Our 2012 Countryman was great for the first 6 months - then suddenly the steering was not as precise.

First mini dealer did confirm "hunting" but said it was low tire pressure. Did not resolve.
2nd mini dealer did not see an issue - roads near their facility were too flat to bring out the issue.

When driving there can be a pull or push on the steering wheel when the road has ridges or ripples that go down the road (not across). Almost as if the lateral pressure on the tires is being conveyed to the driver. A noticable wiggle is felt - at first I thought it was a low tire with a lateral wiggle.

On perfectly flat roads like the freeways, steering and tracking is perfect even at high speeds. The progressive steering works - and in sport mode the steering is stiffer and the steering wheel does not move as much, but the issue is still there.

Wheels have been rotated, balanced and aligned. Tire pressure is fine.

This has really detracted from our driving experience. Has anyone experienced a similar issue?

And are there Mini master mechanics that can assist local Mini dealers with such issues?

 

It's called "Bump Steer" and will be noticeably diminished as soon as you dump those Run Flat tires.

 

For the first 6 months things were fine - those barely noticable longitudinal imperfects in the roadway had no affect whatsoever on the steering. Now they do.

 

I would chalk that up to "breaking in" the suspension a bit. Mine did the same thing. At first it wasn't that noticeable, and then it got to the point where it was down right scary over a certain hard left sweeping overpass with two joints on my way home every day!

 

both my dad and i have 2012 cms all4s

his has stock suspension and stock 205/55R17 pirelli p7 all-seasons

mine has sport suspension and 225/45R18 pirelli p7 summers

his car is rather benign to road imperfections while mine is quite sensitive to them

assumming no damage to any componet of the steering or suspension (front or rear!), including a bent or dented wheel and/or damaged tire, it is the nature of the beast, a short wheel base, quick handling car is going to be more sensitive to the road surface

my car has gotten more sensitive as the tires wear down, i am 1/2 worn now

right now i am running my winter tires, dunlop grandtrek sj6, 205/70R16s on mini oem 16x6.5 alloy wheels and the car is much less sensitive to the road surface ... but i can't wait for spring to put the summer tires back on

scott

 

I think it is more due to the run flats. I put my non run flat snows on and I'm noticing a lot less bump steer vs. the stock tires. The run flats get even more stiff in the cold weather

 

Not sure if u have a base or an S but the base is crazy when it hits a bump on the highway...just keep calm and chive on

 

I appreciate the input, but I think this is something rare and completely different.
We know how the CM should drive from the 1st 4000 miles we drove it.
Now, however, we get too much feedback in the steering wheel - as if force on the front wheels from the side comes through to the steering wheel. At times that affect is quite pronounced.
One clue is that going slow with longitudinal ripples in the roadway, the steering will zig one way or the other in definite steps. Not gradual, but small discrete movements. It can be one or two steps one way, then back. At higher speeds I believe it is doing the same thing, but combined with normal driving feedback. Hard to repeat, though, which makes it hard to convince the dealer of the issue we know is there. They don't want to start replacing things without a definite cause - and neither do I.
The other day going over a YIELD painted on the pavement at slow speed pulled the steering left, then right, as the tires passed over the paint.
This is progressive steering, if that is a factor. I believe that was new for 2012.

I just want my original Countryman back. :-(

 

have you tried rotating the tires?

cheap and easy to do

scott

 

Yup. Rotated and balanced tires. Runs prefectly straight on smooth roads and none of the twitching I am complaining about. Did at Costco to be sure it got done. And had it aligned at a NAPA place. No difference.

 

there are a lot of rubber bushings in the mini suspension, any one of them failing could be the culprit, even a bush on the rear suspension

same with the steering rack, it is rubber mounted

same with the engine and transmission mounts, rubber mounted

a bad wheel bearing/hub could be the problem

tell us where you are and i am sure someone here will know an independant mini expert to help you sort the problem

i think what you need is a firm diagnosis so you can go back to mini and show them the exact problem so they can fix it under warranty

scott

 

Sounds good. We are located Chandler Arizona - a suburb of Phoenix. Other adjoining suburbs are Tempe and Gilbert (and the east side of Phoenix). Scottsdale otherwise.

 

Ditched my run flats at 4k miles... All that tracking silliness went away instantly!
RF tires are horrid.

