Today we are going to look at a issue that may prove to be threatening. If you notice any handling or grip problems on your Mini Cooper , it is necessary that you drive attentively and handle it quickly. Our team has posted this content page to help you resolve them. First, we’ll quickly look at the main elements that ensure effective road handling, then we’ll look at why your Mini Cooper doesn’t hold the road any more, and finally we’ll look at how to resolve your grip complications.

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What are the main components that ensure great road holding and handling on a Mini Cooper?

We commence this content by quickly detailing the most important elements that will guarantee good road holding for your Mini Cooper. It’s necessary to know that a vehicle’s grip is a science in itself. It will consequently rely upon many points, we will describe below the most important ones that can be affected:

  • Shock absorbers: The most important elements of your road handling, they permanently guarantee the contact between the wheels and the road. They absorb all shocks and holes on the road.
  • Tyres: They are the ones that will guarantee the grip of your Mini Cooper on the road, the softer they are, the more grip you have, but the faster they get broken, the harder they are, the less grip you have, but the more resistant they are. Temperature impacts their wear. Their size will as well play on grip, the wider they are the more contact with the ground will be important.
  • The center of gravity: The higher your car is going to be, the more it will lean in the corners and therefore lose handling, that’s why low profile sports vehicles grip better than very high 4×4’s
  • Wheel Alignment: This adjustment enables you to control the vertical angle of your car’s wheels, it is therefore necessary for the grip of your car and the wear of your tires. This adjustment is very precise and must be conducted by specialists.

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There are many other elements to consider such as wheelbase, ground clearance, chassis rigidity, weight and aerodynamics…

Why is my Mini Cooper having complications with my car’s handling or grip?

We will now move on to the component that concerns you the most, why my Mini Cooper has handling complications? As we outlined earlier, there are quite a lot of components to consider for your car to have a good grip, however there are few that can evolve over time, most of them are intrinsic to the construction of the car, we will discover right away those that can affect your handling and road, and, why:

  • As we revealed earlier, the rubber of the tyres has a primordial role in the good road holding of your car, if your tyres are dead, you may possibly have complications of road holding on wet road at first and when you reach the “cord” even on dry road.
  • Dead shock absorbers: If your shock absorbers are dead, your car will no longer be able to absorb the irregularities of the road effectively and it will often “float”, which will result in a bad distribution of the masses on the car and shift the centre of gravity of the car. You risk slipping in the bends.
  • The risk with a misalignment is that your ground contact area is reduced because of a too open or too closed wheel angle, you will have grip complications.
  • A steering issue: Last but not least, the last necessary component for good road handling is that all the components of your steering must be in good condition. The most traditional case is that your stabilizer bar or the silent blocks of your steering triangles are dead. The consequence will be a delay in your changes of direction.

How do you resolve the handling complications?

We now move on to the different solutions to correct your road holding complications on your Mini Cooper .

  • Tyres: Nothing could be less complicated, just change your tyres, make sure to verify them attentively and change them when you get to the visual indicator in the grooves of your tyres. It is generally required to count between 100 and 200 euros for a pair of tires.
  • Shock absorbers: Ditto, dead shock absorbers have to be changed, if you want to know when to change the shock absorbers of a Mini Cooper, please have a look at our content on this subject. The price can vary quite a lot, but you will have to count at least 400€
  • Wheel alignment: You will have to go to your mechanic to have it corrected, it will cost you less than 100€?
  • Steering: If you have complications with the handling on Mini Cooper because of your steering, there might be several components concerned, in this case you will have to produce a whole check-up of these components, the best is to call a professional.

If you want more tutorials on the Mini Cooper, go to our Mini Cooper category.