It's not the pot hole bothering him it's the $90 to do it right he has to spend.

..And are these rubber bushings designed to last long? i mean on my other car, toyota, all my bushings are stock, it's a 12 year old car with 150K miles, in so far as i know, the tire wears evenly, and it hasnt been aligned for yeeaars, and tire last about 1-2 years, pushing 3. mostly 50-70 mph drive... these worn bushings can also cause misalignment right?. And also why are other people have a lot of luck aligning their wheels using only strings, rulers,2x4 wood and they even use tiles where the tires will sit on and just squirt oil on it. im like, really? i wish i have that kind of talent.

The pot hole thing is a bit of a joke, If you put the alignment out by hitting a pot hole then something wasn't designed or was not strong enough to begin with!  As I said you have to have a known starting point to begin with BEFORE you start messing about trying to optomise the alignment to your requirements, even then you have to stay within certain limits to avoid excessive tire wear or comfort for a road car.
And yes you can get a car to track straight and still be way out of alignment scrubbing the tires as you go...............

I'm not a purist and I'm not laughing. Just going straight will not keep your tires from wearing unevenly. If both tires are way out of alignment but in the same way (for example way too much toe-out) they will both be scrubbing along rather than rolling free. Same thing for castor angle. Same thing for camber. Unless all 3 adjustments are set to work together, the car will be difficult to drive and tires will wear quickly.

Minis are generally pretty strong and resistant to potholes and other bumps. Plus, with its small size, you can dodge around most potholes. 90 bucks for an alignment is cheaper than new tires every few weeks. 

Then pay for a lifetime alignment.

ok sir Paul, will do that, there are few shops close to where i work, havent tried them yet, will give it a shot. And here's a hypothetical question: IF the car does not pull to the left or right in motion or when braking, does it mean that the alignment is OK? and will not wear my tire?

im kinda skeptical in having my wheels aligned by professional, i mean i'm gonna pay them 90 bucks, then the next day if i hit a pothole,alignment goes south again. And especially, my suspension are all adjustable: adjsutable lower arm, adjustable diagonal thing, adjustable hi lo,,,and there are obviously more nuts and connecting points...to me the more connecting points there is, the more possibility of misalignment. i dunno, im just speculatiing, hope im wrong. ... haaay, im sure the purists are laughing at me now.

Tony you can't possibly give an opinion worth anything until you have the alignment correct! If you keep fiddling with the adjustable parts without knowing what the alignment is all your doing is wearing out tires. Find a shop to do the alignment, and they are out there you just need to spend some time on the phone...........................

i'll give a little review on the Blue spring i just installed and the adjustable lower whatever control arm. i initially gave a statement that the suspension drastically improved when i switched from old worn out rubber cone to blue spring, but after few miles, i noticed that the road vibration is still there, the golf cart handling is gone yes, large wavy road and bigger potholes is ok, the drag decreased about 80% but the continuous rough asphalt road, i can still feel the vibration, im using a standard KYB damper (4months usage/i dont think its worn out). i'm not too much impressed with the heavy duty adjustable lower arm thing, i've gone under my car about 30 times already to adjust that thing, i think the best combination would be to retain the original lower arm, and get an adjustable diagonal tie rod thing. im shooting blanks right now on my wheel alignment because no shop in my town can do an alignment, they reject my car, it can't get to their apparatus because it's too small.

"Body Dolly" ha ha, I never would have made that connection! have to remember that one. Now I have to go in the bedroom and pump up my other Body Dolly:)

Tony: I can see where the term may by confusing, but a 'body dolly' isn't a garage creeper you would lie onto to slide under a car. A 'body dolly' is a fairly heavy shape of steel you hold behind sheet metal while you try to hammer out a dent or crease. A proper dolly has an assortment of curved and flat surfaces and sharp or rounded edges to fit behind the surface you are trying to repair.
In your subframe example, you would work in the position you did, hold the dolly under the bent metal and hammer against it. There would be a lot less bounce and the job would get done faster.

The pretty red hammer isn't a rubber hammer - all good quality steel with a plastic coating, probably more for protection of the work than protecting the tool. A carpenter's (or claw) hammer is for driving and pulling nails. Cheap ones have cast heads that can crack, chip or spall if used on the wrong material - wood nails are soft steel. A chip from the hammer head can fly off and blind you. A hammer like a ball-peen hammer is made for striking hard steel and has a forged head with strengthened faces.

hahaha! sir Jonathan, you replied to my post, it means that you like to mess and play with me, if you get hurt pls don't be emailing jemal and ask for my impeachment, Respond at your own risk as they say.......Aanywaaay, sir Jon, that sissy red rubber mallet won't do the trick, i was using a regular $2 construction hammer, and pounding a thin plate, obviously i only need slight force to do the task, otherwise it will bend towards the other side...and you noticed my hands? that is the hand of a real WRENCHER!... if you feel my palm,, they are as thick as my sole...but all my girlfriends like it. i'll be posting more videos...although i am working this weekend(sux), i'll find time to do videos...

.....and omg, someone wants me to use a body dolly and will go underneath the car just to straigten that bent plate????????? as i have said, i am a certified minimalist, i do things with less time, less movement,less money,less force and less drama involved....that's me!

Yes i noticed that. A better way to do it would be with the correct hammer as you stated and a body workers dolly behind it. 

Straightening the stupet Chassis, by Tony Pineda

https://youtu.be/7Xbz_ng_9SQ

Who wants to take this one, difference between a carpenters hammer and a metal workers hammer ?

(Granted he doesn't generate enough energy ( at least shown ) to shatter that hammer)

Are you uploading the videos from your cell phone? Try saving them to a real computer, viewing them there to check orientation, then uploading from the computer.

This is a typical sightings inside the garage of a classic mini owner and a classic mini parts hoarder.  They Can't simply get rid of the parts because of "sentimental value" ... Until the wife gets pissed of the clutter, and grease all over the place, floors, clothes, towels and pillows. then eventually threatened to divorce him, that's the only time he will start to sell them one by one. On fear of loosing her.

https://youtu.be/dC-bqBtFIk0 

https://youtu.be/NoSKiQ6cqyk  


took this video horrizontally,, but still

Hahaha!! Sir Mal you made me open my english dictionary again, now i know what frugal means, lol..  But you're still nice, you could've easily said im a tight a$$, lol.  So i compared the rods, you're right i think i did my new tie rod a bit longer, i need to tighten it a bit .

If that is your car Tony (and i only say this as i know how frugal you are) measure the length of the old tie rod and adjust the new one to the same length, it should give you a good starting point.

Your Mini has positive caster - they are all built that way - somewhere around 3 degrees positive caster. it is controlled by the tie rod that goes to the front corner of the subframe. To increase caster angle, you shorten the rod. To reduce it, you lengthen it. as built, Minis do not have adjustable tie rods, but apparently you are installing adjustable ones.

In the picture you posted, I also see an adjustable lower suspension arm. That adjusts camber. The steering rod ends control toe-out. And finally ride height is controlled with adjustable trumpets or shims under non-adjustable trumpets.

BUT!!! as others have written, adjusting any one of the settings affects the others. If you adjust caster, it will change toe and camber. If you adjust camber, it affects toe and caster. If you change ride height it affects everything.


It is like square dancing, you keep going round and round doing all the steps until you get it right.

[I think this is a first for this forum - a square-dancing analogy!]
.

So sir Dan, or anybody,, for me to attain a positive caster, do i need to loosen or tighten the diagonal tie rod?