Excellent!! Glad you are happy with it Apial!
Looking forward to mine being done on the 10th June!
Looking forward to mine being done on the 10th June!
Photographic evidence of LEFT PULL fix!!!
After over 7 months of waiting, my MINI has been fitted with Mk3 front suspension which actually works!!!!!
The steering is now so straight that the car will travel in a straight line for at least 1/4 mile with no need for correction. Hard braking from 60 mph may be performed with no need to correct the steering. Turn in is just as sharp as before and very quick. In a word, BRILLIANT!
Some of you may be wondering what work was done. The front top suspension mount, the shock absorber strut, the springs, and link arm have all been changed. This process took 2 days to complete. One day was taken up by the car having to go to Thorne for the suspension alignment to be done on the BMW KDS machine.
The most obvious difference is to be seen in the engine bay. The tops of the front suspension design has changed radically from a protruding top to a sunken design with an allen headed bolt top.
An additional white plastic gater top has appeared on the top of the struts.I hope this aids identification for you.
Better still, take a look at my gallery for all the pictures.Click here for the pictures.
All has not gone well though. On return of my MINI, I started up the engine and now the airbag warning light has come on and refuses to go out. Also on turning at almost full lock to the right, a terrible scraping metallic rattle noise came from the nearside wheel! (mr.bill,this car needs an exorcism, I think.)
After telling the dealer that he would be seeing me again, I went to investigate. His suggested loose airbag wire under the drivers seat was discounted, so tomorrows visit is still on.
The rattling metallic noise was found to be a disc backing plate that had been bent backwards so that it almost made contact with the track-rod end. On full lock the two actually touched and made a noise like a Steel Bands drum being scraped. A quick bend and all was silenced.
These pictures are conclusive proof that there HAS been a steering problem with earlier (OCT 2001) build cars. I have been told that this MK3 design was being fitted from week 9 build on the MINI production line. Can anyone confirm that the Mk3 design suspension parts shown in my Gallery are the same as their post week 9 build MINI?
The steering is now so straight that the car will travel in a straight line for at least 1/4 mile with no need for correction. Hard braking from 60 mph may be performed with no need to correct the steering. Turn in is just as sharp as before and very quick. In a word, BRILLIANT!
Some of you may be wondering what work was done. The front top suspension mount, the shock absorber strut, the springs, and link arm have all been changed. This process took 2 days to complete. One day was taken up by the car having to go to Thorne for the suspension alignment to be done on the BMW KDS machine.
The most obvious difference is to be seen in the engine bay. The tops of the front suspension design has changed radically from a protruding top to a sunken design with an allen headed bolt top.
An additional white plastic gater top has appeared on the top of the struts.I hope this aids identification for you.
Better still, take a look at my gallery for all the pictures.Click here for the pictures.
All has not gone well though. On return of my MINI, I started up the engine and now the airbag warning light has come on and refuses to go out. Also on turning at almost full lock to the right, a terrible scraping metallic rattle noise came from the nearside wheel!
(mr.bill,this car needs an exorcism, I think.)After telling the dealer that he would be seeing me again, I went to investigate. His suggested loose airbag wire under the drivers seat was discounted, so tomorrows visit is still on.
The rattling metallic noise was found to be a disc backing plate that had been bent backwards so that it almost made contact with the track-rod end. On full lock the two actually touched and made a noise like a Steel Bands drum being scraped. A quick bend and all was silenced.
These pictures are conclusive proof that there HAS been a steering problem with earlier (OCT 2001) build cars. I have been told that this MK3 design was being fitted from week 9 build on the MINI production line. Can anyone confirm that the Mk3 design suspension parts shown in my Gallery are the same as their post week 9 build MINI?
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Its like getting a new car!!!monsta said:Looking forward to mine being done on the 10th June!
Thanks for the photos Apial - I did the test you suggested in my thread the other day which confirmed the left-drift. The more I drive it, I know it definitely drifts - I'm not just paranoid.
Just been out to check my May build cooper with the pictures you've just posted - from what I can see things look the same. I can't see the top of the strut because a plastic cover has been glued to the top of it, however it is recessed i.e. not the protruding type.
I definitely have the white plastic gaiter at the top too. My spings have two orange marks as apposed to pink, but I don't think that's anything to worry about.
I have SS+.
I think my first move with the dealer would be to get it back on the KDS machine at Thorne - which hopefully shouldn't be too difficult as my dealer is the nearest to Thorne.
