After owning my countryman since 2012 i have racked 40k miles and TIRE WEAR ISSUES.

I have two issues i have to solve on a budget and would appreciate the forums help.

1) i live in rural VA where roads are beautiful and them WHAM! huge hole in the road. Flat spotted front right rim and minor dent in rear) had these issues "fixed" as best they could and re balanced wheels and tires.

2) cupping of rear tires. im sure everyone knows or has experienced this. The rear camber on my car is nuts. just had it measured today and we're tipping -4 degrees on the rears. I know factory alignment = handling blah blah but this is just nuts. this is a fat mini not a DTM car.

Im looking for that goldilocks zone of cost, performance and tire wear.

Looking fore suggestions on wheels (I have the optional 18 inch 5 star configuration now, so itd be nice to slide these tires onto some new blades ya hurr?!) also looking at adjustable campber links (or other method) that can get this rear end under control again.

Cheers,

 

Factory camber should be about -1.5 to -2.0 degrees.

-4.0 degrees is a lot. Even with modest lowering (drop of about 1") you should not have this much camber.

Are you lowered?

Here's a thread with information https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...trol-arms.html

Look for a used set on the Marketplace. They are on there all the time.

 

The car has not been lowered. Id like to but the ride height is so useful.

 

Just had my CM aligned with the following settings shown before and after.

I also had cupping issues (I assume due to run flats).

 

I would like to eliminate some of the negative camber on the rear wheels of my CM, base model.
Has anyone tried the spacers that can be inserted in the springs, some are snap in, others are with hardware that has a nut/bolt combo for adjustments.
I am hoping that a little extension of the rear springs, will force the car to ride slightly higher, maybe an inch, and the negative camber to be less.
As you can see from the two pics, the amount is relatively small, so I am hoping for an easy solution.
Any input would be appreciated.

 

I would suggest lower control arms and it might be beneficial both for negative camber and also raising it about .5 inches. I bought the SPC LCA's because of all the talk on here but have yet to install. Good luck finding a solution.

 

FWIW, I too am a cheapskate, and addressed just such an issue with an old Bimmer (E30): Indeed, it did work, and only cost a few bucks - at the expense of a slightly harsher ride...'no worries. Ironically, I'm facing this on my much-newer R60, and considering the same approach. My wife and I are not racers by any means - so I might try to take an inch or so of negative camber out and lift its butt a bit and see what happens!