I had an alignment service for my 2013 countryman s and I still feel like the car leans toward right passenger side on the street. I posted the service paper. Please let me know if they did wrong.

 

did they talk to you about control arm concerns? Not unusual to need to replace bushings in lower control arms ....

 

the technician said it's just recommendation for 7-8 years old cars so I'm not really sure if it needs new control arms. Is camber specs fine?

 

Does it feel like it's leaning in a level driveway or parking lot? You might just be feeling the natural crown in the road, combined with a taller car with a higher center of gravity compared to your previous MINI. Also, have you measured the ride height to see if any corner(s) is/are sagging?

 

Sorry to say this, but this is a very poor alignment. Rear axle values are missing, meaning that guy did nothing on rear.
Not only this, but it's hard to measure front without doing rear before. Even more, front toe in is increased. Values should
read half of that. This suspectedly does make the effect of the increased right/passenger side front camber even worse.

You certainly want them to do their job right or get your money back. Hope you get it sorted.

 

I just got my money back!

 

IMO finding a GOOD alignment shop is just about as difficult as finding a dentist I like and trust ... and when I find one I try to HOLD ON TO it/them.

I don't have a favorite alignment shop right now (don't need one as often as I do a dentist) but my most recent experience WAS with a shop I'll trust in the future, but not for the MINI. I'd taken my FOCUS ST in for tires and 4 wheel alignment to the new Firestone in the area and they did a good job ... zero complaints and they came up with some unexpected discounts that saved me money. Not long after I decided to put tires on the Roadster and having decided on DriveGuard tires I went back to the same place. After a bit they came out and said the rear needed adjusting but required a 'special tool' they did not have so while they could do the front they could not do the rear and since I'd need to go someplace else to get a 4 corner job they stopped and asked first.

IMO a straight up, honest way to handle the situation. They COULD have TOLD me they did all 4 corners, or just done the fronts and charged me for that THEN told me I'd need still to do something about the rears but they did not do that. BTW they gave me a print out of the current numbers AND the factory spec's showing me what needed to be done.

Lastly I'll add that just finding a good shop does not assure a good job. I once had a shop nearby that was a popular suspension work place with the local amateur BMW racing crowd. I had used him a few times for my GEN1 and everything was good and then one time I left the shop and the car was clearly pulling so I turned around. Seemed while he'd usually done alignment work himself he'd hired a new helper and well you can probably figure out the rest of the story. He redid the job and everything was spot on .... <a REALLY REALLY good place will put sandbags in the driver seat to match your weight to ensure the adjustments are spot on!>

Ask your local fellow MINI owners who they've used ... BMW folks too ..... and heck, my DEALER does a decent job at a price that does not make me feel raped but that is NOT a blanket endorsement of dealer work.

 

I'm a little frustrated at the alignment on my R60S All 4. The rears are supposedly in spec on Camber but they are noticeably tilted in from vertical and have cupped my new Pirelli Run Flats in only 20k or so miles. The alignment was done by the dealer. The cupping makes the tires MUCH more noisy. I have heard this high camber number on the rears is a trait for Mini's to help in handling but I'm not sure I have seen that anywhere officially.

 

On the R55's cupping was common on rear tires if not rotated a bit more than typical. Due to the wheelbase of the car and what the factory spec camber is .....maybe true for R60.

I have recommended in the past that R55 have a rotation every 5-6K miles.

I have also seen where severity of cupping varied depending on tire type and the manufacturer....

 

An out of spec toe number can wear out the tires faster than camber. I'd be willing to bet the toe-in numbers are too high. Do you have a print out for the alignment values?
I rotate my tires every spring and fall when I swap out the snow tires. My tires have no unusual wear indicative of a design issue, and I drive ~20k miles per year. A good alignment will prevent irregular tire wear.

 

Is your R55 currently on a stock suspension including stock rear lower control arms ? I'm speaking soley for the some 75% of R55's with factory stock suspension which came into the shop.

And as far as the R60's go, one of the original factory/replacement tires; Pirelli Cinturado P7 runflats were the worst, citing terrible ride, uneaven tread wear and VERY loud on the highway....even with rotation. Alignments checked out in rear for those who had that done which was suprising. We attributed it to an agressive stock camber, spirited driving while not having a better rotation schedule.

 

I'm currently on aftermarket coilover suspension with a relatively aggressive alignment, and I still don't get unusual tire wear.
My current alignment is:
Front is -1.7° camber and 1mm toe in on each side
Rear is -2.1° camber and 1mm toe in on each side

 

Kinda what a thought....adjustable rear lower control arms too ?

 

Yes, but I still have OEM trailing arm bushings and front control arm bushings, too. And I'm running more camber than stock - I'm in GP2 camber territory. So, to make a blanket statement like "too much camber kills tires" is not entirely accurate.

 

I'm not seeing that quote in my any of my posts, I have only shared what we had seen time and time again at our shop.

 

I asked this question for two reasons.
1) OP on this concern is running stock suspension, yours is not and running a different alignment spec that altered the center of gravity of the vehicle by lowering it. You completely changed the dynamics of how the vehicles center of gravity weight / weight distribution effects for the tire patch on the road.
2) Op has stock rear trailing arms with "limited" camber/toe adjustment...Theres almost an infinate amount of adjusting with your trailing arms. And your probably not on runflats any more either ?

It's kida like comparing a Grand National Stock car suspension to the same model at a dealer showroom....just sayin.

 

You did say you have seen unusual wear and attributed it to the factory camber...

I mostly poked my head in here to say my experience has been different.

 

Not on run-flats, nope.

I can't say I agree with your analogy... I'm still running OEM suspension geometry, all the pick-up points are in the same location, I'm just on a different part of the camber / toe curve, with a different bounce frequency with the stiffer springs. My front control arm and rear trailing arm bushings are still OEM, so the dynamic toe loading will be similar to stock still. Unless there is severe wear in one of the suspension components, I'm still convinced a "Quality" alignment will solve most, if not all, unusual tire wear.