I changed my settings up front; was 2 degrees neg camber with a hair toe in.
Is now 1.3 degrees neg camber with 1/16" toe in. I also raised the car 1/4".

All the vibration is gone. Lowering and negative camber both place the CV joints at severe angles...just never thought about camber's contribution to the problem. Your experience may vary...

 

meb: Can you tell me how low your car is? It seems the standard measure is the distance the wheel well is from the floor (seems a reference point for lowered cars -- springs only -- is about 24").
I ask because I know you have coilovers and presumably can get pretty low. I am at 24.5" all the way round the car, and don't have any vibrations.
Oh, and did the vibrations vary with speed?
thanks a lot,

 

...the vibration was pronounced in first gear and tethered off by fourth - high torque conditions.

I'll have to measure the car from the fender while on lelvel ground. This is not an accurate way to measure, however, because of build tolerances in the bonnet and fender trim. The jack points are quite accurate unless damaged.

I'll get back with you about the measurement.

 

meb: measure to the jack points if that's more accurate. I just think that we need a reference when discussing springs and suspension that is comparable across vehicles, and ride height seems to be one.
Everyone talks about their cars as if they were all different, yet they all came off the same production line, and within design and built error they are much more similar than different. Apart from those pulled apart and rebuilt to race (Webb's and onasled's for example) nearly all the cars discussed on these pages are much more alike than not.
Thanks,

 

I lowered my S on Eibachs over the weekend. Install went smooth with a few delays on the front passenger side. I love the way it looks and handles, the suspension feels so much better than stock on the rough.
1 Problem. I have the vibration under load around 3000 to 4000 rmp. Not big but I can feel, it seems stronger on the passenger side and strangely enough only when driving straight. If I am accelerating out of a corner no vibration until I straighen out.
I have been reading these posts. I see some claims that it clears with time, I see some people have removed the springs.
Has anyone tried the toe alignment, or a full alignment?
I have 2000miles on my S now. It doesn't seem like enough to have worn a groove in the CV Joint...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ation+lowering

 

I also had a slight vibration problem with lowering. But after changing the Pirelli Eufori runflats to Yokohama AD07 tires, the vibration was gone on my car.

 

It is the CV joint... Or in laymans terms, the angle of the axle into the wheel. I took my Mini to my tuner yesterday, and he put it up on a lift where we were able to see the angle under the full weight of the car. It looked pretty bad. So I went from a 2.5" drop in front, to a 1.5" drop, and the shudder/vibration is gone, and the angle looks a lot better.

The shaft should go right into the wheel ---||

I'd have to say before we fixed it, I had about a 10 degree angle meaning the axle was below and angling up to the wheels.

 

How many miles were on your car before your suspension modifications were added? How many miles did you drive with the car lowered 2.5"?

Purely for information...

 

My Eibachs spec the drop at 1" in the front. I didn't take measurements before and after to see what the actual drop was.
I will be putting my new wheels and tires on next month, I think I will ride it out until then to see if it goes away. I thought it felt a bit better today.
I will post over the next few weeks if there is any change.
When I look at the front of the car it appears as though I have noticeable toe out on the front wheels. I wonder if this is the problem....

 

Toe out could potentially further increase the axle/angle issue, and indeed make it worse.

Lowered on Megans at about 15k I think. I'm at 20k now and just lifted it up on Monday.

 

I'm glad this thread got revived. I had H/Sports and Konis installed by Detroit Tuned a couple weeks ago and I've felt a slight vibration under acceleration. Is it a high frequency vibration that you feel through your feet and not the steering wheel? That's what I have. Very slight, but it wasn't there before.

 

Negative camber will contribute to severe angles...combined with lowering the car, these are definately outside their normal operational range.

 

It seems to be getting better every day, the effected RPM range has decreased. I had it between 3000 to 4000 rpm before in all gears, now I feel it in second from 2800 to 3100 rpm and nowhere else.
The vibration is worse in the morning when the car is cool. I plan on getting a full alignment as soon as I can before changing anything else to see if this clears the problem.
It bothers me that only some Mini's get this vibration, maybe something in our driveline is at the far end of the manufacturing tolerances.

 

My right side outer CV joint just bit the dust - 63,000 miles. Glad I didn't install the new wheel bearings last week. Indeed, procrastination has its rewards

The car has been lowered since April, but has collected several severe pot holes since new. One large enough to bend a forged BBS wheel. In addition, miles of road are torn up along my commute - the right side of each lane only. So this comes as no surprise. Just a question of when.