Hello, wondering if anyone here knows how to deal with a slight positive camber from hitting a curb? I dont know the exact measurements, but it looks visually off so I know its messed up.
Cant tell if anything is obviously bent by looking at the suspension, its the rear right wheel.

Thanks.

 

If you hit a curb & can see positive camber with the naked eye you surely have bent something. Take it to a good alignment shop & have it checked out.

let us know what you find out.

Good luck...

 

I have a dealership appointment on monday for something unrelated, can they perform the alignment and detect bent suspension parts or would I need to go to an alignment shop?

Thanks

 

I think since you are going to be at the dealer anyway have them check it out. If they can't do the alignment they should know what is the best place to have it done.

 

Since an alighnment deals with fractions of a %....., and if you can see something is off, it is likely off by 5+% or more.....you definately need something fixed...maybe with a hammer, or an actual replacement part...do it now, or the dammage may get worse...meaning it could mess up a wheel bearing, or cause premature tire wear...
Sorry to hear about an issue, but fixing something sooner is almost always better than later!!

 

I just inspected everything one more time and the camber adjustment bolt that attaches the lower control arm to the wheel assy is definitely off in the opposite direction compared to the unaffected wheel. It appears that if one were to loosen this and correct the camber it would match other other wheel. I still hope nothing is bent..will point it out to the dealer tomorrow.

 

Good bit of detective work there. I'm hoping you get lucky & an alignment back to spec will get you back motoring.

I have to agree with Zippy don't drive it until it is fixed. Drive slowly & carefully to the shop.

 

There are some basic measurements you can take to see exactly where you are off (these measurements assume you did not damage the fender):

On a level spot, take a measuring devise or ruler and measure the following.

1. Distance to the fender at 12:00 noon, at 3:00 o'clock and 9:00 o'clock. Compare the affected and unaffected.

2. Drop a plump bob down from the top of the wheel well. Measure the distance from the top and bottom of the tire to the plump bob. Compare affected and unaffected wheel.

This will tell you the relative orientation of the wheels.

Hope you did not bend anything. I have some stock OEM R56 rear endlinks and control arms if you need them.

 

Well I got the car back from the dealership today and they were able to sort out the alignment except for these numbers:

Left rear toe can't be made better than 0.37 (was 1.03) and rear geom. driving axis is 0.13 (target is 0). The camber was way off and they were able to sort that out.
The vibration is gone now, but I can still feel some cyclic vibes when taking a right curve around 55mph. They said something might be bent (they can't see anything obvious) and that it's probably not worth looking into it further due to the expenses involved in replacing parts without knowing the exact. So my Mini will never drive like new again :(

I could try some other alignment shop to see if they spot something that the dealer missed, but that's a long shot.

Also after the alignment the steering wheel is very off-center so I have to bring it back thursday for them to fix it.

Can anyone recommend a Bay Area shop with Mini expertise?