I've had my MCC a little over 2 years now and recently I've noticed the ride isn't as smooth as it used to be. Just driving down the road (if I'm not holding the wheel tight) its boucing and shaking all over the place, hitting bumps seems a lot worse then when I first got the car. I have the sports suspension in this car Any ideas?

 

Are the tires inflated correctly? If so, a little early for struts, but maybe....

 

I'd assume they are inflated correctly, though last time I went to the dealer they said my two front tires were wearing a bit and wanted me to pay 700 bucks for two new tires. Needless to say I didn't accept that.

 

I don't know what a bit means, but it's worth finding the cause. Bad struts, allignment, wrong inflation can all cause tire wear and bad handling.

 

I'd get it checked. Sounds like you're under warrenty. Aside from pressure, maybe anything from alignment to a loose component / mount? If it's a change in the car enough for you to notice I'd play it safe.

 

Stock suspensions can lose their charm in as little as 10-20k miles.

But I'd do the easy stuff first - check inflation, and then rotate the tires.

Zip

 

Also, you may want to check your shock towers for the 'mushrooming', perhaps a bit of that could degrade the ride quality.

 

Thanks, I'm coming up to my 25k service soon, I'll have them check it all.

 

Some MINI dealers don't want to even acknowledge the mushrooming. Why don't you take some pictures of the tops of your strut towers and post them here so we can have a look-see?

Zip

 

" Why don't you take some pictures of the tops of your strut towers and post them here so we can have a look-see?"

I don't even know where those are.

 

Here.

The first pic has red arrows pointing to the tops of the strut towers. My car has M7 strut tower braces on them to stop the mushrooming, or bulging up, of the towers.



The next pic shows the passenger (right) side tower from (my) standing height:



This last pic shows the angle you should take your photos of both towers from so we can have a better chance of determining whether or not your towers are mushroomed:



Remember, your car won't (or shouldn't, unless a previous owner already installed them) have the STBs on top of the towers.

Zip