I'm getting some ST coilovers installed next week. My installer suggested that if I don't lower too much, I wouldn't need adjustable rear arms, as the 2006 has OEM arms have some adjustability already.

Currently I'm running JCW springs. If I remember right, I had about -1.2 to -1.4 deg rear camber several years ago when I had the alignment specs printed out. I'm thinking to go between 0.5" to 1" lower than I am now (so about 1-1.5" lower than stock, as the JCW springs lower about 0.5"). Will the OEM rear control arms offer enough adjustability? Or should I get some adjustable ones? My MCS has about 45k miles (mostly hard surface street ones), so I'm wondering if it's a good idea to replace the rear arms anyway to get new bushings put in...

Advice appreciated -- thanks in advance.

 

You will want aftermarket rear lower adjustable control arms.
With the JCW springs most people can only get a minimum of -1.5 camber in the rear with the stock adjustment. If you go lower with coilovers your camber will probably be -2 or more (with stock adjustment) so you will want to get adj LCA to adjust for less camber (around -1) to minimize rear tire wear.

 

Just put in NM springs. Also adjustable control arms set to stock length. With a roadster lowered 1.2 inches my rear camber is -2.1

 

You should get some adjustable arms to help dial out some of the negative camber. Unless you're running some crazy wheel fitment where you need that camber. Don't worry about replacing the bushings in the factory control arms. They're probably fine. There isn't much rubber there anyways. Just get a pair of aftermarket control arms and use one for each side.

 

Thanks for the comments.

I want height adjustability, so am not interested in getting a different set of springs. If I went lower with my current setup, I'd also probably need to swap out the FSDs, as they don't do well with much lowering (from what I've read). My car actually rides/handles really nice with the JCW/FSD setup, but I really want to be able to adjust each corner height to get rid of wheel gap... hence moving to coilovers.

I talked to my installer, and he has a set of SPC control arms he can install. Based on folks' comments, I told him I'll plan to go that route, as I'd like to keep the rear camber around -1.5 deg or so, and have a feeling it's going to increase more than that with the stock lower control arms. He indicated that toe can be adjusted fine with the stock upper (?) control arms, so I only need one pair vs. getting two pairs...

 

They could try to adjust toe with the upper control arm but they'd be there for awhile. The three bolts that hold the trailing arm to the subframe are slotted so that you can loosen them and shift the trailing arm to change toe. There is a BMW special tool to change toe but I just use a rubber-faced mallet:D I wouldn't be surprised if a shop didn't know about the slotted trailing arm for toe adjustment.

 

blammo- If you want to run a reasonable amount of rear camber get adjustable lower arms. At stock height my alignment shop was able to get my rear camber to -1.5. There is about a 1/2 degree of adjustment on an 05 or 06 MINI. Not enough on a lowered car.

I installed a JCW suspension & I would have had too much camber so I went with a set of H-Sport arms. There are many brands that will do the job.

Now on to the front. Lowering your MINI will add camber & toe-in at the front. Once done get to the alignment shop asap.

 

If you lower your MINI you will need some Hsport rear adjustable control arms. Even if you could get the camber close the toe is still off. When you have the adjustable arms you can get the toe and camber correct. One set ends up being cheaper than a set of worn out tires.

 

if you do this and pull your JCW springs, sell them to me.