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Well I survived the brake cleaner incident, lol...gowd....
aaaaaaaaany ways , I took Troll back out again today after making sure everything was still tight ( which it was) but then I kinda felt a slight vibration upon hard acceleration so I put it back on jack aaaaaaaaagain and went to inspecting. I finally checked my toe angles and the front tires seemed to be toeing out slightly which could be causing that vibration. They weren't like this prior to the coilovers so I went to adjust the toe inwards on both tire and once I got the tierods released from the knuckle end link was soooooo wobbly. I could wiggle them with just my fingers and doing so hard I could feel them kinda clunking so no doubt they've been bad for along time. So I gotta replace those now too so while I'm under there ille do a few more ball joints. Don't know their names but seen there were a few that were replaceable under there so might as well. O well , can't hurt to have all new front end I gues..
I will be ordering the hardened tierods too just because they're stronger so why not.
Sorry to hear you have problems, but glad you found them. You are doing the right thing replacing the ball joints while you are there. My opinion is that once you replace one set of wear item on the front it puts undo pressures on the others and they start to fail. I always just pull the band-aid off fast and then no troubles moving forward. Yeah, it's a bad pun.
Hey Adam if you don't already know lol.... I have two observations for you, first is when I put the Ireland Engineering fixed camber plates on the R50 it screwed the toe up pretty bad. So I would guess that would happen with yours also with new camber plates/camber adjustments. Second, which is related to the first, Google string box alignment. When I first started working on cars, I worked in a shop that actually still used a vintage string alignment machine. All that to say, to me, it doesn't make sense to pay for a good laser alignment until your done messing with the suspension. You can get it close with some string and two sets of jack stands. Which will give you a better idea of how parts you've changed effect the car, and if it takes a while to get it all done, will also save some wear on your tires.
With the car on flat level ground and the steering wheel straight, put a jack stand in line with the wheels on each side with the front being 6' to 8' in front of the car. Run a string from the rear stand to the front on each side so the string barely touches the tires. It will tell you how the front tire is aligned in relation to the rear. The measurements need to be taken with the wheels on the ground (or at least the weight of the car on the wheels for the geometry to be correct) so it can be a PITA to keep jacking the car up and down as you adjust it. You'll also have to roll the car a little every time you set it back on the ground to get a good measurement because the suspension and tires will need to settle. An alignment machine has bearing plates that the wheels sit on to allow movement without binding, most people don't have them in their garage lol.
Hopefully that sorry explanation makes sense and I'm sorry if you already know this, have done it, posted about it.
I need to start looking websites like this up and just posting links. njaremka said in two lines what took me two paragraphs to write lmao. And they post a detailed step by step with pictures!
I found the plates I was talking about with a quick eBay search so I'll post a link. There kind of expensive if you wouldn't use them a lot but WAY cheaper than the $1700 plates we used in the dealership. I plan to get them at some point in the future. They are also available on Amazon, Summit, JEGS, etc.
I need to start looking websites like this up and just posting links. njaremka said in two lines what took me two paragraphs to write lmao. And they post a detailed step by step with pictures!
Thx. I've used plum lines , strait edge , tape measure and stuff and I've gotten my alignments spot on befor so I don't think I should have a problem with Troll. Just gotta order the new parts which I will do shortly .
but alignments aren't hard and are completely do able so long as your take your time and measure what's come off and line stuff up to stock and then make my adjustments from there which is what I've been doing and it's been going well..
Got the new tierods in, easy peazy.. I used some wood n lines to get ny alignment set as good as I could , once the roads clear I will test drive it and if it's ok than that's awesome but if not I will HAVE TO have it professionally aligned becuase I've did it to the best of my ability.
everything came off easy , I love how they manufactured this car with maintenance in mind. Unfortunately one tierod was seized so I had to cut it in half to get the boot off.
