Bmw MINI sudden oversteer problem?

[HertsBiker]

greetings.
My wife's car has taken a downturn in handling & now seems tail happy on wet roads. Tyres have plenty of tread, fronts are quality continental items, rears are some indian/thai units with tons of tread left. Seemed ok when new but is this problem the tyres, or worn shocks (plenty of speed bumps our way) ????

BTW steering is fine and it stops in a straight line when braking.

Any advice appreciated. Anyone else had spinning probs recently?

[E30M3SE]

HertsBiker said:

greetings.
.........rears are some indian/thai units with tons of tread left. ....................

There's your problem.

[Sam_68]

HertsBiker said:

...fronts are quality continental items, rears are some indian/thai units

^^^ I think we have a winner!

[thinfourth2]

HertsBiker said:

...fronts are quality continental items, rears are some indian/thai units

haven't a clue

have you tryed lowering the back seats that might just help

[900T-R]

at this thread.

[rallycross]

tyre pressures.

check them,

even 5 psi down makes a huge difference (ie will oversteer easily)

[HertsBiker]

rallycross said:

tyre pressures.

check them,

even 5 psi down makes a huge difference (ie will oversteer easily)

thanks for being constructive.

[Dracoro]

Try swapping crap rears with the fronts. Does the oversteer still happen?

If you then have mad understeer then get rid of the crapo tyres asap. If oversteer still there then possibly not the tyres at fault.

[HertsBiker]

900T-R said:

at this thread.

hmmmm, in the bike world some great tyres come from eastern origins, so I'm not sure I find your comment helpful. Thanks.

[petermansell]

Dracoro said:

Try swapping crap rears with the fronts. Does the oversteer still happen?

If you then have mad understeer then get rid of the crapo tyres asap. If oversteer still there then possibly not the tyres at fault.

[900T-R]

HertsBiker said:

900T-R said:

at this thread.

hmmmm, in the bike world some great tyres come from eastern origins, so I'm not sure I find your comment helpful. Thanks.

But I'm sure they are not being described as 'some indian/thai units'...

And no, I am not aware of any road car tyres from there that would be anything near acceptable on any decent car.

[HertsBiker]

Dracoro said:

Try swapping crap rears with the fronts. Does the oversteer still happen?

If you then have mad understeer then get rid of the crapo tyres asap. If oversteer still there then possibly not the tyres at fault.

good point, we did have the cheapies all round after a wheel+tyre "upgrade" and it did seem a bit scrabbly on pull away, and the fronts wore real fast... hence I thought they were soft compound? maybe just crap?! also I have a fear that there is wear in the bushings as well tho caused by speed "cushions". Perhaps dumping the tyres would be easier. Cheers anyway.

[Ricky_M]

Possible silly question but you havn't recently removed a lot of stuff from the boot have you?

I drove around in my 306 for ages with the boot full of tools, soon after I emptied it I was introduced to lift off oversteer!

As someone mentioned, tyre pressures make a huge difference, I had a few hairy moments in my Punto that had a slow puncture on one of the rears!

[Thudd]

My MCS understeered like a bh, and improved tyres removed all hint of oversteer even under hefty provocation.

I'd swap the rears.

[Ben Magoo]

Never underestimate the value of decent tyres:

Mate of mine runs a fairly hot 200sx, on the eastern european ditch finders he even got done over on a round about by some old bird in a MGF!!!

He was stunned at the difference a propper named brand made - they are often worth the extra cash

[Silent1]

I killed a MINI Cooper in the rain, it span across 3 lanes totalled the central reservation, back across three lanes and 30' up the embankment.

The runflats are st, i'd rather drive around on greased baking trays, they float on water and don't provide any feedback.

Ditch them and get some proper tyres.

ETA, try 30 psi fronts 28 rear, or 28 all round if you've gor Pirelli Pzero Nero Assimmetricos

Edited by Silent1 on Saturday 9th August 21:37

[mister.t]

Anything run-flat on the MINI is cack I'm afraid

Coming off of a round-about on the std. Factory fit run-flat 17's on the R56 after just 7k miles of regular use, when even slightly damp would induce a full 4 wheel drift towards the central reservation

Now got some proper rubber (no idea what it is off of the top of my head sorry ) but now the car sticks to the road as intended

[Tpfkalm]

They have a lot of negative camber on the rear from the factory (why? )

This would indicate that rear grip might be an issue.

So, if car goes arse out:-

Wet roads
Crap tyres
Wrong Geometry, too much rear tow out
Wrong tyre pressures
Crap Design.

What is odd is that with a proper mini, you have the opposite problem....

Need more FRONT -ve camber, good tyres, correct pressures. REAR ANTIROLLBAR.

I think the problem is inherant with mc-wobble struts. Cut the front antirollbar and it will come together more.

[briSk]

ours has had the geometry knocked out a couple of times thanks to speed bumps.. (even going slowly). fronts wore oddly now rears have.

plus i agree with the pressures thing.

and i also agree with the hideous tyres option.