has anyone had a wheel alignment on their MINI yet?
if so: Dealership or Local Garage?
and why?

 

Local garage, i paid $129 to Firestone (nationwide chain) for lifetime alignment. The dealship wanted like $250 for a one time deal.

Now everytime i change tires/rims, or hit a big pothole, i get my MCS re-aligned...free.

See if there is one local.

 

link:

http://www.mastercare-usa.com/locate/index.jsp

 

i'm a scared of chain stores (and dealerships)

and prefer a more personal touch/treatment

but i'm looking for the pro's & cons
and a lifetime alignment is a pro

 

also: is there anything special about aligning the MINI?
i've only owned older kars up until the MINI and am not that familiar with front wheel drive kars

 

Nothing special. The only adjustments are front and rear toe. On the latest 2005's there is some adjustment of the rear camber. I added camber plates in the front and lower control arms in the rear to allow for adjustment of camber all the way around. I should also add the rear upper control arms to make adjustment of rear toe easier.

Nice shots of you on KILLBOY. I saw them yesterday when Darryl finally got them uploaded. Sorry I wasn't able to get up there. Maybe I'll make it for FOTD.

 

I would recommend any reputable tire / alignment shops that can provide you with a computerized "before and after" printout for your records. In our area, we use Big O tires.

ken

 

Best option... did that on my Camaro... I get an alignment 3 times a year now...

 

I took my other car an Audi A4 to get aligned an they told me I had to take it to the dealer cause they had to dismount certain parts to get to certain screws to get the job done... or something like that ... is it the same deal with the MCS???

 

No, some Audis, Porsche....use special alignment tools to set the rear end adjustments, but not our Mini's, just set the toe and let it go.

Later

 

RPM racing in Huntington LI does a great job on alignment and corner weighing and balancing, they specialize in Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, and Mercedes. My car is properly aligned and corner weighted and balance, left side is 49.8% compared to right side.

 

My dealer quoted me $150. Mabey you should complain!

 

I have -0,44 on the front left side and -1.02 camber on the front right, the mechanic said that I probably bent some parts of the suspension. Is this true or is there other way to fix it. anyone else with this problem?

 

what parts are most likely to bent in this case?

 

My local Goodyear store said they couldn't do an alignment on my MINI as special BMW tools are required. I'm not sure they just didn't want to screw something up and be held responsible. I ended up taking it to the dealership and the total came out to $125 after tax. I'll have to see if the Firestone near me can do it next time. If I start replacing suspension components, I don't think MINI would touch it (I was actually surprised they didn't say anything about the rear swaybar and Yoko tires).

 

my mini dealership used a bmw dealership for the alignment as they didn't have allignment equipment... charged me $150 but that was included in a $400 jcw suspension install....

I would think on could go to any bmw dealer, or at least ones associated with a mini dealer... I know my local bmw dealer occasionally has deals in the range of $89... I would probably avoid going to sears, etc...

 

$150 for a 4 wheel alignment???? What a ripoff!!!


Get a quality independent shop and preferably from someone that owns a MINI. I am lucky as 2 of our local club members own Tuner/Tire shops and both are seasoned techs/Autocrossers with many miles and years of experience under their belts.

I simply refuse to pay dealer prices for seemingly basic tire/suspension maintenance/work.

 

I recently paid 98 plus tax at a local indepedant german shop here in town. They did a great job, including preweighting the interior to compensate for the driver. 150 seems high to me, look for an independant Porsche/MB/BMW in town, they will be able to do the job.

 

$150 was the approximated cost by the MINI dealer.. actually the suspension install was about $400.... inclusive of a bmw allignment... I'd concur and say go to a bmw/race independent shop which will take the time to do it right, putting wieghts in the car, with 1/2 tank of gas, etc... Also, focus on making sure it will get done right, and a bit less on the cost... I'd rather pay $175 to get it done right, than having a lifetime guarentee from a place like sears, firestone etc that might do it for $75... I once got my 1991 bmw allign at a shell for $49 and it seems to still have too much neg camber in the front... I brought it to specialty shop which worked on lowered cars, and they did it right, and the car worked great.. Wasted that $49 buckos

 

I now have hands on experience using the run-flat tires. I lost air on the freeway. There is a subtle "ding" from the instrument cluster followed by the tire air warning light. The car started feeling a little sloppy but it ran fine and got me to my destination. Unfortunately it was late at night and no one was around to fix it. Once the car sat for a while the heated tire collapsed inward making it very difficult to drive, even slowly to a gas station where I could add air. It held air enough to make it home and I was able to get the leak fixed (a faulty valve stem).

The problem now is that the car wants to pull to the opposite side of the repaired tire. I thought it may have been un-even inflation but it still does it after equalizing the two front tires.

Forgive my stupid question but would driving on a flat run-flat tweak the alignment?

K. F. Duke

 

Since MINI's have no camber adjustment, its probably the strut tops.

You can see them when you pop the hood, where you mount a strut tower bar, they wont be as flat as they used to be, knocking the camber off.

 

I'm wondering if the rear toe is really adjustable? I just got the lifetime alignment service from Firestone and they say only front toe adjustment is available. Mini dealership says they align all 4 wheels including camber... ?!?! What gives?

 

I got my 05 (rear lower control arms adjustable via eccentric attachment bolts) aligned at the "best" race-oriented alignment shop. They were idiots. The guy said that all he adjust was front and rear toe. Of course front toe is adjustable via the steering linkage, but from everything I've read here the rear camber is adjustable via the lower link. I argued with him but he said the manual said so, and took my $90.
Upon reflection, he was somewhat right--the MINI rear uses a 3-point suspension, so that you can adjust any two dimensions (toe and camber) with 2 adjustable points. The 05/06 MINI only has one, so it's a compromise. He was adjusting toe and camber at the same.
Cut to the chase: I've ordered front camber plates, rear upper and lower control arms and will go to another alignment shop...

cheers, phil

 

you only need rear lower control arms to adjust camber.

 

Is it being said that in order for a shop to properly align my 03 MC I will have to install parts on the suspension system that didn't come with the car......or not?

Camber plates, etc.?