I then went and 2x checked every single bolt under the car I've touched and THANK GOD I did as some were able to be snugged abot more after driving last test drive now that I found the settings BUT my fricken front right caliper bracket bolts , one was backing out and tge other was finger tight..GEEEEEEZ. I guess those needed thread locker on them so I took them out and put it on all my caliper bracket bolts as I wasn't happy with all the others torques either then.
once roads clear I will chime back and let you guys know how I got it..
LOL, I didn't even see that! Definitely wrong side installation.
Lol... yeaaaaaaaa. I flipped them becuase due to the drop and position of the endlinks changing I needed the clearance. It shouldn't effect it I wouldn't think.i read that it's actuallypopularthing to do in the bimmercommunity. alignment looks perfect though only a test drive and alignment shop will tell more..though today just while I was warming it up n circulating fluids I took it just in and 9ut the garage and my steering feels So Much better on that little test atleast. I used to have like 1/4in of play in my steering wheel befor it would fully engage and I always figured it was my steering bushing so that was actually next on my list but the new tierods completely eliminated that slop now. It was obvious my old ones were bad just by touch once off.
Last edited by MiniManAdam; Feb 14, 2021 at 04:23 PM.
What?! You’re giving clearance to your end links in exchange for clearance to the tires. The tie rods curve like that so they don’t rub the tires when you turn.
Why is it always entertaining to read your stuff? I have never heard or seen anyone do that on a MINI in 12 years of owning mine. There's people with slammed MINIs and I'm pretty sure their tie-rods are on the proper sides.
What?! You’re giving clearance to your end links in exchange for clearance to the tires. The tie rods curve like that so they don’t rub the tires when you turn.
I checked my clearances and this way provided muuuuch more clearance EXP since I'm running et20 rims and 5mm spacers...
Why is it always entertaining to read your stuff? I have never heard or seen anyone do that on a MINI in 12 years of owning mine. There's people with slammed MINIs and I'm pretty sure their tie-rods are on the proper sides.
there's a 1st for everything ! There also may in 12 years have never been a mini with my exact setup I'm running either to justify having to do that . Technically I diiiiiiiiiidnt neeeeeed to buuuuut it just provided much more room so why not.
the tie rods are the EXACT same other than the clearance spot, that's it.
I will have to take some pics and show you guys what I'm talking about as far as clearances go under there..
I don’t understand why there’s an interference issue with the tie rods. The car doesn’t look that low. What am I missing?
Missing nothing. He's being different because he can. There is no functional impact from mounting the tie rods on the wrong wide of the car. They are made with the curve for a reason, and he's flipped sides for a perceived interference issue with his sway bar links. (which I am not convinced is an issue, but its not my car)
There wasnt an issue just to clarify.its more of a preventative thing. I just did not like how close the sway bar end links sat to them when they were installed correctly.. if the sway bar were to somehow bump back half an inch it would hit the tierod then. So why risk it if I'm going to be pushing the car hard this summer ? It probably wouldn't have hit but I'm just doing it to be extra safe.. i 3x checked and as it is , full crank left or right I have good clearances on all my suspension n braking components with the exception of my caliper to rim since the new rotors and pads but I grinded the calipers so as they wear down they will only clearance more but they are close but fine.
I fricken LOVE how you guys seen that though rite away though. Great eye !
1 more question , do the caliper retaining bolts need thread locker? I still am thinking about the loose caliper retaining bolts issue I had, though it them came loose once, once is MORE than enough exp if I'm on a track.
Last edited by MiniManAdam; Feb 16, 2021 at 09:00 PM.
You can also mount the brake disc without the retaining nut. As the wheel bolts go through, they will "clamp" it to the hub with 120-140Nm (depend on what you choose). The retaining nut is just there to aid installation
Yeah, those rotor screws... non-essential, apart from helping with wheel installation. Instead of thread locker, use anti-seize and only finger tight to hold the rotor.
However, I saw mention of caliper bolts... Those are a different animal. You don’t want those coming out while driving down the road. Use just a small dot of blue thread locker on those, unless they have a small bit on them already.
