So some friends at work who are pretty experienced at autocross driving were suggesting that I get an "autocross" alignment done to my MCS.

They suggested a shop that has a new alignment machine.

When I stopped in and asked them about the alignment, they said that I should find out what settings I wanted before I have them do the work.

Since I'm a total noob and don't even know where to begin, I was wondering if any of you might have some suggestions on where I could read up on information, if you have any personal experiences you'd share.

One of the big questions I have is whether you can change the camber on the OEM setup or if different camber plates have to be installed to do that.

I tend to drive pretty aggressively on the road when other cars aren't around as well so I'd prefer a a more sporty setup than comfort concerns for daily driving.

(My Alta CAI just arrived at work today as well so I'm obsessing a bit over my car today. hehehe Can't wait to install it tonight)

Thanks guys!

 

You need camber plates to be able to adjust camber in the front, yes... And, to get any meaningful camber adjustment in the rear, you need adjustable control arms (lower). Otherwise, you're pretty much limited to toe adjustments...

If you get camber plates and rear control arms, I would suggest:

-2 degrees camber front, -1.5 camber rear, 0 toe front, slight toe in for the rear.

If you want a slightly more aggressive setup:

-2.5 camber front, -1.5 rear, 0 toe front, slight toe in for the rear.

 

Thanks for the suggestion...

I have to take a look at the settings sheet they gave me after my last alignment at the dealer.

What does the toe affect? (uber noob with alignment)

 

Heh... I'm being lazy. I just found some stuff through Wikipedia about Toe in/out.

http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html

 

weird toe in for the rear? I'm not to familiar with the stock suspension on the MINI but i know typical coilover setup for front wheel drive in autocross is -1.5 to -2.0 in the front with 1/8th inch toe out up front (most alignment guys will do toe off the measured distance I think that is like .1 or .2 degrees) Typically if you are going to daily drive keep any toe to a minimal. For the rear there is greater variation, I think non lowered the MINI will be fine stock. If the car has too much problems pushing into the corners typically you would zero out the rear camber in the rear to lower the grip and get the rear to rotate around. Of course those aren't track settings or even very safe street settings. All meant to help thrash the cars around the very tight autocross corners. Really I would leave the alignment alone with the stock suspension. BMW didnt do a bad job its probably not worth the money for a pricey alignment unless you go to coilovers. I auto crossed my R56 with the stock suspension and was pleasantly surprised evening being used to a very well setup honda on coilovers.

 

Toe out in the front makes the MINI pretty daggone darty if you even have neutral toe in the rear. I run mine like that, with a tad bit of toe out up front, but I don't recommend it for a dual purpose car (and especially not for the track). My car takes a steady, calculated hand and requires constant attention... It works great for AX, though - most people just don't want to pay that much attention on the street.

In the rear, neutral toe can make the car a tad unstable on really fast straights (depends on your front toe and overall alignment settings). Slight toe in seems to work really well and is more stable on straights and in fast sweepers.

Anyhoo, it's not hard to make the MINI handle like crap with a bad or overly aggressive alignment. Function of the short wheelbase, I reckon? Shrug. Anyway, I've played with lots of settings to date, with and without coilovers.

 

well yeah toe out wouldn't be great on the track. I drove around everyday for more than a year with my civic with some toe out and -1.8 deg camber. I never really had trouble with instability but that was with a 103in wheelbase to the MINI's 97. Just wanted to throw out there that autox setups are usually very different from track and yours sounded like a good track one. But I would really leave it alone on the stock suspension, its going to be moving around enough that setup is a little more complex than the coilovers.

 

Cool, thanks guys. That's some good feedback.

I'll probably be going with H&R springs before I look into coilovers, but that's going to be much further down the road.

One of the things I'm hoping that I can help correct in an alignment is the torque steer I get to the left constantly. I was hoping that maybe adding some toe-in would even that out a little bit by pulling the car straighter under acceleration.

That page I read mentioned how toe in tends to pull the car in a straight line. Have you guys had any problems with your car pulling to the left? (dealer checked alignment twice and said that they couldn't think of any reason why the car would be doing it)

 

Hmm that is weird I have not had any problems with that happening. I have read several things of alignment problems and pulling. I thought the torque steer on the MINI was pretty darn good for the high torque R56 engine. Hard to get to the bottom of things like that. Toe in can help stability but Im usually more accustomed to it being used on rear wheel drive drag cars. Toe is a tough one because its never good for tire wear, and unfortunately the toe in is going to be wearing the outsides of the tires more upfront, which is usually getting worn more to begin with if you are an aggressive driver. Might have an independent skilled alignment shop look it over, but it would suck to pay them to find nothing.