Hello,
I am a two month old owner of a 2011 Mini Clubman S. Love the car a lot, kinda sad I waited this long to get one. I had the JCW strut bar installed last week at the dealership, and now I feel a definite pull to the right, which was not there before I had the strut bar installed. I took it back to the dealership and they said that was normal because of the cusp on the roads here in Florida. I said it was not there originally and he checked the alignment and it came back within spec. Could a over/under torqueing ( I think that is a word) cause this. Has anyone had a similar issue when they installed their strut bars?
thanks for your time.
This is one of the better forums I belong to, almost no one judges you and simply tries to help. I like that
thanks
Spencer

 

I seriously doubt its the strut bar. Its very easy to take off yourself. Try it and see for yourself.

 

The only other thing I had installed was the JCW Stage 1 kit. I would not imagine there is anything in that (ECU Software?) that would cause it but it is definitely there. Perhaps the strut tighten up the front end to the point that I now notice something which has always been there?.

 

You can always take it to a local shop and have it double checked. Just because the dealer says it is in "spec" does not mean it really is. Check with your local MINI clubs and see who they recommend - a good local shop can do wonders.

Just FYI - I installed the strut bar on my 04 S myself and never had any issues.

Good Luck!!

 

It's probably coming from the increased power from the JCW Tuning Kit. Mine torque steered before I had the kit installed and it did get worse after the kit, but I have a 2008 so it never had the anti-torque steer software.

 

A strut bar/sway bar should only affect the car when turning...going stright, no change.
You could loosen/ unbolt the sway bar and do a short drive around he block drive...see if it fixes it (own risk....).if it still pulls, not the swaybar.hook back up. I am assing it pulls with no throttle from how you are phrasing it...kinda like an alignment issue.

 

I can"t imagine why, but is it possible that the dealership took the wheels off when the installed the bar? If so, is it possible that they reversed the tires?

I put my own bar on, and, to be honest, I can't tell that it did much of anything. I definitely didn't cause it to pull to one side or the other.

 

The funny thing I find out of all of it is the dealer saying it's due to the cusp on the roads here in Florida. Well I have lived here for 8 years and actually before laid off was working as designer for civil engineering firm and there really isn't any "cusp in the roads. The slope on the roads should be 2% or below so not enough to make the car pull to one side or the other. Just my .02.

 

That is what I thought as well.Perhaps it has always been there but now the kit is making it more noticeable. Do you think the NM Torque Arm inserts would do any good?

 

I have lived in Florida all of my driving life and have not noticed any "cusp" in the road to cause this problem. I think at that point he was just trying to get rid of me, not sure.

 

Sounds like a crock to me. I agree with your assessment.

 

I installed my JCW strut bar on my 2010 Mini Cooper Clubman S and have 0 probs associated with it. No changes in any way that I can feel...but when turning/taking bends WOOHOOOOOOOOO