Hey guys I have had my 06 mcs for about a month and a few suspension issues ive noticed. At first I was not sure if it was normal or if something was off. Something I've noticed is my mini is all over the road on acceleration. It feels squirley and torque steers a lot. I also feel a looseness in the suspension when I go over bumps. Not in the steering itself it's nice and tight but In the suspension you can just feel it when you hit bumps. I pulled the wheels off and inspected the ball joints and bushings pulled on the wheel kicked the wheel and I can't feel or visually see where the play may be coming from. I also noticed I have front and rear sway bars already on car. If I had to guess visually it looks like I'm running -2 degrees camber all the way around. The only thing I can see is the front strut on passenger side has a dent in it. Also passenger side wheel has a Crack at the bead. The only thing I can guess at this point is there is internal play in the strut itself. Shock towers are not mushroomed and appear in good shape. Tires are worn on back goof in front but have flat spots on them. I wanna lower my car but improve handling and try to retain as much ride comfort as possible. The roads are garbage in mt area.
Can you guys recommend a good suspension setup or some other things I need to look at? I'm assuming the camber is giving my car the all over the place handling.

 

In a previous job, I had to investigate a mechanic killed when a wheel split at the bead during tire mounting (took a chunk of his skull with it. Eww). Don't mess with that - deflate the tire (or get someone qualified to do it) and buy a new rim.

 

Yah the wheel is going to get replaced soon. I just have to appropriate the funds for it first I'm going with a set of aftermarket wheels soon

 

BTW, torque steer can be caused by bad control arm (A-arm) bushings. Since that is a common MINI problem, I would give them a close look.

You also mention bump steer problem - that can be fixed by an alignment, assuming it's not a broken tie rod.

Buy a cheap rim on Craigslist for short term use if you have to, but get that cracked rim out of service ASAP!

 

Ok thanks I will check that out. I pretty much guessed an alignment wouldn't hurt and the bushings looked good. I will recheck them and I guess take it to the stealership and let them put it on the rack

 

take a close look at the lower control arm bushings,, had the same issue ,,(bad torque steer),,its hard to see if the rubber is bad ,, but once I disassembled them ,the rubber was falling apart ,, changed out to the poly urethane ones ,, huge difference ,, gmonde