Hello Everybody,


Newbie here just bought my first 04 Mini S 5 speed about 6 months ago for a great price or so I thought. Just some info of what I replaced before I get to my current issue. I have done all the work myself other than a Warranty PS pump recall. I have done the Valeo Clutch kit, new rubber A-arm bushes, all ball joints on front end, passenger strut top hat, PS up and down lines, break pads and rotors, MSD Coil Pack and wires(have not changed plugs yet), M7 intake, belt tensioner, idler pulley, belt.


**So my issue is when I accelerate the car pulls to the LEFT and when I let off it pulls back to the RIGHT.


I did not have this issue until 2-3 months after I did the work. I have read a lot of threads about the steering pull but the results from them seems to be ball joints and rear A-arm bushes. Which I have changed new and double checked. One thread had mentioned the strut top hats being warn. I have changed the passenger side one but not the driver side. I will be doing that this weekend to keep current with passenger side.


Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

 

Sounds like you should probably get up under the car and check everything out....maybe make sure a ball joint didn't come lose or go bad, or a tire rod end could be going bad....or a LCA bushing could have went bad. Definitely sounds like a suspension issue........

 

I was under the car last Sunday looking for Discrepancies but everything checked out. nothing lose, rear bushes were normal.


I did feel some movement in the steering but it does not seem to be enough to feel what I am experiencing on the road.

 

When you say it pulls......how bad? Does it want to pull the wheel out of your hands and drive itself off of the road, or is it just very gradual? How much throttle do you have to give the car before it will start pulling left? Does it pull as hard left when you are on the gas as it does right when you are on the breaks?

The more details you can give...the better. Just a fraction of an inch of play on a suspension component could cause what you are describing.

Did you have the car aligned after every time you did front end work?

 

Have you replaced the wheel bearings? Lift the front end up, and shake the bottom of the wheel in and out (as if you were trying to move the camber of the wheel by hand). If it jiggles, you need new wheel bearings.

My R53 pulls left on hard acceleration and right while winding down when in a high gear. It's not enough to worry me, I always assumed it was just torque-steer.

 

I did not have the car aligned after I put it all back together. the steering wheel was a (tad) off center and it tracked straight. but I do need to get that done. I was just going to wait till I need tires because mine will be replaced soon.


This happens at any speed. Not very noticeable under gradual acceleration/deceleration, very noticeable under sudden acceleration/deceleration. it is harsh enough that if you are NOT paying attention it will change a lane. It will not pull the wheel out of your hands.
and it feels Equal movement from Acceleration to Deceleration.


The back and forth movement I was talking about was the movement in the rack-piston nothing else moved but I will double check. As far as the wheel bearing goes I did yank around on the wheel while it was in the air. didn't feel any play. I even had my wife in the car and move the wheel back and fourth. applied pressure with my foot against her steering to both wheels. No movement that I could notice.

 

Either control arm bushings, tie rods, ball joints, or alignment.

whats the last thing you did suspension wise...? i would get an alignment done with tires. start there.

 

I don't think it's possible to detect a bad wheel bearing on these cars that way. I had one blow up a ball and still didn't have any detectable movement. It's more diagnosable by noise while driving.

I want to say somebody had a similar problem and it ended up being a loose inboard ball joint, but I think it's impossible to say until it's aligned. I don't think there's much to be gained by waiting to align it until you get new tires. It might even be a tire issue that's causing the wayward handling.

 

My tire definitely had some play in it when the wheel bearing went. I think you're right though racingguy, I've seen quite a few posts where the wheel bearing was bad but they couldn't tell by moving the tire.

I don't think it would be tie rod ends tbough. Just did mine a few weeks ago and you could easily see they were shot.

 

That could be your issue right there......I've seen some cars do really weird stuff from having the alignment out of whack. I would do that ASAP.....and then go from there.

 

My LF wheel's bottom edge moved ~1.5" in either direction (towards/away from frame) when the wheel bearing was shot.

Although, that wasn't until after the bearings started affecting the ride quality, come to think of it. Sorry, temporary lapse of brain function lol

In either case, a good alignment shop should give you an front end alignment for $50, and if there's anything wrong with any of the suspension components, they would be able to notice really easily.

 

Start with a proper alignment, even though it tracks straight I bet it is in dire need of an alignment.

Have you looked at your engine mounts, both upper and lower? Worn driveline mounts can cause accel/decel steering problems.

 

Your alignment is bad, the thrust angle is off. Just because the car tracks straight doesn't mean the alignment is correct.

 

Did you ever find out exactly what was causing the jerking in steering during acceleration and decelerating?? I’m literally having the same issue and it came out of nowhere

 

Bet a lunch it's a loose inner ball joint. Check the two bolts holding it to the subframe.

​​​​​​You should be able to access it with the wheel on without even getting it off the ground. 16mm box wrench if memory serves

 

Thankyou I will check that out. I tried to upload a video but it was a no go.