Going to work last thursday morning. Don't know why, but I decided to punch her about 1/8 mine from a railroad track. I was busy looking at the guy behind me I was pouncing on him(people like to try and pick on small cars here in Houston). I drive this road every morning. No excuses! I went over a railroad track that wasn't 'mini' friendly! I caught 2 ft. of air in my MCS!!! Bent the rear right upper control arm which looked like a ZZ Top emblem after the jump was over. Car looked like it had 5 deg. camber after this spectacular jump.

When the front end came down the nose hit a little hard. It bent that lower spoiler backwards and the asphalt rubbed on the drain plug on the AC compressor. Wound out the bolt about 1/2" and drained the 1234A out of it.

Sheesh....

Did I mention this could have been allot worse?

Ok, now for the all important question...


After bending back the stock arm(Bought new H-Sport adjustables, but have to wait for them to come) I measured the camber on the rear tires.

I am sitting at -1.5 deg. camber roughly on both. I am using a piece of 2X4 and a camber gauge from my RC days- BTW all my RC race cars use -1.5 deg. camber to get even tire wear on a road coarse track.

What is the stock camber? The front I did not measure.. they look to be something like -.5 - 1 deg.(I will check later)

From what I have read the rears should be 1.5 deg. camber for good handling. Does this mean a stock MCS is less than -1.5 deg?

I saw another MCS last weekend and it's camber looked the same as mine. 1-2 deg. negative camber.

I wish I had this on video. The guy behind me said it was awesome looking.

"I don't need no stinking camber adjustment plates!" "Watch this!"

 

I run 1.5 in the front and 2.5 in the back. It's worked fine for me on the street/track

 

I try to get -2.5f and -1.5r

here is a video of me doing something similar, not in the mini tho

we didn't get my 2ft of air run on camera though, i kept going faster till we got close to scraping the tail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMfzEGJcy34

 

Rocksalt,

Make sure to check for mushrooming. I think I read somewhere on the M7 site that the forces generated by dropping the MINI were enough to deform the strut towers. I think catching a couple inches of air beneath the front tires contributed to my towers being mushroomed.

 

Be careful and check all of the suspension parts for damage-
shocks
anti roll bars
endlinks
Upper and lower control arms
Strut towers
and check
exhaust system
Rims- inner edges too
Tires- especially sidewalls for bulges
Power steering fan under your engine

Your alignment needs a check, biggest problem could be toe settings are affected. Handling or tire wear will reveal it.

Stock settings-
Front camber -0.3 +/- 0.25 degrees or about -0.5 for most MINIs
Front toe 0.18 +/- 0.05 degrees or about 1/8 to 3/16" toe in
Rear camber -1.0 to -2.0 with -1.2 to -1.5 being fine
Rear toe 0.24 +/- 0.08 degrees or about 1/4 to 3/16" toe in

For aggressive street and autocross I use-
Front camber -2.5 degrees
Front toe -0.12 degrees or 1/8" toe out
Rear camber -1.3 degrees
Rear toe 0.06 degrees or 1/16" toe in

You can set toe to zero front and rear as a compromise
Front camber is not adjustable without camber plates
Rear camber you can run more or less negative camber but more negative will increase understeer so less negative is usually more helpful about -1.2 to -1.5 is fine.

If you hit any irregular road surface or pothole you can affect alignment in as little as a few months. If you a lowered suspension you will feel even the littlest bump.

 

Man I wish you got this on tape. On a more serious note glad you didnt spin and put it into a curb or something like that.

 

I did something not quite as extreme (and thankfully not damaging) in my old WRX over a set of RR tracks that I wasn't aware had a steep drop off. My teeth hit together so hard on the landing I was afraid I was gonna need dental work...

 

I checked for mushrooming, none that I can see. I have the M7 strut braces in the front.

It seems to handle very well now and track straight.

I still haven't received the BMP brace and the adjustable rear H-Sport camber/toe adjusters.

I was darn lucky!

 

RocKSalt, check your tierods to. You could have messed them a little. You may want to check your oilpan as well, looking at how close all is in the front. I had a similar incident, 4 lane split highway intersection. I was crossing through a green light from the two lane side street. Guys I work woth said I caught air and looked like the blue MINI in the Italian Job.