Most of you know that when driving over bumps the feeling can be unnerving especially for those who do not have much experience with that feeling. My wife just picked up a clubman s and is not too happy with the way the car feels going over a bump on a higher speed turn/corner. I have been perusing around and it seems that an xbrace and rear sway bar might help. My questions are 1. is that true? 2. do i just do the rear sway or x brace or both? 3. which sway bar and/or xbrace? 4. Is it the run flat tires?

Back ground: its a daily driver, probably wont see an auto-x as I have an evo and a s2000 that I usually auto-x/track. She will be the primary driver so my mail goal is to rid the clubman of its darty feeling. All and any help is appreciated and thanks in advance.

 

i hate that feeling. almost lost it into a wall/barrier a few times!

great question

 

jojipoji
Life can be exciting at times . You are on the right track with the "X" brace. The rear sway bar will do little to solve the problem that you described. The reason that you are getting that jerky feeling over bumps is that you are experiencing some flex in the front suspension even though the MINI is a fairly rigid platform. I have solved the problem in my GP by adding bracing to the front suspension.
There are a few ways to do this. One way is the "X" brace. I personally do not have experiance with it but quite a lot of people feel that it works quite well. The other method that I am using because of mounting constrictions is a trapizoid brace and a mid brace. These two braces have vastly improved upon this problem to the point that it is unnoticeable. I am also running a upper strut brace and Cabrio braces but these did not address the problem as well as the lower braces.
Here is a link on these braces you will find a very good write up by Old Rick (post #114). He is the only one that I know of that has had all the braces and does a comparison of all the pro's and con's.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...updates-5.html
I am very confident that if you were to add the lower braces their would be a significant feeling of a more planted car that wanted to go in a direction that it was pointed.
Steve

 

re: help with jerk steer over bumps


Best way to cure jerk steer over bumps = don't let the jerk drive on bumpy roads.

Sorry for the useless post, but I couldn't resist...


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make sure to check the Tire Pressure...... I have a vette and the first sign of lower tire pressure is some wandering and when I picked up the mini it had some wander in it.... tire pressure was low on it too.... Can't cure the wander as long as you have the low profile tires but correct tire pressure makes it much easier to deal with

 

It's like the torque steering issue. The best strategy is to hold on tight, enjoy the ride and get used to it. It is a true sports car after all. You don't mention whether you have sports suspension and what size tires. The solution is to deteriorate the handling by softening the front suspension and tires. Sorry!

 

I found the easist improvement for jerk steer was to replace the 17" stock rims and runflats with 16" rims and a good summer sport tire.

 

Yes, softening the front tires will make the biggest difference. I have the 17 inch wheels with the sports suspension. At moderate to low speeds the wide low profile runflats need to be taken into account. You have to mind the pavement gaps, lane separation bumps etc. At speed it all gets good though.

 

I have 17" wheel and non-sport suspension but still got the jerk steer

 

Yeah, there was another thread on the boards here about this and I think it is also referred to as "tram-lining". As some of the others mentioned above, replacing the run flats should help (but it probably isn't a cure).

 

When I took delivery bump steer was horrible. I check the PSI in my Continental run flats 50psi. I dropped them to 38 as the door sticker told me to. It's much better now.

Softer front springs/shocks or losing run flats will make a difference.