I have the R56 trailing arms and Helix upper/lower adjustable lateral arms on my R50. The lower arm outer has the factory adjustable camber bolt too. I set the Helix laterals to the R50 steel lateral arms but this gave me some serious positive camber. Any one have a starter set up to get me to the computer wheel alignment equipment? also I was wondering what would be a good set up toe/camber for an increased ride height?
That's going to be tough Chris. Can I correctly assume that you are now at a raised ride height with the STi dampers? If so that had added positive camber to your MINI, just as lowering your car would add negative camber. My guess would be to lengthen the lower arms. Not sure what that would do with the rear toe setting. Be careful driving with a guess at it alignment, it could be evil handling. Maybe you'll need to trailer over to the alignment rack.
Chuck, Lucky for me the alignment shop is about 15mins away. The Helix arms I got used with 2 arms being set at 1/2" less than the the other 2. So I put them at the top which gave me an acceptable camber with the STI stuts. Then I read they should be set the same length and adjust the camber with the factory camber bolt which gave me the positive camber.. I suppose I can shorten the top arms again and drive with them to the shop. Just wondering when I get there what would be a good toe/camber setting?
Well the sweet spot for MINIs seems to be -2.0 front camber with zero toe-in. Do you have adjustable camber plates up front? That will help your car turn in. I'd guess you'd want to have the rear be able to slide a bit. I'd shoot for maybe -1 1/4 in the rear with very little toe-in to no toe-in. You are going forward were there is little to now known setup. You may have to try a couple of times to hit the alignment that works for your car & driving style. Are you running pavement, gravel or a combination? Settings can be quite different for each.
Thanks Chuck .This year is going to be all gravel and like the Swift I like the rear end to come out on throttle off . The Swift was set up like a RWD which gave some dramatic slides! So I hope to get the Mini dialed in the same. We are not allowed adjustable camber plates so I'll have to creative!
Looks like big fun. As you know the ability to get the tail out can make or break you. The old saying we lived by back in the day was "Rally driver's do it sideways".
I just hope the Mini is up to it! The Swift is an excellent tarmac/gravel car so the Mini should even better based on better suspension.