Ok, so my buddy and I put a set of Eibach's on my R56 last weekend...

All went smoothly. Big improvement is looks and handling and believe it or not...I think it even rides better overall!

Anyway...

Went to National Tire and Battery to get it aligned and two things came up:

1) they couldnt do the alignment because they needed a "special" tool. Anyone else run into this problem? I could take it somewhere else, but dont want to wast me time if I'm going to run into the same problem. Do I have to go to a Mini dealer? Closest one is almost 2 hours away.

2) although they couldn't actually do the alignment, they showed me the graphic on the machine while the car was up. The fronts were both within spec (surprised me). The right (passenger) rear was just a tad out...BUT, the left (driver) rear was a good ways out of alignment. Is this common after putting springs on that one wheel might be way out? Now that I know that it's out...you can actually see that it angles out from top to bottom, when looking from the rear. I'm no mechanic, so I dont know if this is a caster or camber problem, but again...top in, bottom out.

Any info would be appreciated.

Obviously, I still plan on getting it aligned, but wanted some insight from you guys before I go further.

Thanks in advance!

B

 

1. I got mine aligned at an alignment shop since the local tire place told me that they could not align it since it had been lowered. Anyways, my point is that you do not have to take it to your MINI dealer to have it done, the alignment shop was able to do the job.
2. if the top of the tire is pointing in towards the top-middle of the car- and the bottom is pointed away from the car, this is known as negative camber.
here is a crude illustration of negative camber with the slashes being the tires and the dashes being the ground:

//MINI\\
---------
hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the info Zach.

I was hoping that I wouldn't have to take it all the way back to the Mini dealer (2 hours).

I'll check around.

 

There are no special tools that I know of. You do have to have the correct ballast in the front seats, boot and a full tank of gas to get it right. A decent alignment shop should be able to do it.

 

Guys,

I have stopped using NTB for many reasons, the least of which is the fact that they do not even use a torque wrench to tighten lugs on wheels after a tire install. Their air tools must have been set to GORILLA torque the last time I went.

I use Tire Rack releigiously and have been happy ever since. They will ship tires to your installer (if they are on the TR list) and your garage can set torque to the required setting.

As far as a special tool, I'm not sure that even if the special tool was required and they had it, that they would know how to use it. Go to a shop that you trust and let the professionals work on your MINI.

 

I was checking out the adjustments on the Hunter Alignment rack the other day (I'm still waiting for my Mini). To adjust the rear toe they do show a Mini (BMW) special tool. The computer does show a part number of the tool. With out seeing the car (the computer pictures suck) my guess is that there is some sort of a cam that has a place for a pin that locks the tool and allows the cam to be rotated. The 3 Series has a similiar set up as well, and yes the vehicle needs to be ballasted with weights in the front seats, trunk area, and yes a full tank of fuel. I am really curious though how many alignment shops really take the time to ballast the car and do the alignment correctly. I've been in the auto industry for a long time and hate when techs "flat rate" certain jobs to make hours.

 

I just lowered my car AND adjusted my rear camber while doing so. You do NOT need a special MINI/BMW tool to adjust the rear camber. Just loosen the ~15mm bolt and that wierd star nut will spin very very easily (Almost hand tight) with a large adjustable wrench.