I organized a group buy couple of weeks ago and I had them installed yesterday at Steve's in LA. Steve has never seen RDR ones before since most of the croud around here seem to go with H-Sport ones. He was very very impressed. The quality of these plates is just amazing. After a stright forward install I set the camber at -2.2 and went off to the local canyon.The difference in handing is so great that I would compare this sensation to when I put the rear sway bar in. Car is so controlable even with a bit of tail slide. It was kind of twitchy before. I highly recommend these set of camber plates if you are thinking about a set. It looks like as if they were stock parts, unlike H-sport ones.

 

I know it has been posted before but I cant find it. Can you give out Steves info?Craig

 

I can't wait to get mine! I'm on the next production run. Glad to hear they worked out well - are you still on stock wheels/tires? I'll be installing Kosei K1-TS in 15" with Kumho 711s shortly. Can't wait - it's going to be SICK.

Marty

 

Very glad to hear. I've always heard the front can use extra neg camber and it's usually neglected in priority with sway bars, springs, and engine related changed.

 

Pfunk,
Are you running stock shocks w/ the h-sport springs. If you are, how are they holding up? I''m going to install my RDR camber plates soon w/ h-sport springs.

 

I am running Kornig 17's with Falken ST115s right now. Yes my shocks are stock for now and after 32k, I have a feeling that my next big mod have to be my shocks. Having said that, they are holding up fine. I am going back to Japan in November so I am going to check out some shocks out there. Konis are the only choice for replacement shocks here but there are a lot more options available in Japan. Oh by the way, I forgot to mention an important infomation. When I replaced the front top hat to install the camber plates, the OEM rubber bushings ware cracked really badly! I had to change them anyway. If you run hard and have a stock setup, you might want to check your top hat bushings. They don't last that long.

 

Steve's Auto Clinic
818-891-6109
16205 Nordhoff st.
North Hills,ca. 91343

 

Thanks !

 

How did you decide upon 2.2 degrees negative camber? Did you simulate any body roll to determine if this is too much?

also, if you plan to replace your dampers with a set that offers a different damping rate, you may find that you can run less negative camber with the same results...and have better tire wear.

JCW spring/damper combo will be available before the first of the year. Dunno what the spring and damping rates are, but I'm hopeful these will be about a more perfect blend of performance and ride.

 

Over on the autocross and racing forums there are multiple posts about MINI owners with various suspension set ups that have tried various front camber settings using front camber plates and the general recommendation was that about -2.0 to -2.5 degrees front camber and rear of -1.0 degree less than the fronts is good for most people for use at autocross or on the track. You may do more or less if you wish. Competition tire companies usually suggest that negative front camber run about -2.0 to -3.0 degrees for best results. (Kumhos and Hoosiers)

I've run -2.2 degrees in the front and -1.2 degrees in the rear for street, autocross and track for a few months and it seems pretty good all the time for me. Tire wear is good for track and street tires alike. Performance pretty good on the track and on the street.
If I go more negative in the front I might get a bit more wear on my street tires on the inner edge and a slightly rougher or twitchy ride. I'd go more negative only if I switched to Hoosiers.

 

Thanks for your reply. Although playing with cars is not new to me, my Mini is. Answers to small, albeit important question like geometry, really help shorten set up time. Thanks again.

Are you playing with toe front or rear? My car may see a track event or two per year unlike my others.

And finally, how does toe change with respect to lowering the car; does toe become more positive as the Mini is lowered front and rear or more negative?

Thanks again!

Michael

 

For front toe I am using 1/16" out but you can go from zero toe to 1/8" out.
For the rear I am using 1/16" in but you can go from zero toe to 1/16" in.

You can play around more but no one has reported better results with other settings.
If you set front camber to -2.2 for autocross then change it to -0.5 to -1.0 degrees for street driving it will change toe. If you have a way to adjust toe and measure it then fine. My alignment shop told me with my setup my moving the front camber to -1 degree from -2.2 would send my toe out of alignment by about 1/2" so I would need to reset toe. I'm not sure if that was more positive or negative- either way it is not in stock range and not something I would use on the street.

My solution is to set alignment for autocross and just use it that way for street and track and that seems to be OK for me as far as I can tell. It's also nice not to have to change the alignment all the time. I just change wheels.

 

Okay, thanks again. My other car is now a track car - 99 Civic Si. All hard rubber bushings, a couply poly, adjustable upper control arms front and rear, SST Konis and 400lb springs all around, 25mm rear bar, upper and lower strut bars front and rear. Toe 1/16 in front and 1.5 degree neg camber(front control arms are un-equal in length and so, the front gains camber with very little suspension movement...more so in the rear, vary aggressive camber curve there), rear 1/16 toe in 1 degree negative camber. I played with caster too and with this double wishbone set-up, very complicated to align everything - very $$$ too. Very nice handling car, awsome cornering power, very well balanced, very very uncomfortable as a daily driver. I'll be a bit more conservative with the Mini.

Thanks again :smile:

 

I believe JLM tested for bump steer on his mini and wasn't able to measure a change through the suspension travel range. A search should bring it up somewhere.

 

Is there a dealer for these RDR plates? Does the vendor or dealers take PayPal?

Dave

 

There are a few dealers, some of them also sponsor this site - Helix13 (scroll down), and Outmotoring are good examples - or you can order directly from RDR. I'll be surprised if any of them take PayPal but I suppose it couldn't hurt to ask.