I have a 2007 S with LSD and the factory sport suspension, don't track or autocross, and though it is pretty good handlng for street, I've always wished there wasn't that obvious understeer noticed when accelerating into or out of curves. My driving isn't about speed, but the handling and feeling of the car in control with the road in the twists and turns is the appeal. Well, this afternoon I took off my M7 strut tower reinforcement plates that obviously don't do anything as far as handling, and I followed the instructions about maximizing the stock front negative camber this thread. I jacked up the car, loosened the strut tower nuts, took out the centering pins, and pushed the struts as far in as the slotted holes allow, tightened nuts down to 25ft/lbs, then went for a spin.

Amazing! Hard to believe such a simple and easy mod can make such a noticeable difference in handling. Before, I was considering getting a beefed-up rear anti-sway bar to deal with the typical understeer, but was not keen on the idea of a mod that could make the ride more harsh on the street. But this easy, mild camber adjustment has largely done away with it. Now I can accelerate much further into curves -- well past the point t where before I would have to back off the throttle or compensate via oversteering to keep the car where I wanted it. Cornering now feels much more balanced. Feels noticeably more controlled now-- amazing for such a minor and easy mod.

To anyone with stock sport suspension who would like to improve handling-- just do it! Lots of bang for no buck, and like others have said- this little change in geometry probably won't have much if any negative consequences for tire wear. Even if it does, I'm not going to change it back since it handles so much better.

 

I do this every time I go to the track. After my coilovers were installed I had the alignment shop set me at -1.5 camber up front with the towers in the stock location. When I get to the track I push 'em in for ~another degree.

You do not have to jack up the car to push them inwards (just kick the top of the tire) but you do to get them back outwards.

I have not noticed any unusual or rapid wearing on my tires.

 

I did this mod on my car (stock suspension), and tbh I didn't notice that much of a difference, but maybe i'm a little slow

But more camber is better, so I'm keeping it as it is...

 

perhaps there's less gain with the stock suspension, and more perceptible when applied to suspensions that are already more firm and controlled such as the OEM sport, JCW or aftermarket setups? In any case, it is so easy to do, that it's definitely worth trying-- and you can easly put it back to stock position if not satisfied.

 

WOW... Flat out amazing!!

So after class I went home, popped the hood, loosend the 6 bolts (3 per strut) and took out the locater pins, applied a swift kick to the top of the two front wheels...

After all was said and done, retightened to spec, I decided to go for a quick test drive.

The difference is night and day. With the struts in the standard position, highway onramps felt pretty solid though I could feel the front end slightly pushing, especially at higher speed.

After the DIY camber adjustment, the front tire digs in and you can just feel the car taking the turn as if it was literally glued to the ground. I was originally gonna get a STB but seeing as most of them do not allow for this adjustment, i will hold off for now.

Its only really noticeable when you are driving fairly agressively but when you really push it.... you can definitely feel the difference.

FYI, im lowered on Mach V springs with H&R RSB 19mm at the stiffest setting.

as for tire wear... i noticed before that the front tires seemed to be wearing down more on the outside edges.. The car was aligned normally and i always though it could use some more camber.... now its all said and done tire wear might actually be better!

 

Hey everyone, it's been a blast reading through these posts and I'm really excited to give this a try... thanks for all the awesome info!

My question is... why is everyone talking only about the front camber? Is the rear camber adjustable as well, and is it not worth doing?

 

back camber matters but not nearly as much as front.

 

So if I do this should I be worried about needing a realignment? I drive very aggressive so I think I will notice better tire wear since it wont occur on the outsides as much, but I commute to school on the highway and I hope it doesn't through the alignment out (can't really afford to have that done right now)

 

I'm pretty floored by your responses. I did this before and it wasn't a huge difference. I put on IE fixed plates, now the car is an animal. for camber

 

FYI for track work the K-Mac camber plates I have are adjustable from the engine bay - they reckon about 30 seconds a side. You just loosen off the locating bolts and there's a notched piece you lever with a screw-driver or some such - each notch is 1 degree camber I think. Mine is road use only so I just leave mine set at -2.5 degrees - fabulous difference and I can get on the power much earlier through a corner to keep the momentum going.

 

Hey guys, I took a look today and almost attempted to do this, but stopped myself because I'm not sure I completely understand (despite these illustrations!). Can someone please help clarify a couple points:

1. After loosening the bolts, what exactly am I then going to push towards the engine (ie. what part here is considered the strut)? Is it that piece that's right in the middle underneath the black cover (is the black cover what is referred to here as the "nub")? (Excuse the noob terminology!)

