If I install Cross coilovers, set the dampers at 3/3 (or 4/4) for the street, lower my car only 1” or so, have the front camber at -2.0, total front toe of 1/16”, rear toe of -0-, and leave the stock rear control arms on, what rear camber (or range thereof) should I try to get for fairly aggressive city street and country road driving?

 

With the car you have, and the type of driving you plan to do, coilovers seem like massive overkill. I think the JCW/sport can handle country roads and city driving (and just about everything else).

 

Terry:

Thanks for your input, which was my initial inclination, too.

But, for the $2,100 my Mini dealer would charge for the JCW sport suspension, I'd rather spend a bit more and have the adjustablity the Cross coilovers will provide me (and any future owners) should I (or they) decide
to AutoX or track the car.

With that said, what rear camber would you suggest I use (given the other settings I mentioned in my initial post)?

Thanks,

Bob

 

I'll give you a long answer, based on my experience with my 06 cooper.
In the gen 1 minis, understeer was an issue that needed some improvement if you used your car hard. Understeer takes you off your line in hard cornering situations. But, it is also safer than oversteer in an emergency stoping and turning situation. I installed adjustable camber plates and a competition rear bar. I played with alignment settings and found that I liked -1.8 up front and -1.2 in the rear. I also tried 3 different sets of springs and some shocks. My final set up was stock springs and koni FSD shocks.(Wonderful shocks. Available for 07+ this year.) The one flaw in my set up was the comp rear bar. It is a tad too much for street, but great for track where there are no curbs and some room to throw the car around a little. So far I have not seen that much about the 07+ and its inherent handling issues. I have an 08 S on order and plan to feel it out before modifing at all except sticky tires (of course). I will max the front neg camber and decrease the rear negative camber as much as stock will allow, then play with it on a track day or 2 and in a near by empty parking lot. I found with my first mini, that stock is still an amazing car.
To date, I have not seen any adjustable camber plates for the 07+. In fact, I don't know from experience what the need is. I will figure that out once I start driving it. What I do know, is that many of the suggestions I have seen in the various threads seem extreme. -2.5 up front for street makes no sense to me. I found that the setting I listed above where a real sweet spot and an auto cross instructor who had won his class in a mini in pro solo said my mini turned in better than in car he had driven. BTW I ran zero toe front and rear. Some times, less is more. An unproperly set up set of coilovers, may well degrade the handling, but you won't know that until you experiment on a track. A ride around north philly with coilovers will tell you nothing except how comfortable they are on RR tracks.
I recommend you spend $20 and join NASA and try an HPDE1 (instructor in the car) and see what happens. There is a new track in NJ that will be ready late summer or early fall that HPDE will be using. There are also 3 infield tracks at Pocono that HPDE uses. PM if you want any info about this.
Good luck
T

 

Terry:

Thanks for your very detailed response. The settings I listed, initially, were suggested by Jan at RMW (along with a suggested -1.5 rear camber) as being appropriate for aggressive street (non-track) driving.

But, since my asking around has generated a wide range of rear camber settings, I'm just trying to see what others would suggest given Jan's other camber and toe settings.

Bob