Want to keep that Flintstone ride, keep the run flats.
My guess is that nobody is going to be able to help you until you ditch those.

 

I understand the go-cart feel, but this is something that happened suddenly at about 5K miles.
As an aside, my wife has a BMW X1 that has a lot of the same technology - turbo, direct inject, and run flat tires. But the feel is typical new BMW - very quiet and plush. And certainly no steering issues.
Since I drive her car on weekends, I get the best of both worlds.

 

I went to an independent shop that documented the steering issue - that it would go off on tangents.
I then went back to the Mini Dealership and this time they recognized that there was an issue and they investigated.
The allignment was a bit off, but when they put my original Pirelis on a loaner car it, too, was "all over the road". So something happened to the tires after 5K miles.
The dealership was kind enough to let me have the wheels off of the loaner car - which solved the issue.
The replacement tires are Bridgestone. Still run flats, but they do have a softer ride. The manhole covers no longer jar the car as much (I have the 18" sport wheels).

 

So now the dilema is - when it is time for new tires a couple of years from now - if I stick with the run-flat Bridgestones or if I go with my favorite tire company - Michelin.
Our roads in Chandler AZ are good, except for the manhole covers that killers. Not good with the sport wheels and Pirelli tires.

 

so you got Bridgestone summer tires?

 

The dealer replaced the Pirelis with Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sports from a similar loaner vehicle with similar mileage. No charge. 225/45/R18 91V . Similar tread pattern, similar road noise.
I disliked Bridgestones from 30 years ago when I had some problem tires, but these quell the bone jarring shake the Pirellis were transmitting over hole covers in an otherwise smooth road surface.
And it stopped the problem where the car would just go off in a direction left or right of center for no apparent reason. Where it was difficult keeping straight - disconcerning when there was traffic left and right on Phoenix streets. Confirmed when the dealer put my tires on the Countryman loaner. This does make it difficult when it is time for new tires. Go for Michelin's which have always been good to me, or go with these Bridgestones with a proven ride.

 

i just replaced my 225/45R18 pirelli P7 rfs with michelin pilot super sport 225/50R18 non-rfs

night and day difference, go with the michelins

scott

ps

before you ask, i up-sized to the 50 series for 2 reasons

more sideway to protect the rims and the 50s are much cheaper than the 45 series

as an added bonus, my speedo is spot on with gps speed now

scott

 

I believe the term "bump steer" is not being used correctly here. Bump steer happens when the upward movement of one wheel (caused by hitting a bump) causes its toe to change and imparts a slight change in the direction of travel. This is a suspension geometry-related effect.

What seems to be described in this thread is "tramlining". Tramlining happens when the tires tends to follow the imperfections in road surfaces. It most often affects tires that are +1 and up fittments, or tires that are wide and have stiff sidewalls. In other words, 18" 225 run flats with a low (45) tread width to sidewall height ratio. The Duelers may have a slightly more flexible sidewall, or may be less susceptible to the effect of mileage on the tire's "wear-in".

 

bmwr606 - thanks for the tip on the Michelin's. But tell me, did it make a world of difference on man hole covers that are depressed an inch or two? With the Pirelli's it would send a shutter through the entire car - and probably led to the tire damage that prompted the steering problem that suddenly developed after 5K miles.

 

i don't have "depressed manhole covers" to contend with here, but on some of my favorite twisty backroads with rough, patched corners, there is mush less tramlining and much less kickback through the steering wheel

yesterday i got a chance to push hard in the rain ... i was unable to get the rear wheels to slide out under power in a corner, something i could do wet or dry with the pirellis .... no more power oversteer!

scott

 

Scott, are you still happy with the Super Sports? Got a nail today in one of the Bstone RFT's that I assume absolutely no one will repair it's at the edge of the tread.

Even though the remaining three tires have only 7k miles on them and lots of tread remaining, I'm thinking I'm better off taking the dollars I would spend on one RFT and putting it toward 4 new non run flats.

The other tire I'm considering is the Michelin Defender. I know they won't handle as well as the Super Sport, but I like the 80k tread warranty. I used Xice3's in the winter and I thought the handling was fine...assume the Defender handling would be no worse. My GF is the primary driver and she does not push the car hard.