I had a 4-wheel alignment done on my Mini last year. Everything was set to factory specs accept the front camber which is around -1.5 deg thanks to the IE fixed camber plate front strut mounts. And from what the alignment shop told me, and what I've learned here on NAM....on the R53 Mini's, all you can really adjust is toe-in anyway.....there are no adjustments for the camber or caster on the front of rear of the car...aside from some very slight adjustments you can do because of some oblong holes...which most shops don't even mess with.

I recently replaced my front ball joints, and I'm wondering if it's possible for me to do my own front end alignment in my garage. Since the only thing I can really adjust is the front toe.....can't I just do that by setting up some strings on jackstands and doing some measuring?

Has anyone done this on there own? I hate having to spend another $80 for an alignment when all they are doing to do is adjust the front toe, and then call it good.

Any advice for doing a DIY front end alignment (adjusting and setting toe-in)?

 

Google "string toe setting" or "string alignment".

Works very well. I do it in class as a demo and them we check it against our Hunter r611 rack. I'm always very close to the mark... So close it's just about perfect.

 

Thanks for the info, I'll check it out.

I would think that since the camber and caster is set, and can't be adjusted.....it should be pretty easy setting the toe-in correctly. If everything else was adjustable also, I don't know if I would want to mess with it.

 

It is imperative that you must have a level floor! You'll need a long carpenter's level to check for that. Then go to Lowe's or Home Depot and have a 4 foot piece of 1/4" MDF cut to four 2 foot squares. Put a sheet of wax paper sandwiched in between two pieces of MDF and you have a slip plate! Place the car's front wheels onto these. You can then check and adjust your toe with the string or any other method. Just be sure to center your steering wheel when you start and be sure it's centered when you finish.

 

Thanks for the info, I’ll make sure to check the floor before I start…and good idea on the slip plates.

As far as the front toe goes, I’m a little confused. According to what I found, the stock mini settings should be between 0.11 to 0.19 degrees. People have also said that those degrees equal out to 1/8” to 3/16” total toe in.

But when I do the math, I’m not getting that. I based my calculations on this……1 degree at 1” equals .017” from centerline. So, for a 17” wheel….8.5” from center of wheel to outer lip…..8.5” x .017” = .1445”…that’s for 1 degree. So, at .11 to .19 degrees…that should equal 0.0158” to 0.0274”. That’s per tire….so for total toe it would be 0.0316” to 0.0548”.

Why are people saying that .11 to .19 degrees equals 1/8” (.125”) to 3/16” (.188”) total toe in. ?? By my math, it’s more like 1/32” to 1/16" or so.

 

Don't mess with my head that way! Think of it in these terms: Measure just behind the front tire across to just behind the other front tire. Then measure just in front of the front tire across to the front of the other. Zero to 1/8" total toe-in should be fine. If you can read to 1/16" of an inch, more power to you.

 

Ok....maybe I'm over thinking it. I'll try to set the total toe-in to somewhere between 0" and 1/8" . I think I should be good to go with that.

 

You sure that's toe-in?


Most front wheel drive cars have 1/16 - 1/8" toe-OUT......

 

I've never seen an oem alignment spec call for toe out. Show me some factory specs showing that......I think you are confused.

 

Well, I got my front toe-in set today. It was pretty easy once I got the strings all set up and spent a few minutes measuring out everything exactly. I used a digital caliper to do the measuring, and a digital level to make sure everything was set up right. I also made some fixtures that mount to the wheels that allows you to measure off of them.

When it was all said and done I dialed in just a little under 1/8" total toe-in on the front. It tracks straight on the highway if I let go of the wheel, and handles awesome on twisty roads!

I'm glad I decided to try this myself instead of paying a shop $80 to do it

 

Did you replace just the outer ball joints, or inner and outer? And, how bad were they? How many miles? TIA.

 

I replaced all of them...the inner and outer. They were starting to make some clicking noises, so I figured it was time to replace them. If you take the time to drop the subframe, you'd might as well just do all of them. You can get them from rockauto for a good price.

The car has around 120,000 miles on it.

 

The conversion of toe in from degrees to inches uses an odd tire radius standard. Instead of your tire, SAE set the standard tire radius is 28.65". This was done years ago to provide a simple conversion. If the toe is 1/16" then you divide that by 28.65" and take the inverse tangent (got a calculator nearby?) and get the angle of 1/8 degree.

Or in simple terms, if you dive the angle in half, you have the inches of toe.

So 1/16" toe in = 1/8 degree (which = 0.125 degrees and also 7.5' as there are 60 minutes in a degree).

Isn't math useful?

 

I use smart strings and it works great. I can do or check my alignment in about 20 minutes.

 

I'm guessing the car has some miles. Any chance the previous 4 wheel alignment was performed on already worn parts? I would review at the points of wear. This includes the bushings at the rear of the front control arms, tie rods ends both inner and outer, Ball joints all 4, upper shock mounts, and the shocks them selves.

It's true you can only adjust toe on this vehicles. However if the car is out of alignment spec. due to bent components or a few to many bumps into the curb. You can slot the upper shock mount bolt holes to get the car back to true alignment.

Since this car uses front wheels to drive the vehicle, as we as stop the car. Making sure this end of the vehicle is true is very important. WE get minis in out shop that just left some other alignment shop, still needing an alignment.