Appears my Justa suffered pot hole damage to left front. Wheel/tire seems OK.


Alignment was 1.4 degrees negative camber on both sides.


Caster was 3.3 degrees on both sides.


Now, camber on left is -1.8 degrees and caster is 3.1. Right side is unchanged.


Anybody know where the "weakest link" is on this front end?


What most easily bends/moves? Need to know what to fix.


It has offset upper strut bearings and strut top reinforcing plates.


Thanks!


DOC

 

Lift the hood & inspect the left strut tower for signs of mushrooming.

 

Thanks for your reply. No signs of mushrooming, probably due to strut reinforcing plates.


DOC

 

Also due to it being an R56; the 1st-gen MINIs were the ones that were really known for the mushrooming.

I'm interested to hear what might be the weak links as well.

 

Confirm that the lock nuts for the strut bearings haven't moved. That could explain the camber shift, but the caster change is odd. you can also look with a flashlight to see if the rubber in the strut bearing looks OK.

Your toe didn't get tweaked? I know when adjusting the camber the toe changes a bit as well, so if something got moved, I would expect to see the toe change a little as well.

I would think that the control arm bushings would take some abuse. This is the only thing that I can think would get damaged and potentially affect the caster.

Did you put the wheel on a balancer to confirm that it wasn't bent? Or at least jack the car up and see if you can spin it in neutral. What rims are you running in the winter?

Have fun,
Mike

 

I assume the toe changed with the increase in camber, but though the same alignment rack was used as previously, there had been a software "upgrade" and toe is now measured in degrees rather than inches. So, I cannot directly compare the before and after.


If the position of the lower outboard ball joint moved towards the rear, positive caster would be lost. Given that was the direction of the blow, I am not surprised. I just need to determine what moved/got tweaked and correct it.


The upper strut mounts were already as far inboard as the slots would allow (pins removed), so the left side camber could not have increased in the manner you are thinking


Running 16" OEM wheels with Yokohama 55 series non-runflats.


Appreciate any and all input.


Thanks,


DOC

 

My pot hole ripped the wheel off . . .


different car (not a MINI) but I drive a front wheel drive car with a GETRAG 6 speed transmission and recently encountered a pot hole from hell

the car had to be towed.

my repair bill included

two wheels, two tires (both on the side in question .. mention so you can gage just how much of a hit this was even tho the speed was under 30) (18" wheels, 40 series tires, not runflats)

mechanic said, "good news is everything that's bent is a bolt on part .. the (sub)frame is not bent. The bolt on parts bent and absorbed the blow . . ."

rt front: control arms, rotor, hub (bearing), steering knuckle, inner and outer tie rods

rt rear: hub (bearing)

add an alignment and TPMS sensors and total with labor comes up to $3500 in round numbers . . .

the direction of the blow here is more on the horizontal pale (trying to rip the wheel off) rather than an up and down blow that would cause mushrooming . . .

 

I agree that if you had the struts set for max camber that this is not the source of the change. I would inspect the control arm very closely. If it got tweaked, there will likely be a crack in the paint to point to the problem area. Similarly, if the knuckle got bent, there may be evidence, but this seems unlikely in my opinion (most spindles are really heavy duty, especially on a car that is expected to see some racing use).

I don't really know how to check if the control arm bushings got hurt, but I know that they sell polyurethane ones to improve steering feel.

For the caster to increase, and the negative camber to increase, the front bushing would need to get pulled away from the center of the car. If the rear bushing got damaged, I would expect it to get pushed toward the center of the car, which would reduce negative camber. I have not had the control arm out of the car, so I can't comment on how to inspect them properly, just giving general ideas.

Realistically, .2 degrees caster and .4 degrees camber would not take much of a move.

Good luck,
Mike

 

Agreed, the damage is of a small magnitude. Quick examination on the alignment rack showed nothing obviously bent, hence posting here to see what people have found tends to be the weakest links. Plan to go over it with a fine toothed comb next Saturday.


BTW, caster decreased. If nothing else changed and just the outboard lower ball joint centerline moved rearward, caster would be reduced. The lower control arm may be slightly bent. I am just not sure I can tell without removing it and placing it in a jig I do not have.


Thanks again,


DOC

 

You might have bent the strut, or the control arm...