11 replies to this topic

[Petro1head]

Just fitted adjustable bottom arms and tie rods.

Its been suggested I run 1.5 deg neg camber but to be honest this seems quite a lot for a road car.

I am running 10" rims with 165/70x10 A032R tyres

So what camber setting should I use

[Bungle]

http://www.theminifo...age__hl__angles

[D1k1m4y]

The 1.5 degrees comes from the angle of the wheel at max rebound (fully extended suspension),it should be 0.0 degrees if not slightly negative, where as if the camber was 0.0 degrees then you would get positive camber at max rebound.
so set it to 1.5 degrees for best handling.

Edited by D1k1m4y, 15 April 2013 - 09:23 AM.

[tiger99]

You could go less, 1 degree or 0.5 degree, but more than 1.5 degrees is pointless. You should also think about slight negative at the back.

I am not sure that anyone here can tell you what is actually best (but many will try!), as it depends on how YOU want the car to feel. Everyone wil have their own personal preference. All we can say is that a SMALL amount of negative at the front reduces power-on understeer, and gives slightly better overall cornering performance, but then the lift-off oversteer wil seem to be too much, so a SMALL amount of negative at the rear will get that balanced properly. But with any amount of negative, the understeer or oversteer will come in more abruptly than normal, which is why Issigonis intentionally used slight positive camber, to make the response very gentle for the average driver.

[Cooperman]

About 1 degree at standard ride height is fine, as 'tiger' says. For the rear zero to 0.5 deg negative always seems to work well so long as the rear toe-in is 1 mm to 2 mm. I don't know about others, but I always feel that the rear settings are far more critical for both road-holding and handling than the front.

[Petro1head]

Cheers Guys

I have so far set the Camber to 1 deg negaite and caster to 3 Deg.

AsI dont have a traing guage yet thats yet to be done byt will set it about 1/16 toe out.

As for the rear, as soon as I have furged out haw to get the brackets off without snapping the bolts I will set the rear to 0.0 to 0.5 deg negative and 1/16 to in

[Cooperman]

Slightly off-topic, it always seems a bit incongruous to describe any Mini as 'fast road'. A classic Mini will never be a fast road car compared to other cars. If you get it to accelerate like a modern car the cruising speed will be slower than most small family cars and the aerrodynamics prevent cruising at modern motorway speeds of 85 mph or more.
Most classic cars are very slow by comparison with modern machinery. We Mini enthusiasts have to be satisfied with retro-motoring 'the way it used to be' as it were. I mean, a £500 Rover MG-ZR will blow even a well-modified Cooper 'S' away on straight roads, twisty bits and in the wet.

[Petro1head]

Very true however there will always be fast road cars be it Minis, Modeos, Focus's etc etc

[Cooperman]

It seems that these days there is little point in having a fast car for the road as there is so much electronic surveillance and enforcement that if you actually have a fast road car, like, say, a Porsche or a Ferrari, all that happens if you actually use them is that you end up having to buy bus tickets! Virtually every production car nowadays is capable of over 100 mph with a sub-11 second 0 - 60 time.
Of course, a classic Mini will never be in that league and the short travel suspension limits performance on average roads.
I just enjoy mine for what they are, possibly the ultimate classic car and fun at relatively slow speeds. In historic rallying, however, it's a different matter altogether.
I was fortunate to have owned Minis when the Cooper and Cooper 'S' were truly fast road cars in common with things like the Lotus-Cortina, MGB, Porsche 911 (early 2.0 litre model), etc..
My 'S' has about 110+ bhp, but it is so much slower than my road car, a BMW 325i everywhere except 0 - 60, but I have to use 7000 rpm in the Mini to beat the BMW in up to 60 time and then the BMW just leaves the Mini behind.
I truly believe there is no such thing now as a 'fast road' Mini in absolute terms. But they are still one of the real classic cars of all time in common with the Model T Ford, Mustang, E-Type and VW Beetle, plus a very few others.
We Mini owners are part of the real classic car movement and can be proud of our 'baby cars'.

[Petro1head]

I happen to live in the North East and concider myself fortunate to have North Yorkshire, Northumberland and the Lakes on my door step. Buts its North Scotland that lets you go back to your driving roots, smooth roads, fab scenery (what you see of it) and NO speed cameras etc, in fact few police. So up there maybe a fast road Mini would be "A fast road Mini"

Maybe its us lot that are the classics :)

[mini-luke]

Perhaps the retailers should rebrand the fast road parts like suspension and cylinder heads to slightly less slow road?

[Cooperman]

Perhaps the retailers should rebrand the fast road parts like suspension and cylinder heads to slightly less slow road?

You're right there!!!!