Hi everyone,

I've owned my 07 MCS for a couple months now and I love every aspect of the car but the torque steer...

As my limited understanding goes... Most of the torque steer is produced by the LSD?

I've read a couple of posts where people have considered having a quaife LSD installed and while I don't know quite all of the details in difference between the quaife and the Mini's (1.5?) LSD, it sounds like an expensive job to have done.

Are there other options people have pursued to limit or get rid of the torque steer in the MINI?

I find that even the smallest of bumps will literally tear the wheel out of my hand and give everyone in the car a nice scare when I'm accelerating pretty hard (Not to mention the more annoying constant drift to the left under any amount of acceleration).

Of all the engine and suspension mods out there, I've been thinking that whatever I can do to help correct this problem is what I will probably do first.

What has been your experience with this?

Thanks!

 

Torque steer is typical of front wheel drive cars. It is not created by the LSD. My understanding is that the alternating left, right nature could be attributed to the LSD as it transfers power back and forth between wheels. The best way to reduce this LSD effect is to increase the grip of the tires. The LSD comes into play when the power to the wheels is greater than they can transfer to the ground. It is not clear to me whether increasing grip will reduce torque steer, but it should reduce the back and forth pull.

 

I am used to it now. The torque steer is more pronounced when the wheels accelerate too fast whether the wheels are in the air or on the ground. Therefore, reducing the acceleration will help reduce the torque steer. The wheels will accelerate faster in the air than with contact on the ground. Therefore, let's focus on keeping the tires on the ground.
1. More traction will help the tires from breaking free. You already have LSD. To increase the traction you can put stickier tires on also.

2. Less lifting of the front end will keep the tires on the ground more. To help that the rear end squatting should be minimized. Therefore, stiffer springs and shocks will help.

3. Make the wheels heavier. This one is going against performance but you can put the pedal to the floor and still the torque steer won't be as bad. Put on larger wheels. If you have 16", you can go up to 17".

4. Knowing the surface condition helps. When it is smooth, mesh it. But if it has debris or the pavement is rough or irregular, be more gentle on the throttle.

 

sounds like you need an alignment, too.

 

I have an '07 MCS with LSD and of course traction control that comes with it as standard. I got to thinking that traction control and the limited slip diff may be fighting each other. I decided to turn off the traction control and just let the LSD handle any wheelspin. And that is exactly what happened. With the traction control off the wheelspin is lessened greatly. So now I always run with the traction control off.

 

"I thought, what are the chances of TWO people bringing a bomb on a plane? So...now I just bring my own bomb."



But seriously, folks. When I turn off traction control...I get crazy wheelspin all the time! I peel out just trying to take off from a light. I find the car MUCH easier to drive hard with the traction control on.

The torque steer seems to be much worse when the front end is lightly loaded. Most people report that lowering the car (which will reduce weight transfer under acceleration) greatly reduces the torque steer.

--Dan
Mach V
FastMINI.net

 

I alway leave TC on because without it the tires will spin and spin.

 

DROP THAT B*TCH!!!

Seriously, lowering my MCS with H&R springs has almost COMPLETELY eliminated the ridiculous amount of torque steer these cars have stock.

 

I replaced my OEM Bridgespokes and all -season runflats on my 2007 LSD-equipped MCS with a much lighter-weight combination of wheels (16"OZ Ultraleggeras) and tires (205/50/16 General Exclaim UHP). In addition to markedly improved handling and ride, one unexpected side-benefit from this change was a significant reduction in torque-steer under acceleration. Why this would be so, I am not certain. I do not profess to understand the physics behind this phenomenon, but it is nonetheless real. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I may be able to explain this unanticipated but very welcome change in my car's behavior following the wheel/tire swapout.

 

Well if your tires are spinning with the traction control off AND you have a limited slip diff, then I suspect you have a problem with the limited slip diff. That is supposed to transfer torque equally between the front wheels. However, you will feel a big of a tug one way or the other as the wheel with traction grips and the other one doesn't and it cycles back and forth. But it seems to me to reduce torque steer a lot. I've been messing with cars for 50 years and am by no measure an expert. So take what I'm suggesting as just that, a suggestion the way I see it.

 

No. LSD can't do nothing if both wheels are spinning. LSD will transfer power to the one that doesn't slip but if both are slipping both wheels will get the same amount of power. On ice, what do you think LSD will do? stand still??

 

The Ultra High Performance tires have much more traction than the all season runflats. If you had the UHP tires on heavier 17" wheels the torque steer will decrease even further.

 

I switched from stock 17 webspokes and runflats to 17 SSRs which are very light and 215/45ZR-17 Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season XL tires. Don't know what did the trick, but my torque steer completely disappeared and it was a great bonus! The ride is a little rougher, but boy is it straight and faster.

 

because you have more friction available so the torque can not slip the wheels. The Torque steer is caused by a mismatched power from wheel wheel, the better tires do not let the power overcome the friction available like the OEM All seasons do.

A LSD and Better tires will cure eveyone's problems. I have the stock ride hight and stock wheel, just better rubber and a LSD and i never have a issues. Only when i am making 1st gear U turns and i get on the gas with the wheel locked.

 

The torque steer is the nature of the front wheel driver the R56 motor has considerably more torque than the r53 and leads to the torque steer. You will need to change your driving to conform to the nature of the car. When I drive with my wife in the car, I have a lot less torque steer than when I am by myself.

 

Thanks for all the replies!

I have 16" wheels with All-Season Run-Flats

I had the alignment corrected at the dealer twice during th first 1500 miles of break-in. A co-worker who is a pretty experienced autocross driver suggested I have my alignment done by someone other than the dealer and mention that I would be autocrossing so that they would pay some extra attention. (tomorrow I'm actually entering as a novice for my first event! woot!)

Trying better performance tires sounds like a good solution to try that isn't too expensive and seems fairly easy to reverse if it doesn't help.

I've never looked into performance tires though. Do you guys have any suggestions in that area?

Thanks again for all the replies!

 

After I upgraded my suspension, torque steer went bye bye!!

 

Check out the wheel / tire / brake forum:

click

 

Higher performance tires help torque steer in two ways: Extra grip (as has been discussed), and that rougher ride is due to a stiffer tire...which effectively increases the overall spring rates of the car and reduces weight transfer...keeping more over the front and increasing grip.

Nobody has mentioned tire pressures, but they contribute to grip...and therefore torque steer...

 

Honestly I notice less torque steer with the MINI than my torqueless civic had. Those equal length drive shafts really take a lot of it out. Its possible the LSD could be creating the problem, depending on the sensitivity they can make the car pull more. LSDs aren't always worth it for the everyday driver, but great for those moments when you loose traction.

 

+1

 

Would you say that the JCW suspension would have the same effect?

I haven't done any research into suspension yet.

 

I had the jcw suspension installed and it did not do anything to eliminate torque steer. New wheels and tires did however.