[Mindmap3]

I've got a 55 plate One that I got in June and since day one I've had a few issues with the steering - when I got it, the steering wheel was off centre when driving in a straight line, the tracking was fine and I hadn't curbed it/ragged it through potholes. After a monumentous whinging session/arguement and the best part of two months the dealer sort it righ (a full alignment - which they tried to charge me £200 for!). After that it was all fine until...

I changed the wheels at the weekend - I took it to ATS as they're nearest to be done and I'm now back to square one - could they have some how misaligned it when they checked the tracking (they also found my track rod ends where loose!)....its not that far out, but is really annoying as I do a lot of motorway driving.

Any ideas as to what I can get done? I'm not paying £200 for BMW to do it and leave thinsg loose again and they won't relook at it as I've changed the wheels...

Cheers guys

[R99]

As far as I'm aware garages such as ATS, National Tyres (etc) don't have the same laser system that the BMW garages have. I could be wrong though.

The KDS alignment is what you need by the sounds of things.

[oldnell]

I don't know much about this but MINIs, in common with BMWs, should be weighed down when doing wheel alignment. So it says in the Haynes manual, anyway.

I phoned round several local places that do alignment last year. One said that they didn't have the weights, without me even mentioning weights. Some said they can do MINIs, but when asked about the weights said they didn't have them.

I'd question the value of doing a wheel alignment if your track rod ends are knackered, though.

I also had my car delivered with the steering wheel off centre. Looking back at it, I believe that all they did to fix it was to rotate the steering wheel on its hub, rather than doing a wheel alignment. In doing so, they put the steering wheel off centre in the other direction (but less far than before) and introduced a horrid clicking noise from the indicator-stalk reset mechanism.

Oli

[jamesw24]

I have had problems with alignment in my 54MCS

It had the fatal steering rack problem which was replaced under warranty but when i got the car back and drove it on the motorway i noticed the steering was off by 15 degrees. They booked it back in, took of the steering wheel and straightened it but its 2-3 degrees of the other way now.

ask the dealer if its had steering work done in the past. may be you have alignment issues and need new track rods but the thing if slightly off anyway!

james

[Mindmap3]

The track rods ends aren't knackered, they where just loose after it had a KDS (after a long battle after I toook delivery of it with a wonky wheel). It was fine after that until i changed teh wheels over - looks like its going to £240 to those unhelpful souls at my local dealer.

I might try somewhere else first. Its got to go back to the dealer again because at tick over there's a slipping sound and I want them to check the steering over as I'm convinved that its not happy - it feels nothing like my previous Minis.

Cheers for teh advice though

[oldnell]

Hmmm. My steering woes started when I changed my wheels from the factory steel 15" ones (poverty spec MINI One) to some delivery-mileage 15" MINI light alloys, although I had some abnormal tyre wear on my old tyres so all was not well before (I just hadn't noticed it).

If you're anywhere near Dorset, Roland at GT Tuning (a MINI2 sponsor) has been most helpful to me and, if you read the posts on this forum, clearly knows his stuff. Geography and time issues meant I had to get some recent suspension work done at my dealership, but I'll be heading down to Roland in the coming months as it's still not quite right (though much improved).

Hope this helps

Oli