Hey y'all. I have a R53 Mini Cooper S with a 6 speed manual. I've owned it for approximately 2 years. I have a question regarding normal transmission operation. I recently replaced both of the CV axles and I've noticed that when my car is parked, engine off, and in gear my wheels have a bit more "play" or "slack" when rotating them in the direction they're intended to go. My question is, how much "slack" should my transmission have? Is the gearing normally tight on these cars or do they have some "wiggle room"? Thank you in advance for any comments.

 

They do have "wiggle room", but if it is excessive, it may be due to worn final drive gears. I don't think it is a problem. the higher the miles the more play, you can expect.

 

It has 127k. It's noticable enough that when I'm letting off the throttle in gear, the car seems to rock backwards and forwards. However, it shifts fine, there's no grinding noises going through the gears, but it does sometimes seem to hesitate with acceleration. It almost seems to surge under a load