2006 Mini Cooper S (JCW) rear, lower control arm replacement (R53)

To get more camber on the rear of Gen 1 (R53) Minis, you will need to replace the non-adjustable OEM lower control arms with adjustable arms. You may want more camber if you are tracking or racing your Mini. These arms are made by Ireland engineering and were ordered from mini mania (p/n G2NMS2215).
You can read in the comments about these arms making noise. I ended up installing grease fittings in both ends of both arms and greasing them like crazy which has almost eliminated the noise.

[@Bamsebrakar2011]

How nice to see a completely rust-free Mini underside. The eccentric adjustment spacer fits a 24 mm 12-point wrench, by the way.

[@DontTellMeMore]

Great Video. One more detail to add, the arms need to be torqued with the suspension loaded, car on the ground, otherwise there will be undue stress on the bushings.

[@hasaelmonty7531]

Damn. Really awesome

[@K03sport]

Thanks. Looks like that JCW is rarely driven or it is a nice dry, warm state. So, the only reason why one might go aftermarket, adjustable rear LCA is to add additional camber beyond the factory camber bolt, yes? How much more camber are you looking for in the rear?

[@victorduartee2682]

Used bilstein with Eibach?? Bilstein b6?8?

[@Patilikas11]

He has Koni Sport. But I'm about to go for Bilstein b12 in a couple of months tbh.

[@3pedals4fun]

Thanks for the video. Did you end up adjusting these for more aggressive camber? I'd be interested in a follow-up video on that.

[@mrbannapcc]

What brand of control arms are these- can't seem to find them online and I love the anodized finishes

[@fiveyorks]

You can find them a couple places. They are made by Ireland Engineering. I painted the center part red myself - they come raw aluminum in the middle (but the blue anodize comes with it). Got these from Mini Mania p/n G2NMS2215. However, at this point I cannot recommend them due to the noise. I added grease fittings to the bottom of each arm (since it's easily accessible) and still have noise. It is possible the noise is coming from my OEM sway bar links, but not sure yet. I have a sway bar and new links to put on soon which could fix it if the noise is coming from the links. I will *try* to come back to you and update this once I figure out the noise.

[@mrbannapcc]

@@fiveyorks Thanks so much for your reply

[@fiveyorks]

@@mrbannapcc The verdict is in and these arms make noise. I installed a rear sway bar this past weekend and when the struts were off I was able to freely move the hub up/down. I could see how the movement caused a bit of "twist" in the arm and thus it "creaked." It's sort of a tick or a clicking sound. I removed both of them (again) and installed grease fittings in the top of each one and tried to work grease into the small area between the poly bushing and the blue aluminum. I almost got rid of all the noise. For some reason the right one is guilty of the noise, and the left one does not seem to make noise. The car has not been wrecked so I do not believe any part of the frame is bent which could cause misalignment, etc. that might cause noise. For now I will continue living with it. Based on what I saw when I moved the hub up/down, one of the control arms with the ball-type ends seems like it would be better. Those seem to be more expensive, and I also read a comment about one brand (can't recall which) that are noisy.

[@MrKclark1989]

Wow!! That was supper easy. I need to do this to my 2012 Mini Cooper countryman s but it will be my first time. What tools would be needed to do this project?

[@fiveyorks]

You’ll need a 1/2 inch socket set with a torque wrench. On the ‘06 the top bolt is a bit space constrained, so it’s hard to get the socket and ratchet on it. I might have had to grind the socket down to make it shorter. Might use a rubber hammer to knock the bolt out depending on if there is some rust.

[@caesarmonty1239]

Nice

[@tylerwagner1806]

If i wanted to replace my stock ones with adjustable for camber, would it be best to replace all 4(top and bottom) or am I okay with 2?

[@csp6]

You can just replace the bottom ones if all you need is more camber adjustment

[@tylerwagner1806]

@@csp6 thanks!

[@MrAidanservedyou]

@@csp6 Top one is for toe right? I got a new top and bottom one