The reason I ask, is that my Mini has an awful shimmy in the steering wheel, that is more pronounced at hight speeds. At low speeds it's barely felt, but by the time the car gets up to 75-90, it is quite violent. I've had the car since december, and it's always had a shimmy. But a week or so ago, I had a new set of tires put on (ditched run flats) and the vibration was even worse after the car came out of the tire place. I've ruled out an unbalanced wheel because I just swapped the wheels front to back, and the wobble is still there. The tire place said they would have told me if one of the rims was bent, but I'm not sure I can trust a place that hammered my lug bolts on to about 300 lb/ft.

 

Over tightening the lugs on any wheel can cause them to warp and results in shimmey ( how do you spell that ) I would get the wheels off NOW. Then use a torque wrench and set them to the BMW specs. If they are too tight and you don't correct it ASAP it can cause PERMANENT DAMAGE. Let's hope for the best and good luck. NEVER and I mean NEVER let them put an air wrench on cast wheels.

Later thoughts: Jacking the car up and spinning the tires by hand ( 6 spd? ) will show a wraped or bent rim most of the time!

 

Relating to air wrenches, a tire shop near me has special "torsion steel" socket extensions. The guy said that when a certain torque is reached, they flex and absorb all force and do not tighten the lugs anymore. They then go back with a torque wrench to check, it's spot on.

If your car had the wobble from the begining, take it back to the dealer and have them check the brakes and hubs. There may have been some manufacturing fluke that yeilded out of balance/warped components.

 

My car is out of warranty, so going back to the dealer to check anything is not feasible. If a rim is bent, I'll have to suffer until I can replace them. I did torque the lugs to proper specs, but that didn't help. I think something is just permanently bent.

 

Can you narrow it down to an area of the car?
Also check you motor mounts.
Set the parking break open the hood (bonnet) and have someone stand clear, to watch the action of the motor, and place the engine under load ( slowly let out the clutch in 2nd). If the engine moves violently you could have a broken mount.
Are the CV joints good?
Check the struts for leaks. If it has blown a gasket that could cause vibration at speed.

Best fo Luck.

 

More information is good! One might ask if you are the original owner of the car since you said it was out of warrenty. The reason I ask is to see if there is a possibility the front end was damage before you got the car.
If you bought it new and it always had the shakes then that's another issue.

My original comment about the air wrench is my opinion because unless you know without a doubt someone has that special air tool....well I like the manual torque wrench for complete control. Even with the special air tool they can still get the wheel on crooked. Enough.

Bad motor mounts might be possible but from your description it is probably something else. Likewise, CV joints going bad usually make noise especially when turning, a clicking noise.

Other things to check besides rotating the wheels while on jack stands are tie rod ends. Place car on jack stands ( this is a safety issue - engine off please ) then grab the wheel at 3 and 9 and try to shake the wheel. You should not feel any slack anywhere. Then hold the wheel @ 12 and 6 and do the same thing. Any snapping or popping is not acceptable.

A nice thing about the Mini community is that you have people who are really interested in helping you get this sorted out so hang in there and someone will come up with the magic bullet eventually.

 

I had this thought after I sent the post.
I had wheel bearing replaced by a dealer and the tech didn't tighten it. The shake was simular to what you discribe.
The wheel bearings on a MINI are part of the hub. If you try the method to test the ball joints you'll be testing the wheel bearing as well.
You have to replace the entire hub. Cheep if you can do it your self. Not cheep for a dealer to replace.

 

I have had tire shops use this type of tool on my car before and I have never seen them work correctly.
When I get home I check the lugs and they have always been over tight.

If you let anyone with a air wrench tighten you lugs you should probably check them yourself later.

 

Ozarkroots has the key... loose tie rod ends. Do the 3 and 9 o'clock shake.

YD

 

yeah i'm going with loose front end components too .

 

If possible, have a friend drive another car beside you if possible and have the friend or best of all two friends, one to drive the other car, and one to watch. When your car shakes and wobbles, have the friend closely look at all four tires and wheels for anything other than dead steady rolling. This may narrow down your search.

YD

 

you may have a faulty tire that shows at speed . try a test run . then imm ediately move the fronts to the rear ,and rears to front ,. see if the wobble changes. also if the tires were rotated recently ;they may've got the direction wrong . just throwing darts .

 

Not to add more fuel to the fire but my '03 mini does the same since I bought it used... the shimmy seems to happen at freeway speeds under accelleration - take foot off gas pedal at 65mph and no more shimmy - any suggestions? I think I can hear a bad wheel bearing too..