heyo, so my 2002 mini cooper s 155k miles has had this shimmy for a few weeks now, feels like its in the center but more on the passanger side. and keeps pulling to the left. i feel it more in the steering wheel than throughout the car at highway speeds most of the time

Ive done a wheel balance,
replaced both axles,
replaced inner and outer tie rod ends with moog replacements today
and a factory alignment today

just asking what you guys think, and it sometimes shimmys during hard acceleration.

ive narrowed it down to the lower engine mount,
strut towers(im going to get the reinforcement plates soon)
wheel bearings or ball joints

when i was at the shop earlier today, i realized i over torqued the passenger axle nut by 60ft lbs
the spec says 134ft lbs and its torqued at 194ish, i think thats the reason why my cars pulling and tomorrow im going to back it out and re-torque it to spec

 

I'm chancing down the same issues. My shake during hard acceleration started a month ago. I replaced my control arm bushings and ball joints last year. My tires are good like you just got a balance. I did notice my lower engine mount is shot. I'm replacing that today. Drive shaft shop axles are due to arrive in 3 weeks, and I plan on replacing tierods as well as the rubber is shot. If that doesn't solve it I will be at a loss.

The strut reinforcement won't be your issue. vibrations only during acceleration will be caused by a misalignment while under load. Like drive shafts or like when a engine shifts due to bad engine mounts and changes the angle in cheap drive shafts and they get mis aligned due to a worn spot.

 

My guess is upper and lower engine mounts need replacing.

 

I just replaced my lower engine mount, and found a strut nut that was loose. My clunking went away. My vibration is 50% better. My lower engaging mount died because it was oil soaked. The gasket between my block and oil filter housing is shot.
I am pretty sure my vibration will go away with my new axles. You said you already replaced yours. What brand did you get. Some of the Chinese junk has been know to be bad out of the box.

 

Jesse, you didn't mention LCA bushings. Have you inspected or replaced them? They're a known wear item @ around 100K miles, and could easily allow steering movement and vibration.