Okay, I have taken the car in 3 times to 3 different places.

Discount tire (Recommended by Downtown MINI) has a road-test machine thing and they said the tires/wheels are mostly fine. They said that one of the tires has a "barrel warp," but not NEARLY enough to cause the car to hop. They put the tires back on and lifted it 2 feet off the ground and hit the throttle and let the tires spin freely. The guy said it was shaking like mad inside the cabin.

This obviously tells me it's not the tires? Something in the front end? What would cause the hopping if we factor out the wheels/tires?

This is driving me NUTS!!!! :impatient Noone knows what the issue is!

HELP!!!!

 

driveshaft unbalanced? There is a balancing ring (if I remember correctly) that could cause that.

 

Okay, I am just "brainstorming", here, so if any of these are "stupid questions" please forgive me.

Is there any other MINI dealer close enough to try?
Still under warranty (only if you got an extended, probably)?
How many miles when it started?
Any time when it does NOT hop (other than sitting still)?
In reverse? In every forward gear?
More or less severe under certain conditions?
Not that they are guaranteed to help of course, but have you addressed the problem to MINI USA?

 

Yes, they don't know why either. At the time I did not have the lug key. I have it now so maybe they can find the issue.

Yes, still under warranty.

Started when I put aftermarket wheels/tires on it. Didn't notice it prior, but I had the stock tires with the larger sidewals that I believe masked the "hop" Had the tires/wheels checked several times and noone can find a thing wrong with them.

After about 30 MPH I don't notice it.

Forward gears, the hop speeds up with the speed of the car

Not too severe, but noticible.. VERY noticible.

Have not called them yet.

Thanks for your help here, I hope this helps come up with something...

 

Semi-uneducated guess here, but possibly a bad motor mount?


-Paul!

 

"shaking like mad inside the cabin"

What, exactly, was shaking? Did anyone (safely, I hope) look under the car with "all this shakin' goin' on"? You should see some movement somewhere if it was "shaking like mad inside the cabin". Key information is missing to allow a diagnosis over the web.

Does the shaking stop when you reinstall the OE wheels/tires? Does it shake above, or below, the 30MPH? Does it shake when you take it out of gear and coast? Push in the clutch? Rev the motor in neutral? Are the CV joints intact, boots unripped? Anything visibly adrift underneath? Have you grabbed drivetrain parts while the car's of the ground (securely) and checked for play?

Let us know how this turns out... dealer should take care of you if it's under warranty, unless caused by the aftermarket tires/wheels (which would be unlikely, unless they can prove a tire or wheel was severely out of balance or out of round and caused suspension/drivetrain damage.

Good luck!

 

Are there centering rings to keep the wheels centered on the hubs?
Did you try the wheels one at a time?
Has the car ever hit anything? I would suggest using a dial indicator to check runout of the wheels and the hubs. It sounds like a hub might be bent.

 

Oops - I forgot and MikeL's post reminded me - check that your lugnuts are evenly torqued! Snug them to maybe 15-20 ft-lb torque in a star pattern (opposing lugs, not proceeding in a circular pattern), then tighten in a star pattern to factory spec (around 85-90 ft/lb IIRC, but check the manual). Drive a mile or two easy, then check torque.

With the tapered lug seat, this should take care of any hub/wheel interface issues even without centering rings - though centering rings certainly help make sure the wheels are on straight 'n true before lugs are torqued. Note that OE wheels or so-called "hubcentric" wheels (56.1mm hub bore) don't require a separate centering ring, but most aftermarket wheels do.