I did things a little out of sequence. I got the lightweight wheels first. They were so much lighter they made the runflats behave themselves. Then when I finally ditched them I was a little disappointed in the non run flats. I actually lost a little grip and mileage is down because I went up a size. Same tire on the wifes clubman was a big step forward from the weight reduction.

I got my 22mm Alta RSB for $65.00 shipped on ebay. I could not pass that up and so far I like it better than the 19 I put on the wifes car. It's more tossable on the street but I know the things I have done do not work that well on a fast racetrack. I used to roadrace motorcycles a long time ago and really have no intention of going back to the track on anything but a bike. Mini's are fun but no doubt the most fun you can have with your clothes on is on a bike at a racetrack for way less money.

I wish I had Ohlin's in the budget but with a kid in private school I am forced to be a little more scrappy.

I drove further today and noticed the car tracks arrow straight now. Nothing upsets the car where before it liked to wander around a bit. But it may be a little over done now (too much toe in) which may be affecting my mileage. For sure it doesn't coast as fast now. I will probably take it in for an alignment soon.

What do you mean stock? I love that evo bodykit!

 

By stock I meant that I haven't done any performance mods to my Mini at all. So I just did the camber thing then alignment.

What kind of tires and size did you go with? I'm trying to stay with a 16" wheel But tire selection sucks.

Thanks for the compliment on my old Evo, it was an amazing car but crazy expensive to own. I learned a lot from that car, like those wheels have a low offset for that flush look but I didn't know about scrub radius and it messed up the handling a little. I'm trying not to make the same mistake again.

 

How can I do the free camber mod? Can't find it

 

you guys really do need an alignment. i had two guys last week that just pulled the pins and pushed them till they stoped... one side was at 1.4 and the other side was at .6.... even after trying to get them the same i was still able to only get .7 and .9 nine out of them. and one side was maxed out in and the other maxed out out. the toe will change a bit also. it's important to have the same camber side to side so that the car handles the same all around. one for the cars was only weeks old and the rear camber was off, the rear toe was way off and then you know about the front... i align many cars every year and they need it. i alwasy recomend yearly or at least every new set of tires or new control arm bushings. next time you go and buy a new car. pay a few bucks and have a good shop check it and fix it. you would be surprised what comes off the line.

 

Thanks agokart. Too bad you are not around here or I would take it to you! Yes, after driving more today I definitely agree. I'm going to do it this weekend, after my final maintenance appt under warranty. ODO turned 35910 as I pulled into the driveway so I am parking it until Thursday.

Purie, Tell me more about that scrub radius. I never heard of that before. On my tires I went with a cheapie brand called Federal 215/45/17 on Konig feathers which are about 7 lbs lighter a piece than the stock JCW challenge wheels. Apparently the Federals weigh about the same as a set of worn out run Continental flats. The guy at the tire place said he auto-crosses on them (Federals). They are really predictable but grip is lower than my stock continental run flats. That is really the only complaint because the ride is much more compliant on rough surfaces. On flat smooth surfaces it seems to be much easier to lock up the tires than before, maybe the opposite on rough surfaces. Around here smooth asphalt is very rare so it's not that bad overall.

Powashiftin The free camber mod is simply removing those white plastic pins on your shock towers. They basically rip right out of there. The three bolt holes that the struts mount to are factory slotted. Once the pins are gone, with the car jacked up and with the nuts loose, you can then shove the upper strut mount over toward the center of the car and re-tighten. This gives you about .9 degree of negative camber in the front.

 

@ smoke05S

I was going to attempt to explain scrub radius but I think I would butcher it up to badly, so I'll just add the wiki link for it :P

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikiped...i/Scrub_radius

I'll also add this blog about choosing wheel and tire sizes that I found very interesting. In part 2 under the wheel width section he talks about scrub radius also. This article goes into how sometimes wider wheels/tires actually decreases the contact patch and that the "hella flush" look can actually be a bad thing. I found it to be very interesting.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikiped...i/Scrub_radius

I hope this helps and let us know how the alignment went.

Cheers

 

Very interesting Purie. It's like trail except viewed from the front. Interesting how as it approaches zero you get less stability. I need to read it carefully again. It seems like you have to choose your wheel offset carfully. The stock challenge wheels are like 48 I think and my Konigs are 40, widening the stance 8mm per side but it is lowered 1.2" also and the camber mod so I am not sure where my scrub radius ended up!

I got my Alignment over the weekend. Turned out yes the Toe was out. They didn't quite match it to the NM installation specs. It is close enough in the front but the rear is .2 instead of .4. Where before it tracked so straight it almost took the fun out of the car. It does feel a lot better now. "Coasting HP" is up too. It seems to handle bumpy turns better now too. I ended up with .7 degrees of negative camber in the front. Not bad for a 4 wheel $84.95 alignment at Just Tires. If your in LA it's the one in Carson across from IKEA at the 110 and 405. I've had 2 good Mini JCW alignments there. I get another free one in 6 months too. I may put some adjustable control arms on the rear before I take it in for that one.

Thanks again for the info Purie. Sorry I took so long to get back here to read it.

 

So I was just thinking , I did not put the plastic pins back in was I sapose to? also how does it stay? I mean how do the bolts not slide back?

 

The plastic plugs only fit if the small hole is more or less centered in the larger hole. The bolts are retorqued to 25 ft lb after they are moved.

 

I do not have a torque wrench so after I put the JCW brace on I just hand tightened the bolts with a normal socket wrench. I was wondering though is that enough to make them not slide back? should I put some lock tight? or put a washer so it doesn't slide?

