I was measuring how much clearance I have for my new wheels and possibly some small spacers when I noticed that the top of the rear tire on my drivers side sticks out 10mm more than the passenger side does. This leads me to suspect my camber is seriously off? My car is only lowered an inch on springs and I have factory (non adjustable) control arms so I just don't see where this discrepancy is coming from. My car was never hit there either. I'm guessing I just really need an alignment? But I don't see how you could dial out the camber without adjustable control arms.

 

there should be a toe adjustment in the rear.

also, lowering springs in most cases add a small amount of negative camber.

a bad/failing strut and/or strut mount could also be part of the problem.

 

I know lowering springs add negative camber but it should be somewhat consistent between both sides. Mine seems to be way off. My rear lower control arms are both new oem ones and have no bends. My rear uppers are original but seem to be straight from what I can see. My struts are koni yellows which have only 2k on them. Everything seemed fine when I put them on. Ride height is identical between both sides. I've added some pictures so you guys can see what I mean. Sorry they're sideways but you should be able to see the difference in camber.

 

Looking at your pics, I see the point at where the tire intersects the black wheel arch moulding and they look very close. Also, your negative camber doesn't seem excessive on either side. I've noticed slight variations from one side to the other on my vehicles as well but the only thing that really matters is identical alignment on both sides. If it concerns you, go have the alignment checked.

 

i see what you mean. the difference is definitely clear to me. i would suggest going in for an alignment. that will give you a good baseline of what youre numbers are, and most places, if you need to replace parts for an accurate alignment, will tell you what needs to be done and let you return afterwards to get the alignment (if you tell them not to do it).

 

Its kindve hard to tell by the photo but like I said I measured it to be about 10mm of difference with regards to where the top outer edge of the tire sits in relation to the fender. I'm mostly just concerned about it for aesthetic reasons. I just think it would look dumb if I put my new wheels on and everything is flush except for that one corner which sticks in 10mm more. I just don't see how there can be this much difference unless something is wrong. All the control arms are a fixed length and each side is the same height, so it should be much closer right?

 

techincally yes, if nothing is worn or damaged.

if you have access to a floor jack and jack stands, lift the back end up. just an inch or so off the ground is fine.

then put your hands on the tire at 9&3 (clock style). grip into the tread or make sure you have a tight hold on it, and shake it. like pulling outwards towards you with one hand, while at the same time pushing inwards with the other. if you can feel any sort of "play", that could mean your control arm bushings are not the best.

now do the same thing, only with your hands at 12&6 (clock style). if there is noticeable movement here, your ball joints may be worn.

remove the wheel. check the face of the hub to be sure it is free of buildup/rust/corrosion that could cause the wheel to be sitting unevenly against it.

put the wheel back on. proper torquing of the lug bolts with a torque wrench is always advised.

lower the car to the ground. with some sturdy shoes, give the tires a solid kick and observe for any movement.

these steps will be a good start to home diagnosis. if after all this, you find nothing wrong, and the camber is still uneven, youre going to have to decide: a) take it in for an alignment check, b) continue your own research in hopes some one with more knowledge than me can chime in, or c) just deal with it til something breaks lol.

 

The eccentric bolts are probably not in the same position from one side to the other. An alignment will take care of this.

 

Thanks for all the info guys.

Where can I find these eccentric bolts you speak of?

 

I've been doing a bit of reading and apparently all the control arms on 2005 and up minis have a small level of adjustability? I have an 05 but I don't see how you would adjust them

 

It's the bolt that connects the lower control arm to the trailing arm. If you jack up the car and turn the bolt it will adjust the camber. There is definitely enough adjustment for this 10mm difference, especially if one is 5mm negative and the other is 5mm positive for a total difference of 10mm. Play around with it you need an alignment anyways.

In the photo it's the bolt on the lower arm with a hex head and also a star type head.

EDIT: I just realized that this is in the GEN1 section. Hopefully this still applies. I have a GEN2

 

Here is what mine look like. I put them on myself in the spring. I didn't know that they had any level of adjustment so I put them on pretty indiscriminately and just made sure that the torque was correct.

Don't ask me why the pics are upside down lol

 

i think they are different. to my knowledge, there are no front or rear camber adjustments on the gen1, at least anything before 04. i think the 04+ may have that.

i believe the toe adjustments are tucked up in the fender. kind of a pita to get to.

caster, im not sure where that is.

and with oem control arms, there is no difference in length as with the aftermarket adjustable control arms, so that shouldnt be a problem.

 

Those do look like straight bolts. Doesn't make sense that there is no adjustment mechanism anywhere without going to aftermarket control arms.

Make you wonder why the sides are different then.

What year is your car and are those the factory bolts? I did a quick search and some R53 have the same basic setup as mine with eccentric bolts.

 

Thats what I mean, I just don't understand why there would be such a difference when theres no adjustment. My car is a 2005 (build date Sept 04) and the bolts are original to my knowledge. I did a search too and found what its supposed to look like on a 2005+ R53.



and the eccentric bolt you mentioned

 

They switched to eccentric bolts in 2006, I believe. Earlier cars have no adjustment. If your camber is that far off (and I can tell in the photo you have more negative camber on the right than the left), then something is not bolted in right, you have a bad hub or something

The only things that can effect the geometry in this way is rear upper/lower control arms and the top mounting point of the top strut (the two 13mm bolts).
Also you may want to remove the struts from the car and measure their unloaded height. Perhaps one strut is longer than the other? Although most any height difference would be evened out by the sway bar end links.

 

Thanks for clarifying. I put the suspension on myself so I'd like to think that its just a problem with me not aligning things correctly. Hopefully something isn't broken.

 

So I've been doing a bit of reading and maybe its because the rear subframe is not perfectly aligned with the body? I actually just measured my camber very crudely and its identical between each side so I think that must be it. Apparently its pretty common to some degree in most cars.

 

Correct. Please re-read my post #4.

 

Is it advisable to try to adjust the subframe? I know people drop it all the time to do sway bars and all I'm planning on doing is loosening the bolts a bit to see if I can shift it somewhat. There must be some play in its mounting that would allow the me to centre it?

 

You could try but there is really not much play in the bolt holes - this is by design. You are probably just noticing something that was there even before you did the suspension work.

 

So you're telling me that every 05 r53 has the drivers side wheel sticking out almost half an inch further than the passenger side?? I'm convinced there has to be some level of adjustment and there is just a variance in the way they are assembled at the factory.

In any case, I'll take a look when I get the car on a lift a few weeks from now when I put my new wheels on. Fingers crossed!

 

Something must be bent because I am not aware of there being any room for adjustment. If it's anything like the front subframe, there are alignment pins that ensure strict tolerance.

Try using the eclipse sighting method and see how the rear wheels look in relation to the front wheels. Also try to reference the tire position on each side of the car with various other points of reference on the car. That should help you track down whatever this is.

It seems to me that if the rear track is that far off from the front track, it would show up on an alignment rack.
This is an interesting one...keep us posted.

 

This video is what I'm basing my assumptions of off. There doesnt look to be any sort of alignment pins like you said there are on the front, just 2 bolts per side. I have a 10mm difference, so split that, all I'd need it to move it is 5mm towards the opposite side. Seems plausible?

My car is still away for the winter so I wont be able to back it out of the garage and get a good look at things from a distance for a few more weeks. Here is where I'm at now in terms of how much each wheel is sunken in.

Front driver - 1/2"
Front passenger -1/2"
Rear driver - 3/4"
Rear passenger - 1 1/8"

 

I've installed a few sway bars. (4 or 5) I think there is only around 2-3mm of bolt hole play at most, but give it a try...