So here's the story....

I was driving on Sunday evening, it we becoming dusk and I still had my sunglasses on. I went over a small bridge, the side I entered it on had a smooth incline into the bridge. But when I went over the other side off the bridge it was a sharp decline downward. Because it was getting dark and with my sunglasses I didn't see the decline, I wasn't able to slow down enough. So speed + very little ground clearance + a sharp drop = not good.

My front end ended up slamming downward and it sounded like my fog lights shattered, that's how loud it was. Thankfully the only thing that was damaged was the pieces of plastic guards under the front bumper (I guess they did their job!)

But the next time I went driving at over 60 mph I noticed the steering wheel shaking, noticeable enough where it is more than just bumps from the road. I did rotate my tires on Monday, but I don't think this would have had an effect on this because I just got new tires in April and they were balanced.

So what I am trying to figure out is if anyone else thinks I just need my front end re-aligned?

Thank you!

John

 

So what your so delicately try to say is that you were basically acting out a scene in the Italian Job.....lol.

I would lift the bonnet and get a look at the strut towers for mushrooming ( that would mess with your alignment ), inspect the strut mounting plates for cracks ( from the top) , and check your front wheels for bends and possible loss of wheel weights.

Then put her up on the lift and inspect the control arms ect.

 

I had these symptoms twice: once when my tires weren't balanced properly by the shop, and once (much worse!) when I had packed ice frozen in between the spokes of my wheels.

 

It really was and it was terrifying. Not something I ever would want to happen again...with my own car

I did notice that that mushroomed a little bit and it pointed inward to the engine. Next Saturday I am going to bring it to my mechanic, I would rather have a professional look at it because when it comes to these parts, he knows a lot more than I do.

I think I might "un-rotate" the tires and switch the ones from the rear to the front and see if that fixes anything. If it does, then it's with the wheels.

I really hope it isn't because of ice! It was 98 here today!

 

could be many things. check the aforementioned as well as ball joints, control arm bushings, etc

 

I also had this problem a few mos ago also. One of the wheels was not balanced properly. The mechanic also said that with the MINI's is very important to make sure the wheel is centered when torquing the nuts as this can also cause a steering wheel shake.

 

Top of the list should be bent rims too. I can't get a good picture of the "event" but the first think I would rule out is bent rim followed by wheel balance. The rim (or something else) being bent seems to be a good guess because the symptom happened so soon after the General Lee landing.
Lots of things can cause the symptom, but some of the usual suspects wouldn't usually come on so fast. Damage from the tower to the wheels needs to be ruled out in my opinion.

Switching front to back should move any vibration from the wheel to your feet if the rim is bent. Also a buddy in a seperate car can just look at them as you drive on the highway. Bad enough bends are easy to see.

 

I had some time this evening to work on my car. I rotated my tires back to the position that they were at when I did my little Evil Knievel act. I went up to 70mph, no vibrations at all. So oddly enough, the wheels that were on the front when the incident happened are completely fine. Then I rotated the tires back, the vibrating returned. So it is obviously just the wheels (thankfully that and not something more serious). I am going to bring it into the shop on Saturday and get the front tires balanced, hopefully that will solve the problem.

Thank you all for the feedback and suggestions, it really is much appreciated.

 

Have it thoroughly checked, a number of things may have happened:
- a-arm bushings
- threw wheel weight(s)
- If those ar aftermarket wheels, crushed a centering ring or de-centered the wheel
- blew a belt on the tire
- bent rim
- ball joints, control arms, other front end damage.

In general, if you've "crashed" the car (which you did, unintentionally as it was) and don't thoroughly inspect for damage and correct it - especially with that shaking at speed - then....

 

As I mentioned before, there is absolutely no shaking in the steering wheel with the wheels that were on the front when the incident happened. Between the incident and when I rotated my tires (had to regardless because they reached rotation mileage) the following day, I didn't drive my car at all. So that is where I thought it was front end damage. But when I had time to the other day to rotate the wheels back so the ones that were on the front when I went over the bridge are on the front, the shaking was completely gone.

 

Fact is, something changed. Find out what it was. If those are aftermarket wheels, I actualy suspect they're not completely hubcentric and may have simply "de-centered". Re-installing may have done it, but a thorough inspection is definitely in order.

 

They are MINI wheels, not aftermarket.

 

I've had this happen to mine after a similar 'incident' - turns out the wheel weights popped off in my case. A trip to the tire shop to have the tires rebalanced was all that was needed to fix my car. With any luck, that's all you'll have to do, too.

I have seen other MINIs that have actually bent the wheels ever so slightly. You can spot this if you take a close look at the wheels - take them off so you can look more thoroughly. The wheel will look like it has a very mild 'flat' spot where it should be round.

Also - like others have suggested, take a look at the suspension components as well.

 

Another easy way to spot a bent wheel: Put it on the rear of the car, jack it up, and spin... of course, carefully chock the car so it doesn't move!

Good luck with the fix, by the way. May just be wheel balance, but worth checking everything.

 

Got everything checked, all good. All it needed was a tire balance. Only $17 later and I was good to go!

 

Glad to hear it was something simple!

 

Super - congrats!

 

You got lucky - I had a similar experience an a control arm had BARELY be tweaked... but it was enough to throw out the front end. About $550 later.... ugh.

 

I had this experience exactly you can search my post history it was the bearings in the wheels. It happened after I lightly slid into a curb over black ice