kinda sucks but thats the breaks. Downside is that my sideskirts have takin quite a beating right in front of the rear wheels.

 

poor gravel ridden minis :(