Cheers mate, you're a star.
Potts
Just been out to check my May build cooper with the pictures you've just posted - from what I can see things look the same. I can't see the top of the strut because a plastic cover has been glued to the top of it, however it is recessed i.e. not the protruding type.
I definitely have the white plastic gaiter at the top too. My spings have two orange marks as apposed to pink, but I don't think that's anything to worry about.
I have SS+.
I think my first move with the dealer would be to get it back on the KDS machine at Thorne - which hopefully shouldn't be too difficult as my dealer is the nearest to Thorne.
Cheers mate, you're a star.
Potts
great pictures
glad the car in like new now
glad the car in like new now
Apial, you certainly waited a very long time for the fix. Glad to hear is truely corrected. Thanks for the extensive documentation (both text and photographic).
FINALLY
I bet you feel like breaking out the bubbly
I bet you feel like breaking out the bubbly
Apial, congrats on finally getting the left pull sorted. There is no excuse for it taking so long. Nice pics, and given all the trouble you had, the "Number Two" on the door is quite appropriate.
I would suggest that everyone who buys a MINI should print out the pics of the new suspension parts and take them along to the dealer's.
I would suggest that everyone who buys a MINI should print out the pics of the new suspension parts and take them along to the dealer's.
I just checked my cooper. It was built in March (says so on a sticker on the RHS, front wing panel, visable when the bonnet is up, Probably week 9 or 10 (it was delivered first week in April 02.
I have sports suspension, and i have the same setup as you now have. (recessed allen bolts tops (under plack caps), white elastomer on the shock and 2 pieces of pink tape on the spring.
My car tracks pretty straight, it does seem to drift a bit to the left, but i think that is road camber driven
Glad u got ur one fixed tho,
GErry
I have sports suspension, and i have the same setup as you now have. (recessed allen bolts tops (under plack caps), white elastomer on the shock and 2 pieces of pink tape on the spring.
My car tracks pretty straight, it does seem to drift a bit to the left, but i think that is road camber driven
Glad u got ur one fixed tho,
GErry
Exactly the same as Moonshine above. I have a March build Cooper actually built on the 12th or 13th of March, stickers on the car have the date. This is week 10 I believe. The car has the same things as in the photos, I hadn't noticed them before. My springs have two pale orange strips on them.
Glad to here it's alot better Apial, well done for all your hard wrok and perseverance.
Glad to here it's alot better Apial, well done for all your hard wrok and perseverance.
I have Mk 3 Suspension?!
On March 14 I took delivery of my replacement MINI following an array of problems (see http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3655). It's got a build date of Mar 02. Having had a look at the Photo's of the left pull fix (well, the bits under the bonnet), I appear to have to Mk 3 Suspension (that'll be why it doesn't pull left then...)
So it would appear that my MINI is one of the first with the fix...
Where abouts on the car is the Build Date? All I can find on my MINI is the Month and Year.Silver and Black said:
On March 14 I took delivery of my replacement MINI following an array of problems (see http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3655). It's got a build date of Mar 02. Having had a look at the Photo's of the left pull fix (well, the bits under the bonnet), I appear to have to Mk 3 Suspension (that'll be why it doesn't pull left then...)
So it would appear that my MINI is one of the first with the fix...
...lucky so far...
....my MINI shipped on the 30th of May....so it probaly was built in may...
...just in time for the for the Xnenon lights, but not before the MK3 suspension...
...it has no sun roof to leak or rattle...maybe the windows will stay in their tracks, too...
...at least BMW has been responsive to the flaws in this new car...
....my MINI shipped on the 30th of May....so it probaly was built in may...
...just in time for the for the Xnenon lights, but not before the MK3 suspension...
...it has no sun roof to leak or rattle...maybe the windows will stay in their tracks, too...
...at least BMW has been responsive to the flaws in this new car...
Just to let everyone know, I went to the dealer I got my car from to see about the left pull fix and he said "there is no fix". NO parts no nothing! They'd book it in to look at it and see if they could alter athe dampers etc.
SO I took it to another local dealer and they booked it in for the fix next friday, no questions asked, without even seeing/looking at the car!!
They'd book it in to look at it and see if they could alter athe dampers etc.SO I took it to another local dealer and they booked it in for the fix next friday, no questions asked, without even seeing/looking at the car!!
who is your dealer?Skinnyrunt said:Just to let everyone know, I went to the dealer I got my car from to see about the left pull fix and he said "there is no fix". NO parts no nothing!
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