14 replies to this topic

[lil dan]

ok so if i let go of the steering wheel it pulls slightly to the left but to drive in a straight line the steering wheel point about 30 degrees (at 1 O'clock) to the right.

tyre pressures checked and tyre wear even.

any ideas where to start?

[Bevan]

Tracking, quickfit will do it for about £27

[nik j rsp]

my mini pulls to the left,checked tyre presures,ok,had tracking checked,all ok,so changed tie bar and bottom arm bushes and its still pulls to the left,think i'll put new tie bars on next to see if that helps,yours could be any of these as well

[yorkshirechris]

Mine does exactly the same. It's an aftermarket steering wheel though so I thought it was set over to the right because it hasn't been aligned properly when fitted.

But my mini pulls to the left.

It's not the brakes because it isn't necessarily pulling worse when I slam on the anchors.

Changed the passenger side (still dont know my offside from nearside) tie bar, which was very slightly kinked, the problem presisted.

Changed all tie bar bushes, floor subby mounts and tower mounts. Still pulling left.

Had 4 new tyres put on and balanced, and balanced again, still pulling left.

I've noticed that the car sits about 2cm lower at the back on the passenger side than on the drivers side, I'm guessing theres something up with the suspension but surely that wouldn't cause it to pull left?

I will watch this topic like a hawk because it's been annoying me for months!

[nik j rsp]

i also changed all subframe mounts i know my shocks have had it and i'll be changing them to,if theres any improvement i'll let you know,damm anoying tho aint it >

[lil dan]

Changed the passenger side (still dont know my offside from nearside) tie bar, which was very slightly kinked, the problem presisted.

passenger is nearside. nearside = near the curb.


i had a similar prob with my last car (civic type r), i rotated the tyres and adjusted pressures and it was all sorted. tried this last night on mini and no change. had a look under at work and nothing seems bent and seeing as its only 6 years old i wouldnt have thought to much would be worn out.

although it does sound like a common prob

[Danny_California]

Hmm mine does this aswell from time to time, maybe its just a mini thing, but somehow I doubt a car so renound for excellent handling would have such a flaw...
I had my brakes checked, fine, had new front wheel bearings, fine... shes still doing it aswell so i dunno. It doesnt do it often enough to really bother me, its just a bit unnerving sometimes...

[Bevan]

my mini is ok, I can drive without any hands on the wheel and it will go straight or untill I hit a pothole. When you get tracking done, did they use laser equipment?

[nik j rsp]

as well as all the stuff i replaced that i mentioned earlier i changed wheel bearings and all the rear subframe bushes and checked the ball joints so all ive got left to check or replace are the shocks and the tie bars,if it still pulls to the left then im stumped

[lil dan]

got the tracking done as suggested. problem fixed. he told me it was well out. drives like a different car now too!

[Mini_Magic]

I have this exact same problem, had the tracking done (had to stick my 13s back on because the garage can't do 10s) and it seemed to be okay. Stuck my 10s back on and still have the problem, it seems to pull more to the left when braking. I have to hold my steering wheel at 1 o'clock to keep it straight. I don't know what to do now.

[lil dan]

is the overall hight of your wheel and tyre the same on the 13's and the 10's? this my have an affect.

mine used to tram badly because if your wheels are pointing, say, inwards when one catches a tramline and pulls straight then the other is pointing in even more. this ment i was jumping all over the road if the tram lines where bad.

[Tom Sanderson]

might be an idea to check the length of the car from front to back (wheelbase), just measure from front wheel center to back wheel center on each side. i checked this when my car had this problem and the nearside was almost an inch shorter than the ofFside, i have no idea why because the car hasn't been in any accidents, so i got some adjustable tierods and adjusted them sothat the wheelbase was the same on both sides.

hope this helps, just somthing else to check

[Its A Real Mini Adventure]

Just a bit of an adder rerlie... My last min, a 91 city with 12"s had a massive problem pulling left. The brakes, suspention tracking - all perfect, the cause was the perelli p3000 tyre masivly out of shape ( apparently perellis and michalins are prone to this).
Also had the same issue on my dads citreon xsara hdi, again traced to the nsf tyre massivly out of shape with no apparent cause.
In both cases the front tyres were replaced as pairs and instantly solved the problem.

[Ethel]

There are loads of potential faults that can cause your car to veer to one side...

Brakes dragging - jack up the front end and compare the resistance to spinning the wheels, rear brakes can also be a cause but to a lesser degree.

Tyres - swap them round and they ought to take their faults with them.

Steering - check for any freeplay in the track rod ends or the rack inner joints & bent track rods or steering arms.

Suspension - loose or bent tie rods; uneven ride height; worn upper arms; worn rear swivel pins or bent radius arms.

Subframes - distortion or worn mounts.

All possible causes:

Worn joints and bushes are likely to make the steering less precise and braking or loading / unloading the suspension over bumps may well show up loose geometry by reversing the symptoms. Changes under braking don't necessarily mean the brakes are the cause.

Worn driveshaft joints can also make a car veer but it should be more noticeable under acceleration.

If it's any consolation a tired Mini can still bury most cars on the road.