This is not a given; but be careful....

If you follow the instructions included with the Craven Strut Tower Defenders, it is possible to loose the front end alignment quite easily.

You are removing and then replacing the three fasteners that hold your front end in alignment.

Think this through before starting the install.

 

Putting these plates on you car WILL NOT change any alignment settings at all. All those 3 bolts do is hold the top of the strut plate in place.

 

Um yeah. Unless you move the car or jack it up when the nuts are off there is no likelihood of changing the alignment. Otherwise everyone that has installed these or a competitors or any of the Strut bars including MINI's own would be in the boat. MINI would recommend an alignment after an OEM accessory strut bar if this was the case and they do not.

 

JGS, this subject is up for discussion and dispute until more info is known.

Most struts do have a screw in plate as ScottINBend noted.

What additional info do you have on this?

Mini recommends allignments with light bulb changes, as long as they do the work.

 

The holes in the strut towers are pretty tight to the stud coming though. It would be hard to change the alignment much if you tried. Plus, the torque on the three strut plate studs is I think is only 18 ft.lbs. This is enough to keep the whole assembly from falling out but not much more.
If the intention was that some sort of clamping/frictional force was to be created at this point, the interface would look much more like a wheel/hub interface. Lots of bearing surface area and bigger studs at 75 lb ft or more.
As Gnat said, the factory doesn't even require an alignment when you put the strut bar on. On other cars you may be correct, the Mini is a little different.

 

Well....on the newer generations the 3 bolts actually determine a little camber as well. Rather than holes they are elongated ovals/slats to allow very small camber adjustments.

Although unlikely while the tires are on the ground....I could see STD's slightly altering the alignment on the R55/56

 

Please excuse my ignorance on the R56. I have experience with them. Missing the obvious, I just noticed this is in the 2nd gen forum.

 

WHUT? Your alignment doesn't get up and run away, the only thing that can change by loosening your front strut mount nuts is you'll, um, loosen your front strut nuts. On the R53, the strut mount holes are snug and round and offer about a 0.05 degree variance. On the R56, the strut mount holes are slightly slotted BUT the strut mount has a dowel pin that keeps the camber fixed. If you remove the dowel you can squeeze about a half degree of negative camber out of the front end. If this is a "loss of front end alignment" then I highly recommend everyone do this, as it does nothing but add lateral traction in hard cornering.

There's no need to scare people by overhyping this. This thread has nothing to do with Craven's fine product and everything to do with misunderstanding how the suspension works and that your suspension alignment 1) is not a "yes" or "no" situation and 2) is not going to be compromised, or even slightly modified by adding strut tower braces.

 

As mentioned;
The holes for these fasteners are slots in the '08 Clubman. By removing all three fasteners at one time; it is quite easy for the car to shift unless it is sitting on dead level ground. If the location of the fasteners shift relative to their original location on the car frame, the alignment will also be shifted.

 

That dowel isn't so effective . I was up most of last night finishing up my front suspension install and every time I went to tighten the top bolts, the silly plastic dowel would pop out and the strut would slide towards the negative camber (which I wanted anyways). Keep in mind that this was with the entire front end off the ground....so it was much more free to move around in the slots.

Ryephile is right though....in the unlikely chance that you do alter the alignment.....it'll atleast be for the better as you'll get a little negative camber up front.