Hi all

Recently purchased an 06 MCS and will be autocrossing it. I've read all the alignment setup posts, and have decided to run:

Front: 1/16 toe out, whatever neg. camber I can get (since no adjustment available anyway)
Rear: as little neg. camber as possible (which should be doable with the new 05/06 adjustment bolt on the rear)

However, I have heard people say to run no toe, toe in, AND toe out on the rear and am thoroughly confused about what to do. Suggestions on rear toe settings and what those settings would do to the handling characteristics of the car on the street and the autocross?

Thanks in advance

 

For auto-x toe-out makes the car loose, rear rotates more. The rear toe has alot to do with how loose you want the car and how much negative camber you end up with in the rear. Some get less than -1.0, some do not. Less camber better rotation. End up with more than -1.0 you might want some toe-out for rotation. O toe is a good start and play with tire PSI for rotation and if you can't get enough for your liking then try some toe-out. I can't see any reason for toe-in on the rear on a front wheel drive car. With rear wheel it lets you get on the power a little earlier on corner exit. Hopefully someone else will chime in on some reason for toe-in on front wheel drive.

As far as the street. Toe in or out will add some more wear on tires, nothing substantial. Driving: it's the toe-out on the front you will notice. Car tramlining, pulling to right or left with the grooves of the road surface. 1/16 though shouldn't be a bother. The rear I doubt you will notice. Okay, let's say you hit a big bump, rear tires un-weight, when they come back down you might feel the rear hop a little (very, very little) to right or left.

You might be surprised how strange your car came from the factory. My car on the front was toe-in on one side and toe-out on the other.

Hope this helps in getting you some more feedback.

--Tom

 

After a year of autocrossing, I finally had my HS Mini aligned about a month ago. I asked the tech at the shop that does a lot of race/autocross work to give me as much negative camber in front as possible, as little as possible in back, and 1/8" toe out in front and 1/32" toe out in back. The alignment improved my times by at least a couple of tenths, and didn't make the car any more difficult to drive on the street. Removing negative camber in back and adding toe out helps the car rotate for autocrossing. I may experiment with some more toe out in back in the future, but I really like the alignment I have for now.

FWIW I wasn't able to get any more negative camber in front (about -.5° on both sides), but they did take out about half a degree of negative camber in back. The car had toe in at all four corners from the factory.

Some of the conflicting opinions may come from the fact that some people on NAM primarily autocross their cars, and others primarily open track their cars (and most people simply drive them vigorously on the street). The ideal alignment for an autocross will leave the car set up a lot more "loose" than the ideal alignment for a Mini that is driven at triple digit speeds on a race track.

-Keith

 

Your alignment guy couldn't get any more camber in the front because it's not adjustable. Echo echo echo

I autocross (MCS/GS) and my set-up is: (me in the drivers seat)

Front left = camber:-1.0 Toe:1/8" out
Front right = camber:-0.9 Toe:1/8" out

Rear left = camber:-0.6 Toe:1/32 out
Rear right = camber:-0.7 Toe:1/32 out

The car is great on course. It turns in very well and is much better through sweepers than with the factory alignment, which was all over the place. I have, however, seen quite a difference in tire wear on the front. The inside edges wear much quicker. I'm going to go with 1/16 toe out when I align it next time and maybe closer to 0.0 toe in the rear. I would also add that getting your tire presures correct is as big a factor as the alignment. I run 42 in the front and anywhere from 51-55 psi in the rear. Those high presures in the rear tires sounded way too high, until I tried it. Now I can lift throttle just a little to tighten my line or lift completely and bring the rear end around as far as I want. Also, I seem to get less wheel spin with higher presure in the rears. I guess that's because when you add presure you are effectively increasing the spring rate.

My $.02

 

Wiggles

Did you have to do anything to get that front camber, loosen a few bolts and retighten? I've got -.2 and -.3 in the front by one shop and was told by another that I had positive camber on the driver's side.

Tire psi 710s 42-44F to 52-54R.

--Tom

 

Yes, I realize there are no factory adjustments for camber on the front of a Mini, but it is possible on many cars (including the Mini on some occasions I have heard) to squeeze a bit more negative camber out by loosening any bolt connected to the strut assembly or other related suspension components and use a little brute force to squeeze another tenth or two of a degree out of the suspension. My guy was unable to do that this time. FWIW I'm at -.4° on the drivers side in front and -.6° on the passenger side. With my 230 lb butt in the drivers seat, that might even out to close to equal on each side.

-Keith

 

No, nothing special on the front. I think I just got lucky. The camber was nearly identical on both sides. When I sit in the car it gets slightly more on the drivers side. We didn't loosen anything, center the sub frame or anything. We actually had more trouble getting negative camber out of the rear. We did loosen everything in the back, crank the camber adjustment and tighten eveything back down. Right after the alignment I wasn't real happy with the results. Then I tried going high on the rear presures, instead of low, and the car just came alive. I had been trying to reduce presures to get it to stop pushing because on my last car that worked better. But the MINI has such a good chassis that a little squeeze on the throttle will pull you out of a lift induced over-steer situation. Once you get used to it, it's very effective. A little stab at the throttle if you're too tight or a little lift if you're wide. It's much more effective than sawing at the wheel in mid corner, which is how I used to drive. I don't dread sweeper intensive courses any more.

 

Thanks a lot guys- I think I'll set the car up with 0 or 1/32 toe out on the rear, depending on how much my suspension guy is able to dial out the camber.