The stamped factory control arms have flimsy rubber bushings pressed in both ends.  While an acceptable choice for the street, they are not ideal for performance minded driving.  ALTA™ adjustable control arms solve all of those problems without increased noise, harshness or vibration (NVH) associated with other adjustable control arms.

The ALTA Performance™ control arms are machined from billet 6061t6 aluminum and threaded to accept heim joint ends.  This eliminates unnecessary welding and extra pieces, further increasing strength.

Threaded into both control arms ends are huge aircraft quality, Nylon impregnated, rod ends.  The Nylon impregnating prevents the ball from coming loose, causing a rattle, as well as constantly cleaning the bearing surface.

Two sets of arms can be purchased to replace both upper and lower control arms.  This can further increase rear end adjustment, and remove even more deflection from the OEM rubber bushings.  Doing so also removes unsprung weight from the suspension.

All these features add up to a part with both performance benefits, and durability that lasts forever.

The Alta Mini Control Arms have 3 main benefits. Adding the adjustability of camber to the rear end of the Mini, removing the soft OEM rubber bushings in the OEM control arms, all while cutting the weight nearly in half!

Camber Adjustment

Camber is the measurement in degrees that the top of the wheel tips in or out in relationship to a perpendicular line to the ground. Negative camber is when the top of the wheel tips toward the center of the car. Some negative camber is good, but too much, or not enough, is bad.

Most Mini Coopers, and Cooper S's don't come with any way to adjust rear wheel camber.  Adding one or two sets of ALTA rear control arms will allow for camber adjustment on these cars, and significantly more adjustment on those that came with camber adjustment. This is important as when you lower your Mini, your rear camber measurement gets push out of of spec. This added camber can cause unnecessary tire wear and change the way your car handles.  Replacing the lower control arm will allow for the bottom of the wheel to be adjusted in or out, where as replacing the upper control arm allow for the top of the wheel to be adjusted in or out. This is important as if you have upgraded wheels and tires, you can gain some fender clearance by adjusting both.

Another feature is being able to adjust the rear track of your Mini. The track is the measurement of the distance between the left and right wheels. Improving the track of your Mini will make the car more stable while cornering and make the car feel more solid overall. In order to properly adjust track, (2) sets of Alta Control arms will need to be purchased.

Rubber Bushings vs. Spherical Bearings  

Mini designed the OEM control arms with 2 things in mind, making the part functional and doing it inexpensively.  Rubber bushings are used because they help absorb the vibrations and noise from the road, while still letting the arm pivot up and down.  Because they are rubber, and absorb vibrations, they also deflect under heavy loads. For normal driving this isn’t a big deal and isn’t noticed, but for performance driving this will cause the rear end alignment to come out of spec. These changes effect camber, toe, and solid the rear of the car feels.

The ALTA performance Control arms use a Spherical Bearing type of rod end. This is a solid type connection that still allows for smooth precise movement of control arm. Our rod ends use an injected Nylon around the center of the ball to keep the ball from rattling as the part ages.  The size of rod end we use is much larger than other competitors.  We choose a size that far exceeds the necessary strength needed for this application which will help sleep at night. You can literally pick the car up with one rod-end, and swing the car around by it!

Again buying (2) sets of Alta control arms will make the above benefits twice as good as just one set.  Adding (2) sets is highly recommended for anyone that races their Mini in autocross events, or track days.
These high quality joints really separate the ALTA Performance™ control arms from the competition.

Dropping Some Weight

Again, when Mini was designing the OEM control arms, making them in the cost effective way was important.  The simple, and cheap, stamped steel halves welded together gets the job done, but at the cost of weight. Our control arms are made from custom extruded 6061t6 aluminum. This allows for a special tube to be created with a particular inner diameter to maximize weight and strength.  This combined with our lightweight aluminum spacers, saves 1.55lbs on each arm! Multiply this by 4 and you just knocked off more than 6lbs of unsprung weight.  Unsprung weight is the weight of items that move with the suspension. Removing unsprung weight does many good things to your car, and helps with keeping the wheels planted to the ground! BTW, get rid of those runs flats!!

• 2 rods
• 4 rod ends
• 8 spacers
• Bolts and hardware
• 2 stickers

If purchasing 2 sets of control arms, and if your MINI has HID/Xenon headlights, modifications to headlight leveling system is needed.  Please call for further details.

Rod construction	Aluminum bar stock
Rod finish	Wrinkle red powder coat
Rod end	Nylon lined sherical bearings
Spacers	Machined aluminum
Approximate Camber Adjustment	0 to -4 degrees
Approximate Track Adjustment	+or- 2"

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