Is it necessary to add camber plates when installing lowering springs? And, in terms of tire durability, will lowering the car influence the rate at which the tires wear out (provided the driving is exactly the same ). And, will adding camber be the solution to the problem, if there is a problem at all. Not too long ago someone told me the above was true, since i didn't remember reading anything about it, i thought i would ask. Thanks.

 

Some MINI owners install lowering springs only and do OK. As a result of the lowering springs you can expect front camber to be about -0.5 degrees and rear camber to be about -2.0 to -2.4 degrees. With so much negative rear camber the tires will wear on the inside edge so frequent tire rotations every 3000 miles seems to work. If the MINI doesn't handle well and rides roughly after lowering the car then an alignment to check and set toe would be possible but you cannot change front or rear camber settings without additional upgrades to the suspension.

Front camber plates allow for adjustment of the front camber only- most of the time MINIs do not need this upgrade unless they are being used for autocross or track. Stock class MINIs are not allowed to add camber plates and lowering springs.

Rear adjustable lower control arms allow for adjustment of rear camber while upper control arms allow for adjustment of caster. Some owners will leave the front camber at -0.5 degrees and change and adjust only the rear camber to something like -1.0 to 1.5 degrees with zero toe or 1/16" toe in for the rear. This allows for less wear on the inner tire edge but rotations are still good to do.

If you add front camber plates for autocross and run extra wide tires then you can use more of the tire's contact patch and wear the tire a bit better than if you use the same tires with insufficient front negative camber (in which case you wear out the outer edge quickly).

So the answer is no, you do not "need" to add camber plates when lowering your MINI.
It is common to consider rear adjustable control arms to lessen the rear negative camber once the car is lowered.

 

"With so much negative rear camber the tires will wear on the inside edge so frequent tire rotations every 3000 miles seems to work."

in order for this to be effective, you need to reverse the tire on the rim...so the inside edge will become the outside edge. Tire rotation alone won't do it. In addition, many performance tires are directional, so a conventinal tire "rotation" means they stay on the same side of the car. If your rear tire inside edges are wearing faster than on your fronts, you can distribute this wear over the both fronts and rears inside edges. but getting even wear with respect to inside and outside edges requires re-mounting the tire on the rim.

 

I've run H&R springs without camber plates or rear adustable arms for over 12K miles with no appreciable inside wear on the tires. I was worried about the wear when I first got the springs. After seeing the wear results and the improved handling, I'm not going to bother with the adjustable stuff. Of course if I was worried about extended tire life that much I wouldn't have bought a MINI in the first place. I knew from the start how it was going to be driven.

 

Moorlockx,

I'm with you all da way! They said driving the car without control arms would reduce tires life up to 20%. Then peole change new tire in 5 years you would change the tire just one year before them....not bad isn't it?

 

You results will vary with your driving habits, tires used, actual camber after lowering the MINI and where you drive (street vs autocross or track).

I did drive my MCS after adding H-sport springs and the ride quality was horrible and very rough. I had rear control arms already added but at stock length. Once I got my alignment set to stock settings the ride quality was much improved. Not all MINIs have this problem and some do OK without adjusting for less negative rear camber.

Anytime you lower your MINI you risk altering the toe settings front or rear. If the settings are out of balance left to right or too far from stock settings you might find that doing an alignment could help. Even if you cannot adjust camber.

Watching tire wear is always a good thing as well as keeping tire pressure up to the right levels.

 

Todd put H-Sports on mine Monday night and we pretty much came up with those numbers exactly.

Front -0.6
Rear -2.0

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