33 replies to this topic

[Minitrio]

Hi All,

As the title says my 89 998, vibrates/shakes at 50mph. I have posted before about this, but it was at a lower speed and mostly seemed to come through brake juddering.

 

So far I have change front brake disc and pads, replaced the front subframe mounts, the suspension rubbers had all be renewed, including donuts and finally I had the wheels rebalanced.

 

Having done all that and had the tracking checked and adjusted, the low speed vibration disappeared, everything felt firmer handling wise until you hit 50mph and the whole car starts to shake. I've now changed engine mounts to rule that out, but no joy still same issue.

 

I will be taking it off the road in the next few weeks and really want to get to the cause of the issue, before I put her back on the road for the summer and the dreaded MOT.

 

Any suggestions on what might be causing it and how to cure it will be gratefully received.

 

Thanks for reading

[nicklouse]

Checked the tyres are ok.

Had the wheels rebalanced.

[Minitrio]

Yeah, had new Falkens fitted about 5 months ago balanced then and re balanced about a fortnight ago, no difference.

[andrewmini67]

A clubby I owned before had sort of the same problem, a noticeable shake at speed. Had 2 new wings and A panels fitted as you do and it stopped. My mate pointed out before the work started that the A panels had been badly fitted and had no strength in them, you could physically push them in. We never thought anything of it until I told him how the problem had gone afterwards......? 

[Minitrio]

A clubby I owned before had sort of the same problem, a noticeable shake at speed. Had 2 new wings and A panels fitted as you do and it stopped. My mate pointed out before the work started that the A panels had been badly fitted and had no strength in them, you could physically push them in. We never thought anything of it until I told him how the problem had gone afterwards......?

Well I hope its not that drastic, will keep that in mind as a last resort.....:-(

[pdaykin]

You mentioned the whole car shaking.

Does it feel more like its the front or the back ?

I had an odd one once that turned out to be a bulge in the tyre. I assume as the heat built up when I drove faster the tyre deformity increased so became noticeable.

Changed the tyre and the issue went away. But came back quite quickly. Turned out to be a failing bearing that caused the tyre issues

[MatthewsDad]

I had the same problem front and back when I first bought my mini and it was frightening driving at 50mph. Tried wheel balancing, tracking, etc. until we removed the tyres from the wheel and found gallons of that green puncture resistant slime stuff in every tyre. It had set into big clumps of goo around the inside of the tyre. Scooped the slime out, rebalanced the wheels and everything was fine.

[Spider]

Checked the Drive Flanges are running true and the Shafts on the CVs aren't worn?

 

Wheel Bearings would also be worth a look, though you'd normally find there's be some shake in them when when it's jacked up.

 

Do you feel the shake through the steering wheel, which in turn is shaking the car or does the steering shake because the whole car is shaking?

Edited by Moke Spider, 31 March 2016 - 06:05 PM.

[carbon]

Minitrio - what type of wheels are fitted?

 

Original steelies or alloys?

[Minitrio]

Thanks for the reply guys.

It feels like it comes from the front Aftermarket Revolution 12" Alloys. It starts in the steering wheel and ends up shaking the whole car, until you drop back down to 40mph.

I'm not sure on how to check the drive shafts and cv joints, so guidance would be greatly received.

Would I hear a wheel bearing whilst driving?

I have adjustable lower arms with the offset bushes fitted, which needed slight adjustment when the tracking was set up, these are newly fitted six months ago, could these cause an issue?

 

Thanks again for your help so far

[nicklouse]

Taking the first sentence of your reply.

If they have been balanced then there would be no issue.

If they are out of shape then they guys that fitted the tyres and balenced them should have said some thing.


But back to the issue for us to have a hole in hell of guessing what might be the problem we need to know exactly what you have done/changed etc,

Happening att a certain speed tends to be a balance issue.

[MRA]

More than likely your toe out is set incorrectly or you have loose CV/wheel bearing/hub etc

[Minitrio]

Think I may have found it the problem, inner passenger side pot joint rubber is split, the joint looks dry or very minimal grease in it.....

I will get it changed and go from there. Is it a difficult job to do?

[Cooperman]

I had that problem, but it was not a mini.
When new front tyres were fitted the remains of a valve was left inside. The tyre shop owner was a friend and he and I spent a long time checking. We checked hub concentricity, tyre roundness, every suspension and steering joint, damper settings, tracking and camber. Finally he decided to fit another set of tyres and that was when we found the stem of the valve. What a relief that was.

[nicklouse]

Think I may have found it the problem, inner passenger side pot joint rubber is split, the joint looks dry or very minimal grease in it.....

I will get it changed and go from there. Is it a difficult job to do?

if you grab the drive shaft can you make it move? if no it is not the problem.

 

replacing the boot and regreasing is not too bad. it is covered in your Haynes manual.