Hello everyone. after a 10 year absence I decided to get back into a 2005 R53 with JCW intake, 15% pulley and JCW exhaust, its lowered on Eibach coil overs. I had a bit of engine slop back and forth under load so decided to swap out the hydraulic passenger side motor mount. While it was in the shop my trusted mechanic suggested changing the control arm bushings. after this was done everything was fine for about 30 mins of driving. Now in any gear with heavy or light throttle load when driving in a straight line when i apply the gas it quickly pulls to the left and when I let off the gas it slips back to center or neutral feel in the steering wheel. Its a very scary feeling like on ice. I took it back to the shop, they went over everything and tightened everything down once again, broke a ball joint in the process on the drivers side so that got replaced. The CV joint on the passenger side was recently replaced. I then took the car for an alignment but each time they aligned it when road testing it would go out of alignment again. Its going back to the mechanic this week, but honestly they are scratching their heads over this one and I'm concerned that we are going to be throwing random parts at this issue blindly trying to fix it. It been 4 days since and now I have picked up a clunking noise when pulling off the line. Suggestions going forward are wheel bearings and strut tower brace. I do trust this mechanic as they are BMW & Mini specialists with a great reputation, in fact when I took it back after the alignment they pulled a car out of the bay immediately took mine in spent over 4 hours replaced the ball joint that broke when they were tightening everything up and refused to charge me a dime even the ball joint part. I would appreciate any feedback especially based on experience cheers!!

 

I get the same torque steer in mine. I rebuilt the whole suspension on mine after my son ran the car into a curb during a snow storm. The torque steer may have gotten a bit worse, but I don't recall. Beyond putting in an LSD, I would love to get a simple solution to minimize torque steer also.

I also have/had a clunking issue that has been driving me nuts since I have replaced all the motor mounts, the front suspension and control arm bushings . When my son wrecked, we picked up a used axle locally since he split the CV boot in his wreck to get the car on the road quickly. I broke the used axle a couple of weeks ago and just replaced it with a new GKN axle (the OEM I believe). I have only driven the car briefly once since replacement, but I think the new axle may have solved the issue.

 

Torque steer is exaggerated by bad alignment. I always go to a specialist when aligning. Going out of alignment does not sound good and my first feeling is to recommend to visit another shop. If everything is torqued to spec, that should not happen...

I have the extra caster Powerflex bushings with a lot of other polyurethane items, lowered on coilovers, but have none of the described handling.





Powerflex Roll Center adjuster

 

Interesting suggestions. Are you able to adjust the castor on the control arm bushings after they are installed?

 

Nope, you press them in (I pressed them in with 12 tons workshop press) and thats that. I did not specifically order these, but I ordered the normal ones and got these delivered. I made the decision to roll with them as they are twice the price My Mini handles really well, but I don't have any comparison material

More info + mounting instructions: https://www.powerflex.co.uk/product-...sted/1652.html