30 replies to this topic

[britishlewis]

So is that 2nd picture from the left the driver's side sill? He may actually have done you a favour by showing up that rust .. so it may be more that a simple wing-beating visit.
 
If the steering is pulling then you have bent something on the suspension or steering ..

Yeah I'm having that all repaired on Friday along with the wing and also I don't know what I'm looking for tho In regards to it pulling to the right could that not just the tracking ? Also the steering wheel wasn't straight when I got back into the car it went from 12 o'clock to 10 o'clock

[CityEPete]

Tie bar bushes and or the tie bar could be bent or broken, have a look underneath and see if its attached and not bent out of shape, check the condition of the bushes anyway as they need to be right before paying out for tracking. For what its worth I'd be tempted to have a pair of track rod ends fitted (steering rack gaitors if they look anything less than perfect too) then tracking setup and it will feel better than new no doubt

Finding a garage that can fit their tracking equipment on will be the hard part ime!

[666junky]

can i ask how you ended up over at that side of the road? i just cant work it out in my head but i guess im missing something.

 

For your info a similar thing happened when my tiebar bolt let go - the car slammed up a curb and bent the steering arm - not alot but enough to put the tracking well out, the lower arm also bent quite badly forcing the wheel into the back of the arch. Have a very good look underneath, better to get it up on axlestands and remove the wheels so you can compare both sides whilst underneath it.

[britishlewis]

can i ask how you ended up over at that side of the road? i just cant work it out in my head but i guess im missing something.
 
For your info a similar thing happened when my tiebar bolt let go - the car slammed up a curb and bent the steering arm - not alot but enough to put the tracking well out, the lower arm also bent quite badly forcing the wheel into the back of the arch. Have a very good look underneath, better to get it up on axlestands and remove the wheels so you can compare both sides whilst underneath it.

Hiya yeah a van pulled into the street on the correct side of the road then swung back out into the middle of the road

thanks for the help guys ill getting her up on axle stands this weekend and having a good inspection at what's broken bent or damaged

[britishlewis]

The damage looks minor to me. I guess the tyre has jolted upwards and hit the wing radius and arch forcing it up and stressing the seam with the impact, so at most I would guess the wing may be a little distorted.
 
Due to the impact the tracking would have been knocked out,  so you might need to get it re-tracked by a garage. The steering arms may look straight but there may be other damage so check everything carefully. I'd also check both sides of the tyre wall for splits and tears which may have occurred from the kerb impact.

Hiya stu cheers for your reply do you have any idea what the throbbing sound may be when I speed up it gets faster ?

[Stu.]

Not sure really. Have you tried jacking each side up to see if you can spin the wheel by hand to replicate the noise? Might be difficult as the road wheel wont be loaded. Worth trying though.

[wile e coyote]

Don't want to sound alarmist here - and just my opinion from pics but - suspension / steering & cosmetic  damage aside there looks to be a fair bit of rust there and the outer sill appears to have become almost completely detached - that's a  serious structural issue needing a quality fix.......sorry!

[CityEPete]

I wouldn't drive it until you have resolved the steering issue to be honest, if the tie bar has stripped its thread or the mounting area has bost off coupled with a potentially bent track rod/lower arm and or any bending/splitting of the front subframe and inner wing it would be bad enough add in a possibly knackered wheel bearing,track rod end and ball joints and you could end up with the wheel facing opposite directions quite easily, you wont be the first or last person with a mini to know what that looks like! Get it up in the air spin the wheel, wobble the wheel top to bottom and feel for problems and severe play there then remove the wheel and inspect the whole area from the front tie bar mounting where it bolts to the subframe right through to the inner arm bushes and check that all the welds are solid with no splits at all, if all that is ok I would be happy to drive it, fit a new pair of track rod ends and have the tracking set, then get the welding/cosmetic bit sorted.

 

That is my 2p worth

Edited by CityEPete, 05 May 2015 - 07:01 PM.

[gazza82]

The damage looks minor to me. I guess the tyre has jolted upwards and hit the wing raidius and arch forcing it up and stressing the seam with the impact, so at most I would guess the wing may be a little distorted.
 
Due to the impact the tracking would have been knocked out,  so you might need to get it re-tracked by a garage. The steering arms may look straight but there may be other damage so check everything carefully. I'd also check both sides of the tyre wall for splits and tears which may have occurred from the kerb impact.

Hiya stu cheers for your reply do you have any idea what the throbbing sound may be when I speed up it gets faster ?

Seriously .. You sren't trying to drive it like that? :-( You don't know what damage you've got underneath and it could be dangerous.

Edited by gazza82, 05 May 2015 - 07:33 PM.

[britishlewis]

I wouldn't drive it until you have resolved the steering issue to be honest, if the tie bar has stripped its thread or the mounting area has bost off coupled with a potentially bent track rod/lower arm and or any bending/splitting of the front subframe and inner wing it would be bad enough add in a possibly knackered wheel bearing,track rod end and ball joints and you could end up with the wheel facing opposite directions quite easily, you wont be the first or last person with a mini to know what that looks like! Get it up in the air spin the wheel, wobble the wheel top to bottom and feel for problems and severe play there then remove the wheel and inspect the whole area from the front tie bar mounting where it bolts to the subframe right through to the inner arm bushes and check that all the welds are solid with no splits at all, if all that is ok I would be happy to drive it, fit a new pair of track rod ends and have the tracking set, then get the welding/cosmetic bit sorted.
 
That is my 2p worth

Cheers that's what I'm going too do !!

[britishlewis]

Not sure really. Have you tried jacking each side up to see if you can spin the wheel by hand to replicate the noise? Might be difficult as the road wheel wont be loaded. Worth trying though.

Yeah cheers mate I'm going too do that now

[britishlewis]

does anybody know or anywhere that specialises in minis and can just solve all of my problems I'm having?

[666junky]

just get under the car and have a look, take photos and put them on here.

[CityEPete]

Any old fashioned garage preferably with some older staff should have no trouble sorting out what was bread and butter work 10 years ago when there was still quite a few minis and metros out there.

[Cooperman]

Best to get a full front geometry check, plus a check of the bodyshell where the sub-frame mounts to it.

The steering issue could be a bent front tie-rod mounting ear. They do bend quite easily in an impact on the wheel.

It is also easy to bend a steering arm.

The tie-rods themselves bend easily, although that is easily seen.