BMW Mini Suspension- Has a Rear Suspension Collapse ? Due to bottom links.
BMW Mini Suspension
Is this a common BMW Mini suspension fault ?
When I opened my garage doors on Saturday. Then a dark green BMW Mini had been left in the car park overnight. As a result, the owner had left a note . Thus to say that she would be calling in that morning. At the time we had not noticed . That the rear drivers BMW Mini Suspension was not straight . But leaning in at the top.
When we eventually got the BMW Mini on the ramp,(Saturday is a very busy day for tyre customers) we were astounded to find that the problem was caused by a broken bottom arm link, a part of the BMW Mini Suspension. The bottom link had completely snapped in two. This caused the wheel to pull in at the top making the car un-drivable.
This link is part of the cars multi-link system that is now common on modern vehicles such as the BMW Mini, and is used to give the cars independent suspension to all four corners of the car. The BMW Mini Suspension top and bottom links are part of that system. The lady customer can not remember running over any objects but with all the snow that has fallen in the Halifax area this winter, it is possible that she may have run over a large stone that was buried in the snow without knowing and snapped the link in two. This year has been a particularly bad year for broken springs and other suspension parts. The video that I have included in this post clearly shows the bottom link in action, it is the part that is a silver colour at the bottom of the BMW Mini suspension.
The new part has now been ordered and we will be fixing the BMW Mini this week.
More reading…
“Does multi-link suspension have any disadvantages? In short, yes… Such systems are more complex and incorporate more components, making them more expensive to design and produce. For this reason the systems were first introduced by luxury brands. That said, lower vehicle production costs and higher customer expectation have more recently seen the technology filter down to many large and mid-sized mainstream vehicles. Development of the multi-link suspension systems is ongoing. For example, Italian company Magneti Marelli (most famous for its auto electronics) is making significant headway in producing cost-effective multi-link systems for small cars. Its new designs incorporate flexible links, the benefits of which are said to allow fewer total parts, simplified bushing designs and reduced noise transmission into the passenger compartment”..http://www.carpoint.com.au/advice/2009/what-is-multilink-suspension-7533