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I have a 8 month old Cooper with nearly 18K miles on its shoes. During the first routine service the dealer said the wheels needed alignment and quoted 2 bills for it. This seems a bit much to which the dealer replied, proper alignment requires a load on the car!!! I contacted a local Frirestone Service Center to ask about this and he confirmed some Minis and Bimmers do require this type of alignment and that he is unable to provide this service.

At this point, there is no vibration, unusal tire wear or pulling so I decided to keep the money in my pocket for now. Does anybody have any insight on this? I'm all ears.

Thanks!

 

All that means is that they put weights in the car (usually sandbags) to simulate the driver/passenger being in the car while it is being aligned. You should find out how much out of spec your alignment is before shelling out for one. I have mine done at my local Sears for $99. They have a laser setup and will do any settings I request.

 

Just sit in the car when you get the work done. Loaded...

 

My husband just had an alignment done. His was pulling, we think it was a pot hole, so he requested it. $140 at International Mini His is a 2010 Cooper hardtop, 12 months old.

 

The at the end of the first year of MINI ownership for me the car's steering alignment felt fine. No drifting at all and no suspicious tire wear. However, when I had the alignment done I found out that my front toe setting was toed in a bit too much causing the plowing phenomena. This definitely can wear tires out quicker. I would make it a habit to align the car at least every year, especially after pothole season!

 

Don't worry about loading the car for the alginment. Frequently you will not have the same distribution of weight in the car anyway so it really does not make much difference.
Just go to a good alignment shop. You will need a 4-wheel alignment which is usually around $100. Make sure the shop will adjust the rear toe because it is a little bit of a pain so some shops will not do it. Mini uses a special tool for the rear toe adjustment but the rear toe can be adjusted without the special tool but it is a little bit of trial and error so it takes the shop a little longer to align.

 

I have owned multiple BMW products and I agree with the last poster that weights in the car during alignment are unimportant for casual driving.

I have had my R52 for about 30k miles now and recently had an alignment problem. I first noticed an increase in tire noise and then found some feathering on the left rear tire. The toe had become extremely negative out of spec. I took the car to Firestone and bought a lifetime alignment. I have done this with my other BMW products in the past and found it a good value and a necessary action. (Prices: single alignment $80 and lifetime $180).

BMW products have excellent handling but absolutely require tire rotation every 3 to 5 thousand miles. This also causes some shops to refuse to work on them. One Firestone shop in town had that attitude while another was eager to work with me to obtain the best possible result. We ended up using the stock specs (which were already in the Hunter alignment equipment) with exception that we minimized the negative toe on the rear by turning the adjusters all the way to one end.

One other note before performing alignment is to check the ride height (and adjust if necessary). For R50/52/53, the rear should be 570mm +/- 10mm, measured from bottom of the wheel rim to the top of the wheel arch. The front measurement is more complex because the wheel arch is part of the hood and is not fit with enough precision to be a reliable measuring point. There is a special tool of course, but I have found that it is sufficient to measure height at the highest part of the wheel arch that is not part of the hood and then subtract the height of the bottom of the wheel rim. Ideally this number would be 565mm +/- 10mm. It would be a good idea to take measurements of your Mini's ride height while the car is still new enough that the springs have not started to sag. HTH.

 

Can anyone tell me where I can get an alignment in Omaha or Lincoln, NE without going to the dealer? 2004 Mini. Thanks

 

Just sit in the car with a full tank of fuel... then align.

:-)