Any Center City/Downtown Philly Mini owners out there?!?

I have a 2 month old 2008 Cooper S (got the all-weather run flats on it), and the ride quality on Philly roads is terrible! I mostly drive in Center City, downtown, University City, and on the Schuylkill back and forth to work. Even a minor pothole or manhole cover makes it seem like I'm hitting a crater on the Moon! Also with parts of the Schuylkill near downtown being under construction, driving there makes me cringe for my car, the suspension and its tires. I keep intending to take one of the PhillyCarShare Mini's out for a spin to see how the ride feels, but those are older generation Minis.

I just wanted to see if any one else had similar experiences or I was the only one? The ride on the Mini is unusually harsh, and I'm somewhat concerned. I used to have a Mazda Speed6 before this and even with the sports tuned suspension, the ride quality was much smoother on that...

I have the same car with same tires. Try dropping the air pressure about 2lbs. that will help, and make sure the fronts are equally matched on pressure.

No I'm not in your neck of the woods, but.............we got potholes here too.

I just picked up an '09 S this week and put non-runflats on before I even drove away from Mini of the Main Line. Did the same with my '06. I use BF Goodrich 16" Traction T/A, V-rated all-season tires and find that they make a big difference. I was able to sell the runflats through The Market Place on NAM. Good luck.

[quote=kriscooper;2494152]Any Center City/Downtown Philly Mini owners out there?!?

I have a 2 month old 2008 Cooper S (got the all-weather run flats on it), and the ride quality on Philly roads is terrible! I mostly drive in Center City, downtown, University City, and on the Schuylkill back and forth to work. Even a minor pothole or manhole cover makes it seem like I'm hitting a crater on the Moon! Also with parts of the Schuylkill near downtown being under construction, driving there makes me cringe for my car, the suspension and its tires. I keep intending to take one of the PhillyCarShare Mini's out for a spin to see how the ride feels, but those are older generation Minis.[quote]

Do you have the sport package with 17" rims? RFT are also very stiff riding.

Mine used to be like that but I have changed the tires to non RFT and reduced the pressure to 36 psi (fom 38 psi) and it is quite a bit better.

Awesome, thanks guys...
I'm not sure if I have the $$$ to swap out the tires now. But I'll definitely try dropping the pressure in the tires a little.

I find that my path to and from work here is the worst of roads
I will travel with my Mini S with Sport Package and will
say 1 to 10 that my ride is a 6..
I ride motorcycles so any ride will be better than bikes.
Rt 130 has to be one of the worst roads I have ever rode
on and I travel all over.
I to am going today to drop pressure and take a long ride
up along Delaware River to Frenchtown and see how
much difference it makes..Joe

[/quote]
Do you have the sport package with 17" rims? RFT are also very stiff riding.

Mine used to be like that but I have changed the tires to non RFT and reduced the pressure to 36 psi (fom 38 psi) and it is quite a bit better.[/quote]

Nope, I stuck with the 16". But consensus seems to be to reduce the psi a little on my tires. I'll give that a whirl.

Yes I have 17" with Web wheels on PW/PW .
And yes it is stiff at times depending on how tired
I am at midnight coming home from work..
But overall not that bad..

The door jam label on my car recommends 33 psi.

I got a good price on my tires at Rossi's Tire & Auto Service on City Ave.
across from the Havertown Post Office. They'll also do a free tire rotation every 6,000 mi.

The door sill sticker calls for 38 Front and Rear
And if you ride 100 plus it tells you 41 psi..
My tire pressure from dealer are at 30psi..
So just made them 37 Front and 36 Rear..
See how that is..
This may change my mind from rating of 6 to
a 4 or 5 in ride quality
Sure now it will ride a lot stiffer with 6 to 7
pounds more pressure.. joe

FYI
16" rims recommended pressure is 33 psi
17" rims recommended pressure is 38 psi

I'm from the Philly/Main Line area too. I've noticed that with the run flats every little bump I hit the entire car jerks. I'm constantly afraid this is going to happen when I'm driving next to someone and I'm going to hit them.

Do you think lowering the tire pressue will help this issue too?

Slinger688.....Thanks for the clarification about psi.

pwr56girl.....I doubt that lowering the psi will make enough of a difference. You'll really wish you had dumped the runflats the first time you need a new one at a cost of $280 with installation. I purchased 4 non-runflats for $520 ($130 each) and it can certainly be done cheaper.

Once I can get the car with cold tire pressure, I'm going to try lowering it and see how much better it gets. I'll let you know..

Just picked up my '09 MCS from Mini of the Mainline last Monday night. I have the 17's with the runflats. I don't find the ride objectionable, but I'm coming from an '02 WRX with 17's.

Just got mine and I drive from Northern Liberties to work in Malvern via Kelly drive and the Skullkill (no time to spell check, you know what I'm talking about) every day. Most of Kelly that I drive on is undercontruction, and I've hit some pot holes in the right lane that I was afraid I wouldn't survive.

The ride is better than I expected after reading the reviews, but I'm sure glad I got the tire warranty... I hope I don't have to use it, but if they don't finish with Kelly drive soon, I'm afriad I might!

Ride is not great but OK overall. Not my choice of a car for long distance travel.

The problem I describe is much documented in the NAM forums.
"During a turn at highway speeds, when the car hits a bump, it hops and skips over 1 foot or so."

Since I saw this thread and having my PW Mini S for about
4 weeks I was going to go out and lower the tire pressure
and of course my finding was 30 psi..Yikes!
The door sill sticker say 38 .
So I put 37 front and 36 rear and drove approx 100 miles.
I saw a small amount of ride quality decrease but road noise
level increased..
I noticed that handling was a little better.
I do think people overrate mini handling to much that
people like myself get the car home and realize that
the car is not a sports car that people make Mini to be.
Sure the car handles somewhat better than a Yaris but
I bet not that much better.
My feelings on this matter.

Couldn't agree more with the above! When the MA took me on a test drive, he guided me through good roads in the area and I didn't really get a feel for it on a potholed road. Unfortunately, there's a ton of those in Philly!

I'm actually running my 17's at 40 psi. It's more to save the rims than anything else.

Do you have RFTs? 40 psi just sounds a little high but if you like the handling and the ride ...

Hummmmm, handling somewhat better than a Yaris. Perhaps with the crappy RFTs. I now have to test drive the Yaris just to see.

I've got the stock 15's that came with the car (no run flats obviously) and it rides very smooth and quiet. I also picked up a set of JCW OEM 17's with non run flat tires off CL and the handling is great, as well s better looks, but obviously the ride is a lot more noisey and rough. I think the consensus is run flats suck, and any other tire rim combo is driver preference.

Schylkill........crazy spelling.

Yes, I have the 17's with the runflats. The door sticker shows 38psi as the correct cold inflation pressure.