rear suspension collapse

[david smith]

Dear all ,

My nephew was driving at about 30mph friday evening in his 54 plate cooper and
the rear suspension collapsed - I havent seen it but something snapped ...
rear wishbone or torsion bar - tie rod ?? resulting in one wheel pointing 20 degrees or so the wrong way.

RAC man said he knows of around 11 that have done this and 1 was a fatality.

Hes having it flat bedded to the dealer in the morning ...

Does any body have any knowledge of any weakness like this as there doesnt seem to be any recalls?

Any advise welcomed! ... Thanks DAS

[james f]

hmm been on the mini forums for a good few years and ive dont think ive heard of this pop over to mini2.com to see if anyone on there has

[david smith]

cheers james .. hope its not a general issue .. will pop over to the other site .. regards DAS

[blackspider]

I have seen one of the aluminium arms snap on 2 seperate mins.
Its the lower camber arm which runs from the centre of the subframe/axle to the lower part of the hub unit.
Both times have been central failures in this arm-the one was a true failure and the second was an impact failure.
There are no recals/quality enhancments on the rear suspension units that I can remember.I have worked with mini since the launch and have never carried out a rework on the rear due to product fault.

[david smith]

cheers Blackspider ... reasuring info ... will try and find out from my nephew what snapped and why.

Edited by david smith on Thursday 28th December 01:29

all fixed under warranty ... seems to be tales of a few going - whatever the part was they told Rob
it was a newer version of it - and changed both sides (rear)

Edited by david smith on Saturday 30th December 00:46

[Loui]

blackspider said:

I have seen one of the aluminium arms snap on 2 seperate mins.
Its the lower camber arm which runs from the centre of the subframe/axle to the lower part of the hub unit.
Both times have been central failures in this arm-the one was a true failure and the second was an impact failure.
There are no recals/quality enhancments on the rear suspension units that I can remember.I have worked with mini since the launch and have never carried out a rework on the rear due to product fault.

Rear control arms?