I definitely do not know much about suspension setup.

My problem: My rear tires have worn from outside in, thinnest on the outside and thicker on the inside. So that the wheel when sitting upright on it's own will fall over. So this creates a shutter, that I thought was simply out of balance. Tire guy explained this when I had them fruitlessly balanced.

A little more, these are the original run-bricks with about 41K on them. Stock setup, stock sport suspension with original alignment. I have newer Toyo tires up front.

So when I get new wheels and tires what should I do? Besides put on coilovers you pack of track animals... Obviously it needs some type of alignment, but I want to make sure it is done right. I am new to the area and have not gotten a good repoir going with a shop.

 

With sotck '03 MINIs, there is no way to adjust rear camber. You would have to buy a complete set (4) of adjustable rear control arms. This will let the techs change the camber without messing up toe.

 

Money i can fix anything.

 

Does that sound like what the issue is?

I have always had sporty suspension cars wear out the inside of the tires. The problem is just the rear tires, I have never rotated and just kept the newer tires up front.

Possibly normal rotating the wear from the fronts would compensate and keep all the tires even?

 

Well before you go spending any money get your MINI to an alignment shop & check the settings. Are both rear tires worn like that? If it is only one, it could be accident damage. That's certainly not a normal wear pattern.

 

a couple of thoughts:

1. can you sanity check the rear camber? normally a mini will have a slight amount of negative camber at the rear axle - meaning that the top of the tires are tipped in slightly in comparison with the bottom. if you sight down the side of the car this should be visible.

2. when was the car last aligned? it is possible that the toe in on the rear axle is not correct, which might produce wear similiar to that which you observe

3. without resorting to any aftermarket parts, your Mini should be able to obtain good longevity from the rear tires without the wear on the outer edge as you describe - something is not right

Worth tracking down before putting more rubber back there - lest you wish a new set of tires to suffer the same fate.

just one more thought, I would avoid dissimiliar brands front to back (or side to side obviously) as the grip, sidewall stiffness, and other characteristics of tires can definitely produce handling issues - possibly creating a hazard for you during an emergency maneuver.

 

+ 1 ^

 

yes, we need more info about your car to give you better advise.
it would helf to know if:
- are you the first owner?
- any accidents, body work done in the back/front of the car?
- any road incidents? (huge pothole, hitting curb, etc.)

This is not normal wear and the only thing I can think of is the positive Toe setting. To have tires destroyed that much from the positive camber, it would be very noticeable on the car, and the way the rear wheels look compared to the rest of the body. It's possible that you hit a curb or something and bent the controll arm resulting in horrible positive camber.
If nothing was changed and nothing is bent I'd get an alignment check somewhere and if they determine that they can't fix it but there is no obvious damage to any suspension part, I'd go to the MINI dealer and have them sort it out.
There is a possibility that it was wrongly set up out of the factory, but that's the last thing I'd think of.

 

Car is one owner, me.

Both rear wheels have the same wear pattern.

No accidents besides some minor parking negotiation curb kissing.

It had an alignment in 04 at the dealer because the steering wheels was crooked from the factory, it just took me a long time to get to a dealer since I lived 400 miles from a dealer at that time.

Front tires are different than back because I got a flat with a run-flat and the local shop refused to repair it, and conveniently destroyed the bead, on tires with 8k on them. So I bought one axel of new tires and kept the best of the run-bricks in back (2 new un-brick, much cheaper than 1 run-brick). It was the best thing to do at the time considering I had also just been layd-off (unwanted vacation...).

The rear tires look square (visual), straight up and down to ground, no negative camber.

Car drives straight, and brakes straight.


I was planning on getting an alignment when I get my new wheels/tires in a couple months. At that time I want to make sure I get corrected this positive camber outside wear issue. Especially I don't want to get an alignment and have them tell me they cannot make any adjustments to improve it and then need pay again for an alignment if I were to have adjustable control arms put in.

I am used to cars wearing out the insides of the tires first, so this is very odd.

 

Stop pulling the ebrake?

Heh I don't know. My front and rear suspension are both stock, and both have a negative camber (not much, mind you). Certainly not a normal wear pattern.

If you live in an area with respectable alignment shops, go to one of those. If you live near me... Well... Go get a new car.

 

Yeah, I am new to this area so I have not gotten established with a shop yet. So far the shops I have taken my wifes car to have just mucked things up. Minor things like torqueing the lugnuts!

 

That's very strange then. The toe must be out a bit and hard to tell why this happened and what caused it.

 

Do you like to take corners really fast? My tires are a bit like that, but only up front. I added a little neg camber and it seems to have evened it out. In the back, with normal driving, it should wear slightly from the inside out, if not even. there should be a little neg camber in the back. You could try a regular tire place alignment. If you don't need any special alignment, they are usually ok. Try a sears. You could also go and ask them to check if you need an alignment. Ask them to see the sheet so you can determine whether an alignment is needed. I think the back should have -.5 camber, or maybe its -1.5?

Good luck

 

Corners, fast, you betcha! I would just call it spirited daily driving, no track time, nothing excessive.

That is what I am picking at, what should stock camber be, and what would be a little extra.

 

After talking with Chad at DT at the Dragon and looking at some alignment illustrations: http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm

I believe there is too much toe-in on the rear wheels. So now I need to find an alignment shop that knows what the heck it is doing.