13 replies to this topic

[Bungle]

I have recently bought some adjustable tie bars and camber/tracking brackets.
my question is what angles should the suspension be set at -
camber
caster
tow in/out

for road use

[Guess-Works.com]

These are the standard figures..

Camber 2 degrees +- 1 degree
Castor 3 degrees +- 1 degree

With vehicle unlaiden...

Kingpin angle (swivel hub inclination) 9.5 degrees
Toe out 1/16" (1.6mm, .25 degrees )
Lock angle (outer wheel at 20 degrees) inner wheel 22 degrees +-1

You then adjust from there to your preference.

[Bungle]

Thanks for that guessworks should this be pined in the Q&A section

[Guess-Works.com]

Spose I could just put the specs for vehicles by type/age in there... would end up being a long doc, but fairly useful...

Or you could get one of my CD's.... :grin:

CD Thread

[Minwah]

I know this is a matter of preference to some extent...but does anyone have 'ideal' geometry settings for mini's? The reason being if taking a car to a place to have the geometry setup (which I intend to do) then I won't really have the luxury of 'adjusting to my preference' as GuessWorks suggests...I will have to specify how I want it done.

These seem pretty much agreed on:

Front toe out 1/16"
Rear toe in 0 - 1/16"
Rear camber 0 deg (or a tiny bit of negative)

My mini's on 10" wheels, and at a guess I will have approx. 1 deg negative camber (with lowering and 1.5 deg fixed neg. camber arms). So all I really need to know is where abouts to set the caster...this seems to vary a lot on peoples preference.

Any advice would be great

[Steamo]

Ideally the front castor angles should be set at 3 to 3.5 degrees with the later usually being ideal to allow for clearances on wheel arches.
Tracking on a mini is ultra important as it suffers badly from bump steer . You should have toe out at the front, of 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch. And toe in at the rear of at least 1/16 of an inch. “Toe in” means that the leading edge of a pair of wheels is narrower than the trailing edge, “Toe out” is obviously the reverse (Toe out at the rear is dangerous)
Lastly, set the Negative Camber angles and the following are road suggestions,
on 10” wheels Front 1.5 to-2.00 degrees Rear 0.75 to 1 degree
on 12” wheels Front 1 to 1.5 degrees Rear 0 to 0.50 degrees
on 13” wheels Front 0.5 to 0.75 degrees Rear Zero
KEITH DODD

This is taken from the minispares website written my Kieth Dodd. Full article HERE

Doubt you'll go far wrong if you follow these guidelines.

[Minwah]

This is taken from the minispares website written my Kieth Dodd. Full article HERE

Doubt you'll go far wrong if you follow these guidelines.

Just what I wanted, thanks I tried searching for that this morning but the minispares search engine is a bit hit 'n miss.

[icklemini]

what have you got fitted to the car - i can give you some of the figures I work with when i set cars up...

TTFN,
Dave

[Minwah]

what have you got fitted to the car - i can give you some of the figures I work with when i set cars up...

Well its on 10" wheels, and I indend to fit:

Hilos (lower a reasonable but sensible amount retaining body clearance with no spats)
Gaz shocks
1.5deg fixed neg. camber arms
Adjustable tie rods
Rear camber/track brackets (don't have these yet...trying to decide which are best to get)

Obviously I can't adjust the front camber but as standard it looks to have ~0.5 deg positive...so after lowering and camber arms I expect to have ~1-1.5 deg neg.

Don't suppose it matters too much for geometry but fwiw it will be on 10 x 4.5J reverse rims...

Cheers

[Bungle]

seen this qurstion asked today so a quick bump

[icklemini]

whoa 4 year old thread!

[Bungle]

you can't rush these jobs

[Hix]

whoa 4 year old thread!

Make that 20

Only here posting as the AC Dodd link has died. So I've recovered the info from WayBackMachine:

"SUSPENSION GEOMETRY

It is baffling to see so many companies advertising mini suspension geometry parts in kits that are a waste of time as they rarely complete the job on either the front or the rear.
They usually offer the castor (tracking) on the front and camber on the rear. To allow the car to handle better you must attend to optimising caster, camber and tracking.
Many people already fit the adjustable heavy duty tie rods that Mini spares introduced in 1976 to provide adjustment of the castor angles which suffer so many variations including when the standard bars get distorted.
To complete the front geometry the camber angles will require correcting by fitting adjustable lower arms. As all of this adjustment frequently puts extra deflection stress on the lower arm bushes we suggest you use our offset rubber bushes designed specifically for this purpose. C-STR631 or C-STR632
On the rear you have the option of fitting fixed negative camber angle brackets which will only increase the original setting by a set amount on both sides. This is of no real benefit if the car is different on both sides as is usually found. Adjustable camber and tracking brackets should be fitted and then the whole suspension correctly set up using purpose made or professional equipment for accuracy. Aternatively adjustable camber brackets can be fitted and then shims placed between the radius arm locating brackets and the subframe to correct the tracking. This is now favoured by many racers as they can work out a preset amount of shims for every use. It is also a stronger way correct rear camber and tracking . Shims are CK17 and CK18 for subframe alloy box sections.
The first area to look at before tackling any of these modifications is the front subframe when the car is post 1976 (rubber mounted subframe type). Replace the front subframe tower mountings with any of the solid types available if not already done.
The front teardrop mountings should also be changed for solid type which might increase road noise but when this is not a consideration for performance use change all rubber mountings to solid types.
Quite often the tower rubber mountings are not correctly lined up but by removing the tower bolts you can see visually whether they are in line or not. Then check that the wheel centres on each side of the car are the same distance apart or modifications will have to be made.
Secondly, make sure the car is the correct height you require, and that the two rear corners and two front corners are equal side to side, (fit Hilos if required) remember lowering height increases castor and negative camber with the opposite happening when you increase height at the front only.
Thirdly, sort out the castor angles as castor adjustment also alters camber (and vice versa)
Ideally the front castor angles should be set at 3 to 3.5 degrees with the later usually being ideal to allow for clearances on wheel arches.
Tracking on a mini is ultra important as it suffers badly from bump steer . You should have toe out at the front, of 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch. And toe in at the rear of at least 1/16 of an inch. “Toe in” means that the leading edge of a pair of wheels is narrower than the trailing edge, “Toe out” is obviously the reverse (Toe out at the rear is dangerous)
Lastly, set the Negative Camber angles and the following are road suggestions,
on 10” wheels Front 1.5 to-2.00 degrees Rear 0.75 to 1 degree
on 12” wheels Front 1 to 1.5 degrees Rear 0 to 0.50 degrees
on 13” wheels Front 0.5 to 0.75 degrees Rear Zero"

Edited by Hix, 16 February 2025 - 02:47 PM.

[Spider]

Caution is needed if adding any Negative Camber, by this I don't mean setting to Negative numbers but adding any amounts of Negative Camber.

The issue is with standard suspension angles, on full droop, the lower Ball Joint Pin is right on the onset of the Pin contacting the edge of the Cup. Adding any Negative Camber will cause the Pin to contact the Cup, on Full Droop and this will lead to breaking the lower Pin.

While the factory don't give the reasons for it, they do advise when fitting their (fixed) Camber Arms to also fit a 1/8" (3 mm) packer under the Top Arm where the Rebound Stop contacts it. This limits the amount of droop the suspension will have and so reduces the possibility for this issue to occur.