im in the prosecees of working the mini's handeling and was wondering how benefiial adjustable rear control arms were? thanks

 

They allow for more adjustment of camber and toe. They're also usually lighter than the stockers which has to be good. But the big question you have to ask yourself is: do you need to adjust your rear camber or toe?

What year? 05-06 have some adjustment stock.

If you're lowered, you might have too much camber.

Did you search the forums before making this thread? You better.

 

its an 02MCS so no factory adjustment.

 

There have been some failures of the OEM lower control arms as well. Most replacement units offer more strength and peace of mind.

 

For me, I'm thinking to get the GP rear control arms. They are lighter by around 40 lbs.

 

You must be talking upper and lower? 40lbs?

 

well then it looks like aftermarket rear control arms are a good investment. any experience with megan? they are closer to my budget but helix and Hsport are close also. any experience?

 

Rear sway bar will be your biggest improvement compared to stock unit.

 

im in the proscess of finding a rear bar right now, rear arms would go on after that.

 

Sorry, not true. They are the same design/weight as a Cooper.
I have had good results from Ireland Engineering @ $175 a set.
Call Chad @ Detroit Tuned, (vendor here on NAM) He has lots of information on all the various brands.

 

the price on the IE look good and i will check DT. and feedback on megans or Hsport?

 

IE are over 220 on DT.

 

Did you call?

 

I'm running Hotchkis lowers.

They are on there because they allowed me to reduce the rear camber, which I needed to do to balance the car from understeer, to at least the option of trailing throttle oversteer.

In my case the car is lowered (H&R coil overs) so the rear camber was excessive until the LCA replacement. I am running camber plates and the current geometry is -2.4 front and -1.0 rear. This is a daily driver, or I'd be running -.5 rear.

So the LCA adjustment makes a big difference under these specific circumstances... as they say YMMV.

I should add that Turner Motorsports (specifically Kevin Holmes) does the chassis work on this car, so the component selection reflects their experience more than mine.

 

I think you mean -1.5 rear
And yes, YMMV

 

Check below:
[FONT=Arial]The longitudinal control arms on the rear axle are now made of aluminium and the sound-deadening material has been taken out.[/FONT]
From here

Additional weight saving measures included replacing the conventional rear control arms with ones made from aluminum. This along with modifications the body and omission of some of the sound-deadening material come together to help reduce the overall weight of the car by approximately 100 pounds compared to a MINI comparably equipped Cooper S.
From here

Also, you can ask Ian "GBMINI", he has posted a pic of his aluminum control arm and it really looks different than the stock arm!!!

 

nope, i meant -.5

sounds a bit odd, but i'm running in STX against cars with -2.5 front and 0 rear camber... tail happy is fast up to a point!

even with only -1.0 on the back i run 37f/42r on course to further loosen the back end...

but i would not want to overcook an offramp with a full racing setup - hence a bit more rear camber

 

Nope, sorry again but you are talking about the trailing arms, not the control arms. The trailing arms are different and are made out of aluminum
while the control arms are the same and made from stamped steel. There are 2 control arms per side and only one trailing arm.(per side)

 

Ok , I understand.
Man, you would kill yourself with that set-up on the track.

 

Yessir!

But on an autoX course man that thang can dance!

 

Isn't that what the emergency brake is for? Just tape the button in the down position so you don't have to push it and so it won't catch.
(you can pull and release)

 

Wow, the trailing arms on a GP are 20lbs lighter per side than a MCS?

 

[QUOTE=JIMINNI;2129300]Wow, the trailing arms on a GP are 20lbs lighter per side than a MCS?[/QUOTE
Nope, I didn't say that. They are lighter but not that much. I don't remember exact amount.

 

I put the Megan control arms on over the weekend:



Link

I am not a heavy track person and streetability is big for me. These are a BIG improvement over the Alta control arms which chattered too much for me. They seem to be well made and are easy to adjust. If you look, there was a set of new for sale here on the forum a while back.

 

the megans look good, any weight savings over stock?