 

IMHO.... No washes, no lock-tite.
Buy a torque wrench - pretty cheap if you have a Harbor Freight ($13)
Or
Drive to any shop and have them torqued to spec
Or
Tighten then watch often to see that it has not moved.

 

Gota love Harbor Freight! I'll pick one up and check it out, I tightened them pretty good by hand I don't think they are going anywhere lol. I was just thinking under load in the track like going 40+ MPH around a turn they will hold

 

You can kind of judge from how easy it was to loosen them it should not take very much torque to keep them in place. Remember that was a soft plastic pin. If there was a huge force moving it with the nuts that loose (stock) it would have sheared off long ago. Nothing to worry about. The torque wrench is a good idea. Extra piece of mind what is it, maybe 22 - 24 fl-lbs?

 

Ik its been said that an alignment should be done, but after i did this when I drive down the road my car goes straight, would I still benefit from an alignment? I will also be having my springs put on this week so I'm sure ill need one anyway, but I was just curious

 

Doing the free camber mod will result in more toe in on the car. If you are having springs put on soon, you are probably OK to wait. I would check to see if the car feels like it is scrubbing, see if it seems to slow down faster when coasting. If it feels similar to how it was before, you should be fine.
My car only changed about 2mm on toe, which is not enough to worry about for a week. If you notice the tires are going away or have a very rough surface after a couple of days, it is only 10 minutes to take the camber back out again.

Have fun,
Mike

 

It should take only about 10 - 20 minutes to check and re-set the toe-in,
provided you have the right tools to do it (method 1 - tape measure, sticky tape or assistant,
method 2 - 4 uprights [I use jack stands] and some string ... this method is better for assessing
individual rear toe-in. -- also, you need a 7/8 inch wrench and 1/2 inch wrench for either method)

 

A few thoughts on an alignment:

* After pulling the pin and pushing the struts in, I drove for a couple of years with no tire wear issues.
* When you do get an alignment, if they are not weighting your car while doing it, go to another shop.
* I noticed a HUGE change (driving autocross) when I had my shop weight the car for just me in it and not for a passenger. I have noticed no adverse effects for street driving with a passenger.

 

I'm taking it to the dealership Friday and should be doing the springs Wednesday night or Thursday, I trust my dealer with the car they know I track it and have been very supportive even replaced the cutch for free with everything listed below in my sig. I have to go to them because I cannot take off work to have my car worked on lol they take me to work in the morning and pick me up when I get off so a little extra money is worth it, and they work on Mini's all day every day so they should know what's going on lol

 

This may be off topic slightly. I saw a Customized clubman today at the dealer today. I am sure I have seen this car on this forum before. Cream colored S with JCW front bumper and unique red and blue striping, black center / silver ring mini wheels, anyway he had KW coilovers and it was pretty much slammed with no fender gap running 205/45-17's. His front and rear camber appeared to be the stock angles yet I looked really closely and he had stock control arms. I am only lowered 1" and I have too much rear camber and it rubs in the front. This guy is at least 2" lower, no rubbing. How did he do it?

 

I am thinking of doing the free camber mod. I am getting into autocross and was wondering if the mod makes any appreciable difference in handling? I will be installing an HSport competition rear sway bar as well. Camber plates are out because I want to remain in D-stock for the time being.

When I get an alignment does the alignment shop need to adjust the strut towers after I pull the pin make sure the camber is the same on both sides?

Lastly, does anybody have a link to a document detailing the proper alignment settings, or should the shop know what they are without providing them the settings?

 

The free camber will get you close to 1.0 negative in the front. Without adjustable rear arms, the rear camber can not be significantly adjusted. If you are having an alignment done, I would reccomend getting the maximum negative camber in the front and the minimum in the rear. The front camber should be pretty close side to side after the mod. Most guys like zero to 1/16" toe in, front and rear.

The free camber mod will adjust toe on the front slightly, so it is probably good to get an alignment done. It can't hurt to do the mod, I don't know if you will notice a difference or not. It would be good for a baseline to get an alignment done.

Have fun,
Mike

 

If the free camber mod does not give even camber on both sides I assume the shop only has to simply loosen the three top bolts and adjust camber that way?

 

It makes a noticeable difference when your at the limits, at least for me it did. But my alingment was really bad from the factory and the camber mod only netted me about .2 degrees, so I'm at -.7 up front. It's the toe that may need the most changed, mine was really bad so that's probably what I felt the most. It inspired more confidence when doing some 8/10 or 9/10's driving.

Yeah, the strut tower brace will make it a little more difficult since when you lean one side in the brace will push the other side out, but their should be enough play I would think. I'm in the same boat, I wanna stay in D-stock before I do any major mods to the car.

The shop I went to knew enough about Mini's to dial in the best they can. We'll never be able to get to the ideal level of alignment with out camber plates and control arms. That said any shop should be able to get you in the right direction if they allow customer requested settings.

Hope this helps.

 

Other than telling the shop I want as much camber as the factory adjustment will allow in the front, are there any other instructions / settings I should give them? Or standard toe front and back is correct for the Mini?

 

Toe settings are kind of a personal thing, some like toe-out on the front, saying it offers a better turn in (this might only apply to rwd though), others like toe-in on the rear saying it will help the rear to rotate, some like zero toe all around because it offers less rolling resistance.

My shop convinced me to run zero toe up front and 1/16th" in the rear. The idea is set for spirited driving. When on the gas the rear of the car squats and makes that rear toe zero out then on the brakes and turning the rear lifts creating more toe-in and in theory should help the car rotate.

Again this is all 9/10th's stuff. The important part is to make sure toe and camber relate with each other from side to side. My camber was different on all 4 corners and my toe was as well.

Cheers