2. Is it necessary to tighten the bolts to 25 ft-lb? I just don't have the ability to measure this.

Thanks guys! Looking forward to this change before my track even on Sat.

 

the nub is the little white thing in the second photo, and where the empty hole is on the third photo.

 

I just tighten them fairly tight with a wrench.

 

Ok, so I remove the nub... and then what piece do I push towards the engine? And do I need to replace the nub before tightening everything, or just leave it out?

 

The strut.... the shock-absorber-looking-thingy in the wheel well.... you see the top of this under the black cover above... but you get the most leverage by pushing on the strut itself. We're talking a very small amount of movement here...

 

throw the nub away

 

Very cool... thanks a lot everyone! I adjusted them today and it took almost no time at all, thanks to everyone's help. After jacking up the car and loosening the nuts, I found that the whole thing essentially shifted itself (maybe about 1/2"?) as soon as I pulled out the nub.

Will give it a go tomorrow on the track!

 

Guys, you can't just adjust you camber and think your all set. When you add that negative camber at the track you are adding ll sorts of toe in, and that's the last think you want for track performance.
Every time you adjust camber you need to adjust toe.
Ooppss,see you already discused this...

 

Ok, so I am new to this but I have been reading posts on NAM for a while and thought I'd join after reading this one. Great Info! I have just started autocrossing my Mini and found that the 17" AD08s felt like they were rolling under. I was told "they are" because of the stock suspension and camber. I asked the Mini dealer to do an alignment with the camber set as discussed here and they complied (I needed an alignment anyway). I didn't see the stock setting listed here so for the record the factory Mini settings are:

Front camber left: 0 deg 23', range +/- 0 deg 25'
Front camber right: 0 deg 20', range +/- 0 deg 25'
toe, left and right (each wheel): 0 deg 07', range +/- 0 deg 05'

These are as listed on the factory sheet and the left and right camber are different (that is not a typo). Also note that a slight positive camber is allowed within the range! Now, for the interesting part - the dealer did pull the plastic plug and slid the plates in. The result is a camber of 0 deg 40' (or 0.67 deg). Which double the stock setting and 45' more than the factory range will allow. There is a noticable difference on the road and I will find out more the next autocross.

As for toe-in: it seem that when the plate is moved inward it went to about 0 deg 22' which is about 3x what it should be. So anyone doing this might want to make that adjustment also.

 

OK, quick math says for about 28 inches, from ball joint to top of strut, every degree needs just under half an inch ( 2* 3.14 * 28 divided by 360). The slots only provide about 1/8 of movement. One could grind another eighth maybe. What kind of finished numbers at stock ride height are people seeing with just sliding the strut over?

For those with "real" adjustable plates, how far inwards do you see the center moving? I am looking for about 1.5 when I am done.

 

Real adjustable camber plates are supposed to go up to -3 camber. At -1.5, you should be fine with the plates. Not sure if you meant 1.5"??

The issue I found with mine is that after around -2.2, the adjustments is not too easy from the top because of limitd space.

 

-1.5 degrees. How far in inches does that look like? From my quick math, it would be close to three quarters of an inch. Does that sound correct? That is a heck of a lot more that just a little trim in the fender top. Enough that I would drill new holes. Maybe back a touch at the same time for a bit of caster.

I only hesitate on buying plates as I don't want the NVH associated with track parts. The stock plate is fine.

 

Ok, I haven't done the math, but the picture above of the strut tower shows the plug hole moved over about a 1/4" (about the diameter of the hole). Me guess is that hole is aligned with the nominal (0 deg 20' which is about 0.33 deg). By tvrgeek's math, sliding the pins over about a 1/4" would be enough to to give the 0.66 degs my dealer said my alignment is at - math works. With that said, tvrgeek would need to shift everything another 1/2" beyond what the slots will give - much more than I would would care to do by drilling more holes. As it is, you'll have to take things apart to do that. So you might as well just buy the fixed shift plates or spent a little more and buy the adjustable plates and stick those in. It will save you the effort of drilling and maybe messing up the shock tower. Also, at least these are design for adjusting the camber and will still load the shock tower where they were designed to to take the load.

 

Just found this:

http://www.minicooperspeed.com/minic...er-adjustment/

is this at all dangerous to do? I want more camber to get my wheels in the arch a little.....

 

Its good -- this is same mod as posted in #61 above.