Steering issues

[benjycooper]

hi all i recently bought a second hand Mini cooper and am a little worried
when driving the car above 50 mph or higher speeds the car seems to pull intermittently left then after a couple of seconds it will twitch to the right and it does this at random times but when it pulls left or right the steering wheel does not move it seems to be the wheels on there own its quite disorientating, when my speed is at 30 40 mph its fine, i had two new tyres on the front both same tread patterns and the guy looked at the wear on the old ones and said the tracking seemed fine, but it would have to be done on a hunters machine something to do with magnets and weighted suspension, i love the car and can drive it but it does leave me worrying a bit, i even thought maybe its the track rod ends left open by the garage i bought it from but it doesn't explain why the steering still responds at normal speed

any help or advice would be great

thanks again
Ben

[ScoobyChris]

Most decent tyre places will have a computerised 4-wheel alignment rig and be happy to check the settings for you for not very much money.

My local one (Cheap Tyres Online | UK Car Tyres Shop: Buy Michelin, Pirelli, Continental) only charged if changes needed making and were quite happy to let me in the workshop to explain things to me. IIRC, the last time I used them, the charge to change the front settings was around £25 and the rears £10, although only the fronts needed doing.

If you want the Rolls Royce of wheel alignment, take it somewhere like PowerStation who also have the ability to exercise the suspension in situ and tune it based on that. Had them work on our old Scooby and they transformed the standard handling of the car, but the service cost considerably more!

Chris

[MINIAC]

Quote: Originally Posted by benjycooper (original)

hi all i recently bought a second hand Mini cooper

When seeking help please indicate the build date of your MINI.

How can I find out when my MINI was built?

[MakinMini006]

Quote: Originally Posted by ScoobyChris (original)

Most decent tyre places will have a computerised 4-wheel alignment rig and be happy to check the settings for you for not very much money.

My local one (Cheap Tyres Online | UK Car Tyres Shop: Buy Michelin, Pirelli, Continental hid kits) only charged if changes needed making and were quite happy to let me in the workshop to explain things to me. IIRC, the last time I used them, the charge to change the front settings was around £25 and the rears £10, although only the fronts needed doing.

If you want the Rolls Royce of wheel alignment, take it somewhere like PowerStation who also have the ability to exercise the suspension in situ and tune it based on that. Had them work on our old Scooby and they transformed the standard handling of the car, but the service cost considerably more!

Chris

I love when they actually take you back there and let you know exactly whats going on. Thats some good customer service right there.