I recently "upgraded" my tires to Falken Ziex 512 tires and was extremely dissapointed in their performance. I have a 04 Mini Cooper with SS+ and 15" holies. I was unsure whethere it was the tires or my alignment going bad but the steering reponse and stability at speed especially when jerking the wheel side to side was greatly diminished. So I decided to go have my alignment checked out at an alignment specialty store.

Here are the INITIAL measurements:

FRONT TOE:
Left +3/32"
Right +3/32"
Total +3/16"

FRONT CAMBER:
Left -1/8 degrees
Right -5/8 degrees
Side-to-Side +1/2 degrees

CASTER:
Left +3 1/4 degrees
Right +3 1/4 degrees
Side-to-Side 0 degrees

REAR TOE
Left +1/4"
Right -1/32"
Total +7/32"

REAR CAMBER:
Left -1/4 degrees
Right -1 1/8 degrees
Side-to-Side +7/8 degrees

TRACK +1/8"

I have highlighted a few things that stood out as a problem to me. Can anyone that has a good understanding of alignment take a look and let me know what this means to the overall handling of the car? I will post the final results in a separate post.

 

The alignment tech told me he was unable to adjust anything in the rear - this can't be true. I have heard of people adjust toe and camber in the rear. Can someone comment on how this can be done? The tech said he could see anything specific to adjustment in the back and suggested that the only way it can be done is by loosening a bunch of bolts and realigning everything - which would cost a bunch of money.

So, I was only able to have work done on the front - basically Toe adjustment. The tech did let me sit in the car while he worked on the car and took another set of measurements. Here are the measurements with me in the car - surprising how much change 200lbs has on alignment.

FRONT TOE:
Left -1/32"
Right -1/32"
Total -1/16"

FRONT CAMBER:
Left 0 degrees
Right -3/4 degrees
Side-to-Side +1/2 degrees

CASTER:
Unchanged

REAR TOE:
Left +7/32"
Right 0"
Total +7/32"

REAR CAMBER:
Left -1/4 degrees
Right -1 1/8 degrees
Side-to-Side +1 degrees

TRACK +1/8"

With the toe set out 1/16", the improvement in turnin is definitely there. But what amazed me is the improvement in braking. The padal seems considerably more sensitive, which I like.