I have been accused of both but in this case I am referring to my 2011 MCS. I am just curious if it is just me or if it is just typical of the MINI? My car feels exactly that way...the front end is a little shaky and it tends to wander between the lines when I am going between 45 and 60. I took it to the dealer the second day I owned it but they could not find anything wrong with it. The tires are Conti run flats. Everything really smooths out and the car feels rock solid by the time I get to 70 and stays that way to 110 and maybe more but I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. It could just be the roads on the Big Island, all we have are two lane, but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks for reading,
Roy

 

Are your roads rutted? The narrow 205/45 tires can wander pretty easily especially with paving groves.
The runflat tires have a very stiff sidewall, so when the tread of the tire gets caught in a grove line, it shift to follow.
That's why you're feeling the searching / wandering experience.

- Erik

 

Have you checked your tire pressures? Tires that are too hard can make for skittery handling.

Spridget

 

Thumbs down on the run flats in the first place (that's another endless discussion), harsh ride to begin with. Bluefox may be on to something there. Rutted road surfaces will cause the car to feel as tho it is getting pushed side to side, called tramlining. Run flats may accentuate this. It is noticable with performance tires too. If your wheels are torqued correctly, your wheel bearings and bushings and motor mounts are solid and tire pressure is as prescribed it's gotta be the road.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=47

 

Lose the run flats. It's absolutely, positively, the best upgrade you can do for your car, and should be done the first week of ownership.

 

Roy, It could definitely be the road surface. A section of I-26 in Western NC causes wandering that I wasn't aware of before driving the MINI. When the light is right you can see tracks in the concrete that were probably made by traffic over the area before the concrete was fully cured. A few miles farther and the concrete is smooth and no more wandering.

If you can find a section of road where the car does not wander, you may discover that the problem is with the road surface.

Another Roy

 

It takes a bit to get used to .Combination of the short wheel base and run flats associated with the roads will give you that feel.I know when I first purchased my MINI I had the same feeling,but like everyone else is suggesting here a set of non RF will help.I put on a set of Michelin and the difference is incredible.

 

It could also be a subjective evaluation. What car did you used to drive? If it was, say, a Buick LeSabre, or any vehicle with similar handling characteristics (e.g. the Space Shuttle, the Queen Mary) then any car with sporting pretensions might feel jittery or over-responsive. Give it some time, perhaps, and see if you get used to it, and give it some exercise. Take two winding roads and call me in the morning.

 

If you are feeling any torque steer during acceleration, or even if you aren't, I would like to highly recommend the H&R Engineering Engine Torque Arm Insert. $60 part that only takes a few minutes to install once the car is off the ground. Made a world of difference on my 2011 JCW and no noise or vibration. Edit, I meant NM Engineering.

 

Did the dealership check for alignment/ balance ? I traded in the RF standard tires for Conti DW non- RF tires within 48 hrs of driving the car off the lot. I therefore can't speak to the RF handling peculiarity mentioned above. My steering is what I expected my MCS's to be - sensitive to input but otherwise rock steady on the road at the lower speeds that you've mentioned. I hope you'll have the situation remedied soon.

 

Thanks to all who responded regarding my jittery/wandering 2011 MCS. I think that my perception of those attributes may be a little skewed since three of the four previous cars that I have owned were BMW's. It seems obvious to me that the small tight MINI would seem jittery. The wandering may be a result of my over compensation in a light short wheelbase car combined with the alignment settings. Those points combined with a rough road surface are probably all working together to give me the feeling that I am experiencing. On top of that, I am running the stock runflats which I know to be less than desireable based on just about everything I have read about them from users on this forum. I keep 34 lbs of pressure in them. I will eventually replace them with better tires but not this year so if anyone here knows how to get the best performance out of them I am all ears.

Thanks again for reading. I'll see you on the boards or on the road.

Happy Motoring,
Roy