I was driving behind another MINI the other day and noticed the bottom of the rear wheels was pushed out as if it was carying a lot of weight. The driver was the only one in the car.

When I got home, I looked at my 2006 Cooper S and noticed the same issue AND I have noticed this on other MINI's.

Is there a fix to this....it looks kind of cheap, as if the car is a toy with bent, wire axels.

Would like to find out if there is anything MINI service can do to remedy the situation. I know when I baught the car the wheels did not look like they do now...after 11,000 miles.

One more thing, wouldn't this tilting effect the tires, making them wear on the edged more rapidly?

LGK

 

rear camber on the MCS is 1.75 degrees negative. This is one of the reasons your car is so fun to drive...it comes like that from the factory.

 

Essentially it's so the rear tires can "dig in" to corner faster (keeps the tread flat against the ground/prevents the tire from rolling onto its edge under a hard side load). Lots of us here have bought special "camber plates" so the fronts can do this too (and it's less noticeable if all four match).

 

like stated above, it is normal, and even more pronounced with a lowered MINI. There is a fix...adjustable rear control arms and a good alignment.

If you want to maintain some of the performance characteristics of the car, leave some of the camber...but if having a "non-squat" look is more important, then get some adjustable rear control arms and that can help...but you will notice the car not turn in as well or hold the corners as well. You may even notice some premature wearing on the outside of your tires.

 

the severe neg camber seen on lower cars on the rear axle isn't good. It's bad. This is because the rear suspension has decent camber gain. It gets more negative as the car sits lower. So you can start with little rear camber and be fine in turns. The problem is the front, with near verticle tires, and practically no camber gain. This is why the front tires of hill drivers wear first.

Reduceing rear camber will actually help with understeer and if it's over ~2 degrees, will help reduce uneven tire wear. Up to -2 should be fine for the street unless you only drive on the freeway, when closer to straight up will help tread life (but not cornering).

The rear control arms are needed for large changes, but not small (there's some adjustment in the newer (05 and later?) cars.... Front camber plates are needed to fix the front suspension.

YMMV

Matt

 

Uhhh....I don't think anybody said more than stock camber was a good thing for a street car. We're talking about 1.75 being the OEM spec (and getting back there on a lowered car).

 

I don't understand the stock specs at all. -1.75? I'm running -1 rear, -2 up front. The rears don't need close to -2, as they have camber gian in the suspension to aid adhesion in turns. The front spec is 0 to -0.5. This combo is ***-backwards for lots of reasons. Inner wear on the rear tires if you're aggressive, and outer tire wear on the fronts if your anything but a straight line driver.

Combined with the understeer bias, the stock settings make no sense at all.

Matt

 

Watch the F1 race this weekend. With the open wheel cars you can see the negative camber they run on the front wheels pretty well. With their budget it should clear up any feelings of negative camber making the car look cheap!

That said it's all about U-ification with a MINI. So you can certainly dial it out somewhat at least if you really want. Rest assured though it's intentional, for a reason, and not uncommon on sports or sporty cars. You can REALLY see it on my 215/45-17 Goodyears. They've got a relatively square shoulder and seen from behind you really notice the camber.

 

FWIW, MINIs aren't the only cars dialed in like this from the factory. Next time you're behind a Mk IV Jetta (the previous body style to the current one), take a look at the rears - negative camber city.