A Boring "Stock" Suspension Question
 

My wife's 2006 Mini with 55K miles 'squats' in the back. That is, with no weight in the car the rear wheels have too much negative camber (the top of the tires are are closer together than are the bottom when viewed from the rear). Is this something that can be adjusted or have the stock struts lost some pressure or something similar? We are not looking to lower the car, so am wondering what a good replacement strut might be, if needed? Would prefer something that lasts longer than 55K miles. Thanks.

If she has an '06, then it's a first-gen MINI, not a second-gen, so I'll ask the mods to move the thread to the appropriate forum.

As for her car, there's supposed to be a little bit of negative camber in the rears (I don't remember the specification offhand). You say there's "too much" - is she having wear problems on the rear tires? The '06 has a little bit of camber adjustment at the rear via an eccentric bolt, so if you are a little bit out-of-spec, that may be enough to get you back.

Sorry about the wrong forum. Did not notice that. Thanks.

Also, have gotten rid of the original Conti's and replaced with Goodyear Eagle GTs and that has improved the ride considerably. Is there a new/different rear strut that would also help improve the ride even more? This thing rides so badly that I don't like to go anywhere in it unless I'm driving. I know, short wheel-base and all that, but my '73 911 is so superior that there is no comparison. Makes me think something is amiss.

Have you had the rear camber measured?
Stock is about -1 1/2 degree (-1 to -2 is within limits), will be more negative if the car is lowered.
The newer gen I MINIs have a little room to adjust the camber with an eccentric bolt on the rear control arms.
Otherwise, can get adjustable rear control arms to adjust camber further.
A better replacement strut would be the Koni FSD if you want comfort with good handling at stock ride height,
otherwise Koni Sport (Yellow) would be firmer than stock and are adjustable.
Bilstein Sports would be firmer yet (not adjustable, actually designed for lowering springs - for some reason,
they never made a Bilstein HD for stock height for the gen I MINIs).
All of these would last longer than the OEM struts, but suspect the Bilsteins
would last longer than the Koni Sports which would last longer than the Koni FSDs.

Thanks for the tip on the FSDs. Now to find a set for the rear. Dont' want to change everything at once in the event they are not part of the solution.

Do NOT just get the FSD's for the rears as they are designed to be a complete system. Have the camber checked before getting new dampers as 55k is not that long for damper life.

I'm not really worried that much about the camber. It is the harsh ride that I would like to cure.

I'm also leaning towards some bilsteins. Only looking for OEM comparible suspension, so would it be best to go with their touring shocks/struts vs. their sport line?

A few years back in the VW world, the Bilstein TC's and Bilstein Sports/HD's were tested on a shock dyno. The Touring class shocks (twintube) were actually found to be a bit more harsh than their monotube counterparts. Just something to keep in mind. IMHO the TC's are a budget damper and the monotube Bilsteins are lightyears ahead.

Bilstein sports are great shocks but valved pretty firm in this case....for your uses, get Koni FSD all around call it a day. I prefer Koni Yellow because the FSD's seem like they would be too soft for me. Adjusted to a soft setting with the rest of my set-up, the Yellows are ride great.

- Andrew

What am I missing? Shocks don't effect ride hight only springs. Adjustable rear control arms will take care of the camber. There is only a very slight adjustment for camber in the '06 rear.

Post #7. :)