*** After doing a bunch of research it appears that the alignment of the new JCW suspension introduced a noticeable amount of negative camber. If you have the JCW suspension installed can you chime in here to let me know how noticeable this is on your car or not.

What is the difference in camber from a stock JCW, the JCW with the sport supension and the full JCW suspension?

I had the JCW suspension installed on my 09 JCW a few weeks ago. I was just taking a good look at the rear of the car and it appears that the tires are not totally straight up and down. In other words it appears that the top of the tire is pulled in more than the bottom and the bottom of the tires sticks out more than the top.

Are the alignment specs for caster, camber, toe in and toe out different for the JCW suspension over the stock and sport suspensions?

Do I have anything to worry about? Should I contact the dealer and have them check it out?

 

After doing some research and talking with the SA manager at Morristown MINI, it appears that this is a normal setup with the JCW suspension.

It would have been nice if they would have told me that the rear wheels would look like this / \ after they put on the new suspension.

Also see this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-kick-out.html

And this wikipedia entry camber angle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camber_angle

 

Here is what I have found on the JCW Suspension.


JCW_suspension_R56.pdf

 

I came across that install PDF as well. I have no idea what those alignment specs mean.

 

2 degrees camber in the rear is what it shows on that PDF.

can you confirm if the dealer aligned your car after installing the new suspension? they are supposed to in order to make sure that everything is back to spec.

btw- your car came stock with negative camber so it's not as though negative camber is brand new to your car, you just never noticed it and/or it is more pronounced now by 1/2 to 1 degree.

 

glnr13 - Yes. The car was aligned after the JCW suspension was installed. Since I have done the research, I am aware that the rear has negative camber to begin with. Now with the JCW suspension installed, it is much more noticeable. I wish the dealer would have mentioned this to me.

 

funny how much half a degree of camber makes a difference

 

Why, do you not like negative rear camber? Or do you just not like the way it looks?

 

Has nothing to do with how it drives or looks. The point of this post was that after the JCW suspension was installed, I looked at the rear of the car and the tires looked like this / \. All other cars look like this from the rear | |. I thought something was wrong after the alignment was done. The dealer should have mentioned that it would look like this after the JCW suspension was installed and the car was aligned. They could have said the the install of the JCW suspension introduces noticeable negative camber in the rear of the car. And that is the correct look of the rear.

Now anyone that does a search will find this useful information.

 

I don't find anything wrong with some camber at all.

 

A bit off topic ... but how much of a difference did you notice in cornering after the kit was installed? Morristown is doing mine next week.

 

Honestly, not that much. I have not been very impressed with it and if I had to do it over I probably would not. I think I went a bit JCW crazy over the winter.

 

Thanks. It's interesting: some swear it's a night-and-day difference with the kit, others feel little or no difference. But the same was true when I was researching the dealer-installed JCW engine kit. And I found it to be a totally different car with the engine kit, especially on the highway. I'm sure I will be going back and forth on this decision up to the last minute.

 

I live in the greater NYC area. The roads here suck big time. The ride is stiffer with the JCW suspension then with the sport suspension that I had in the car to begin with. Over time its softened up a bit. But its still a rough ride. I am going to swap out the run flats for regular tires in the next few moths. That should help out a bit or maybe my next car will be a Buick

 

Does it feel more planted in the turns? I have the stock suspension and can feel body roll in high speed curves. I would love to get rid of that, and will if I can find someone to attest to the fact that the JCW suspension will pull that off.

 

Yes. It does feel more "planted" in turns. However it still has a tendency to "hop" over bumps/imperfections in the road in hard cornering. So from that perspective its not more "planted." Definitely less body roll.

I used to take the same turns much more aggressively and faster in my 06 330XI. I have not figured out why the MINI drives/handles the way it does. Could it be due to the fact that its much lighter?

 

I have to agree that the one universal flaw that continues to irk me in all of the R56's is that they will hop to the side slightly when going over a medium sized to large bump in the road. It does give you somewhat of an unsettling feeling and certainly tells you that you really need to pay your utmost attention when driving these cars at high speeds because you just never know how you might need to react/correct.

 

Probably your runflat tires causing that if you haven't swapped them out yet.

 

I still have the OEM Dunlop runflats on my JCW. BigMiniAl has non runflats on his JCW and he is agreeing with me on the car hopping over road imperfections. So it can't be a runflat vs. no runflat issue.

 

So that PDF is saying that the suspension in the rear should have + POSITIVE 2 degrees camber? thats huge! that'll make your stance look like \ / ...???
especially when it comes stock with some negative camber in the rear...

i'm trying to find specs to get my alignment done... but am not having much luck..

mine isn't a jcw, but looking at the PDF it lists at the btm of the pdf the jcw, r56 s and non s alignment specs, so i think it should apply for my r56 s too...

 

For anyone reading this here is some info based on years of experience and over a year with my JCW Suspension.

The JCW suspension is much better in every way than stock for performance or spirited driving. Almost no loss in ride quality

Perfect alignment specs for daily driver weekend track car.

Front Camber 1.2 (negative) (Pull Pin and this is what you will have)

Front Toe .05 (Toe In)

Rear Camber 1.4 (Negative)

Rear Toe .15 Toe in

Get your thrust angle as close to zero as possible.

3 track days, 10 club canyon Runs, 4 Auto X events.

Daily driver / set your car up with a JCW and the above alignment and you will have a very competent daily driver that works well on many track surfaces.

It really is that simple

 

DEROSI,

On the front camber you say "pull pin" what pin are you refering to?

 

Yes, I have wondered that too.....I know the pin you refer to, but how do you remove it? Additionally, how much adjustment (+/-) does it give you with the pin gone? Thanks

 

****EDIT****

I found it.....on 07's the pins on the strut towers are metal and need to be unscrewed/unbolted.....on the 08+'s the pins are plastic and just pull straight out. After the pin is out, loosen the three bolts, (ideally the tire needs to be in the air a little, so jack it up) and push the top of the tire all the way towards the engine (good gawd that was way too easy...) and tighten back down. Not that I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express or anything last night night, but looking at the slots, it probably gives a 1/2 degree in or out from center. Repeat on other side and go out and play!!!!

 

to push in and give more camber:

loosen the three nuts (after removing the pin) and kick the top of the tire. It'll slide in easily. Tighten nuts.

To pull out to remove camber:

loosen 3 nuts. Jack car so tire off ground. The tower will slide out by itself or with very little nudging. Tighten nuts. Lower jack.