First off, I appologize if this topic was discussed in a prior thread i didnt have the time to scroll through 40 pages of threads looking, lol.

That being said, My girlfriend has an '05 Cooper S, and she's blowing through tires. I'm talking front tires being completely worn in less then a year. The mechanic suggested a Camber kit, cause he said Mini's wheels dont sit level purposely for performance and speed??? I saw a few websites that sell kits, and seeing that the tires are upwards of $300 a piece it might be a good investment. She doesnt drive it hard at all, its her baby. No high speeds, hard turns, racing etc. and minus a few long trips, she puts very little miles a year on it.

My question is will this help with the tire wear, and could it cause any other problems with the OEM specs of the car. any answers, suggestions, and information would be greatly appreciated, and needed, thanks!

 

Quick question....Have you had the alignment checked lately? Also how often do you do rotates? A stock S shouldnt need a camber kit. Please let me know!

 

Your mechanic said what ? He should quit his day job............
No pun intended !

Unless your MINI has been lowered using performance springs there is NO need for a camber kit..........

Take it to MINI Dealer for a proper alignment.

And find a mechanic that REALY knows MINI's.......sounds like your guy wouldnt know the difference between his boot and bonnet in the ground

 

How many miles are on the MINI?

 

Take it to a Nissan dealer that sells GTR's and get it on the laser alignment rack for much less than MINI charges.

 

well she didnt take it to a mini dealer, she took it to the local Honda dealer that said they've done mini work.

Its not lowered as far as i know there is no factory mods. The guy said its a common problem with mini's which from reading online, i'm finding that has some relavence. Also he suggested an alignment but said it may not help, cause of how the mini's suspension is set up. I also read somewhere that someone got an alignment from a place and it made it worse???

And i think there is about 50,000 miles on it. but she ran trough a set of new tires in less then a year and MAYBE 10,000 miles. with no hard driving.

 

One of a few things if the problem is the FRONT tires as you stated:

1) Tire pressure - if she's on runflats, it's VERY easy to drive around on VERY under-inflated tires. This will wear out runflats very prematurely. The tire pressure monitor won't go off if the pressure very slowly leaks down over time. I had a buddy here who was driving around on 15psi for a LONG time - he never bothered to check his air pressure because the tires "looked" good.

2) Alignment - if front toe is way off, it will quickly wear out front tires.

3) Strut tower mushrooming (also alignment) - if one or both strut towers and upper strut mounts have been damaged due to bottoming out the suspension on potholes, curbs, etc. (a common problem) then this can result in alignment issues that could wear tires prematurely.

But you do NOT need to change camber, ESPECIALLY ON THE FRONT, if her driving habits are what you describe. The stock front camber is VERY little. Rear has more camber, but that's not where you said you were having issues. And the stock amount of rear camber won't wear tires abnormally as long as they're properly inflated and you're not sliding around corners (like I do).

As has been said... I think this mechanic is clueless about MINIs.

BTW - this belongs in the 1st generation forums

 

All MINI's can benefit from camber plates if the car is to be driven hard. The MINI comes with very little camber and if you are experienceing excessive outer shoulder tire wear then camber plates would be a very good idea. Has nothing to do with being lowered.

As to the OP question......get the alignment checked out. Sounds like it is out.

 

In the context of this thread, and the OP's question, gray raven was correct.

 

Stock cars can benefit from camber plates if they notice uneven tire wear, regardless of springs used.

 

But the OP explicitly said they don't drive the car hard. For a driver who is conservative in the corners, more front camber is NOT better.

 

There is no camber adjustment on the front of that MINI, or any MINI, just Toe can be adjusted and thats a key setting to save tires. If your 2005 MINI was built before Jan of 2005, like mine, then you have no rear camber adjustment just toe. For the moment let's assume the alignment is right.

Also note that many times to set the toe setting a tech will need to heat up the arm to break the nut free and if they set the toe while the arm is still hot, once the arm cools it may pull it out of spec and that could lead to your issue too.

Check the front lower control arm rear bushings. While 50K would be early for one or both to go bad it could happen and if they are bad they will knock the alignment off the min you leave the shop.

I'll also assume that your GF doesn't weigh in like a NFL line backer, but if she does that can also mess up alignment on a MINI.

At this time I don't think you "need" camber plates.

 

ok, well what i'm gathering as a consensus, i guess we're going to get new tires, get the put on, and take the car to a mini dealer and get the alignment straightened out, bypassing camber plates. Since everyone seems to think they aren't necessary. Also we'll keep a close eye on tire pressure, and rotate more often.

We'll see how it goes. Thanks to everyone that added their 2 cents. Much appreciated.

 

One more comment: camber plates are usually used to *add* camber, not take it away as the mechanic seemed to be suggesting.

good luck! and be glad you don't ride a motorcycle, where 10,000 out of a tire is very long life indeed.