I've been posting on here for the last 5 months about my suspension issue. They factor reps can't figure out what's going on or what is causing the car to lean and effect handling.

Here is a photo of the control arms. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Weak spring. It could be the front or rear.
Bad shock/strut. Again, front or rear.
Incorrect/disconnected/bent LR sway bar end link.

 

I changed all the struts, springs and stablizer bars with the JCW kit and still am having the issue. I know it has effected the alignment of the left rear wheel.

 

Since you have gone that far, try going to a body shop and pay to have them pit it on a frame machine and measure it against specs.

 

You haven't hit any curbs with that wheel have you? I say that because I had done that very thing with a front wheel of a rwd car and it leaned the same way. Just a thought. Good Luck

 

Something not lined up right. Frame machine is your best bet. Its possible that the unibody might be slightly bent somewhere.

 

I haven't hit any curbs. I've been experiencing this since it was new. My car had 26 miles on it when I purchased it. Maybe they hit something during a test drive.

The suspension leans off and on...but never when it is at the dealership.

The technicians don't seem to notice the ride is slightly out of balance. After my last service visit, the left rear sat higher causing the car to lean on the passenger side...its leveled out a bit since that visit, but not totally.

I have filled for lemon law in my state. They contacted the dealership and manufacture by letter on Monday.

My car is currently at the service department. This is my 5th visit over a 6 month period.

 

That really sucks, sorry to hear about it. Good luck.

 

Saggy butt, just get used to it.

I would have the frame measured and possibly see if the attachment points for the control arms have a pressure bend/dimple from a drop/crunch.

Just a thought, nothing I have had to deal with on my MINI.

 

Can't believe you're still dealing with this..... Just out of curiosity, how much do you weigh?

 

Are you saying it will sometimes stay in a left leaning position and sometimes leans right? What is the difference in ride height measured at a common point under both sides of the car? No car will always go back to perfectly level and can vary side to side. I would guess 1/2"(1/4" side) is not uncommon. What does the car do when you bounce it a few times out of gear with the brakes off? How does it compare to the dealers cars? That's probably the best comparison test you can make. If yours sticks an inch down one way then an inch down the other when theirs do not, it's going to be a pretty good demonstration you have a problem.

Who installed the JCW suspension? Not sure on MINIs but sometimes over torquing things can lead to binding in the suspension bearing points. I would loosen it all up and re-torque to specs.

Are the sway bar joints lubed well? That would do just as you describe if not!

 

I weight 220 lbs.

The dealership installed the JCW kit.

It sticks after I go into a turn and stays that way until I do another turn in the other direction.

After my last visit to the dealership the left (drivers side) sits higher than the right now and only levels out if I take a corner at a decent speed.

My hope is to have BMW to buy back my mini and let me get a new one. I've spent too much time and money on a new car!!! I don't understand how the techs can't recognize how the car tracks around corners compared to they way it should. According to them, it's only varying 2 mm which I've seen it as much as 1/2 inch on one side. I could understand this if this car was 5 years old with lots of miles on it. A new car should not be experiencing this.

 

Ridiculous situation. I hope it works out for you.

 

It sticks? That's new information to me. Now I would be looking at the control arms and trailing arm to check for over-tightened or binding movement. Removing the damper and checking for free-moving suspension will help narrow down the issue.

It is still embarrassing the dealership can't figure it out, but in their defense they're not trained to do any real troubleshooting work, the dumb monkeys they are.

 

Seems like they need to submit PUMAs for everything, very strange.......

 

The techs main problem is that they are saying the car rides fine because they can't reproduce the issue at the service department instead of trying to figure out what would cause a control arm to do this. I've sent them enough photos for them to do some deductive reasoning.

 

I have seen that before and the cause was related to the front struts being assembled wrong. The spring was twisting instead of the top plate bearing. This causes the spring to jump the seat and ride higher on one side till turning in the other direct where is pop back into place and look fine. I would bet the problem is in the front and not the rear since its related to turning. Dealer will never see it since there is enough turning on the lot to get into the service bay that it is popping back into place each time.

 

After you get an alignment is the car fine & then after a little bit of driving heads off in a certain direction?

That could be the control arms [was on my 300zx housing came loose from the bearing created slop]

Could be spring / coilover height adjustment related depending on what you have as well..

Hopefully you find the problem soon..

 

Interesting! I personally have not seen this happen, but if the struts are indeed assembled wrong they're probably binding when rotating, which would cause havok with the perches and thus the preloading. It sounds like the SparklingMini can finally head to the dealer with some good investigative info: "rebuild the front struts, they're probably binding from being assembled wrong from the factory".