can someone post a picture or instructions on how to a add negative camber?

 

jack up car, loosen 3 strut tower nuts, slide stut studs to the inside (engine side) as much as possible, tighten nuts, let jack down

 

how about that pin that other people were talking about?

 

i don't have one...i have an 07mcs...you must have a newer one?

 

Won't this change toe angle?

 

Yes, toe will change with any change in camber on the MINI...

 

older R56...like an '07, will have a metal screw-in locating pin in the strut hats. Just unbolt it. Newer R56 will have a pressed in plastic pin in a different spot in the strut hat. Just pull it out with pliers so you can add camber.

Like TSW said, changing camber on a MacPherson strut usually changes toe, however it changes less on an R56 than an R53. Adding that extra bit of factory-offered camber will most likely not be enough to warrant an alignment. After lowering my R56 2.0" and adding full front camber, my front toe was still 1/16"in, same as stock. I didn't have to touch my front toe. Of course, YMMV.

 

u have the kw v1 coilovers right?
mind sharing ur alignment settings after lowering 2.0"?
thanks!

 

mine is a Jan 07 build

 

Yes I run KW V1 on my R56 along with Powerflex FCAB's.

front: 24.0" arch height, camber -1.0°, toe 1/16" in
rear: 24.3" arch height, camber -1.3°, toe 1/16" in

The reason I'm not running the same camber front to back is the rear eccentric bolts are full-in. It's not enough camber however to cause a tire wear problem, especially if I keep driving the car quickly through corners as its intended. If I wanted to run the car any lower I'd buy some adjustable rear lower control arms.

 

I'm running H&R coilovers and it's pretty low to me
the front air dam is around 2-3 fingers off the ground

but I only have -0.6 degree of camber in the front
I wanna get it to -1.0 degree

u have 1/16" toe in in total right? not 1/16" on each side?

 

I bought K-Mac camber adjustment plates - MINImania lists them or see www.k-mac.com.au (the exchange rate should be good now!). Their web site looks really cheap and nasty, but they've had a good reputation for their suspension components since the 1970s.
2.5 degrees negative camber and +4 degrees castor, on the factory Sports option suspension. They get the top bolt of the strut right over almost against the bodywork. Much nicer handling, and as a bonus I can get the power on much earlier on curves because it doesn't push wide so much.

 

Sounds like your ride height is similar to mine. Yes, 1/16" toe-in total.

 

hmm then how can you get the -1.0 camber in the front?
i thought the adjustment is only for stock struts?

 

The KW V1's re-use the stock upper spring perch and upper strut bearing... You can get -1 degrees between the added negative camber from lowering the car and pulling the alignment pin (metal or plastic) out of the top of the upper strut bearing...

 

little did I know, someone besides IE has adjustable camber plates out for the R56. Thanks for mentioning this. I deserve to buy a holiday gift for myself, right?

 

hmm so i should be able to get -1 degrees with the h&r coilovers too correct?
i think h&r coilovers also re-use the stock upper spring perch and upper strut bearing

 

I think I understand the idea here, but Shawn (the 08 MCS) doesn't have the hex headed 4th screw, just a plastic nub there instead. I'm not sure what I'd do about that.

I'm not one for making that many mods to the MINIs, and in general I think everything is fine. However, on the latest outings to the track the front tires have worn quite a bit on the outside shoulder (and only the outside shoulder). I think more negative camber would help there, am I right? I was wondering about dialing in more camber for the track and then putting everything back again. How easy is it to undo the adjustment?

 

Put the front of the vehicle on stands, loosen the three guide support nuts (13mm socket). Grasp the nub with vise grips and pull out (protect the paint with tape before gripping). Push the strut towards the engine, tighten nuts to 25 ft-lb. It is not necessary to remove the strut the second photo is to illustrate what nub will look like.

 

Thanks.

I think I could manage this now, but I'm wondering if it would be wise. A friend who knows these sorts of things (he's a serious race car guy) has explained a lot about suspension geometry, so I think I can do this in theory (practice is the problem).

My first step is going to be measuring the suspension geometry, so I hope to be able to put it back to the way it was. The first question is what are the specs for camber and toe anyway? I've searched and haven't found anything.

My attempts at measuring the camber are interesting (to me anyway), I'm using an iPhone application "Clinometer" to measure angles. If I take the difference of the measurement for each wheel I think I get a measurement of the overall camber (considering the car is not on level ground). I find that Shawn (the MCS) has a camber of +1.5 degress, and Tristan (the MC) has a camber of +1 degree. (I think that's positive, so the tops of the tires are sticking outward.)

Measuring toe is a little more involved, but might be interesting. I'd like to know if the toe is different between the 2 MINIs, Shawn's steering is quite a bit heavier, and as I understand it, that could be because of more toe, or just that the power steering is programmed to be heavier.

 

after we got all the adjustable camber plates and all could we just bring it to a shop and have them make your tires have camber and no toe in?

 

with the tire alignment machine

 

You’re over thinking this, take a look at the amount of movement from the center of the nylon stud to the edge; at the most that represents half a degree. The impact on toe is negligible.

I doubt you have that much positive camber unless the shipping shims have failed to be removed.

 

I'm more of a theoretical person, rather than practical, so I wouldn't be surprised if I were.I seem to measuring be total camber, ie each wheel is half of that, so in normal terms the MC has +0.5 and the MCS +0.75.

I'd still like to know what the specs are.

 

Front total toe 0 degrees 12’ + or – 5’, this is slightly less than the R53
Camber –30’ + or – 5’, same as R53

Rear total toe 0 degrees 24’ + or- 08’ same as R53
Camber – 1 degree 45’ + or- 20’, slightly more than the R53