I installed a set of NM Engineering lowering springs into my wife's 2012 All4 today. The springs are nicely made and sit just right (in my opinion). The ride quality is actually better than with the stock springs. This is due to a different spring design and different wire diameter. Oveall, I'm very happy with these springs (purchased from Achtuning - great guys!)



Original spring wire diameters:

• Front = 13.29mm
• Rear = 13.04mm

NM Engineering spring diameters:

• Front = 12.86
• Rear = 12.3mm

Keep in mind that these measurements were made with the powdercoating intact, so they are only for comparison purposes, but it's obvious there are some significant differences between stock and the NM springs.

• Front springs

• Rear springs

Original ride heights (ground to fender lip):

• Front = 717.5mm
• Rear = 724mm

New ride heights:

• Front = 681mm
• Rear = 682mm

 

We got these in NM Countryman springs in stock today, and shipped out a set.

These make the Countryman look so much better.

 

Is it bouncy in any way at all? I assume you still have the stock runflats? It's not bottoming out on bumps or anything? Pics with passengers?

 

Nope, no bouncing at all! In fact, my wife came home last night, after driving it to work for the first time, and thanked me for making her car ride better. The ride is much softer than with the original springs. Obviously there is less suspension travel (not much though since the instructions call for shortening the bump stops to maintain travel), so under the right circumstances, you may be able to bottom out the suspension sooner, but I can only imagine this happening when fully loaded and hitting something big.

Yes, we still have the Dueler run flats and other than the still-present road noise on rough concrete, the ride quality is so much better that I am reconsidering replacing them (which is was determined to do right off the bat due to the harsh ride)...the ride improvement is that much better.

Sorry, no pictures with people in it, but I did watch as my wife got in it yesterday and there was very little perceptible change in ride height when she got in.

 

How about the handling... did it improve? Or, since the ride is softer, it lost something ?

 

I think this is going be my first mod! It was already on the list

 

Handling wise, I have not had a ton of seat time in the car since it's my wife's daily driver, so my limited observations may not be all that useful. However, I noticed that with the stock springs, the car wanted to skip around on rough, fast corners. The softer springs are much more compliant over the rough stuff which keeps the tires in contact with the road better. Body roll seems to be about the same, but with the limited seat time, this is hard for me to definitively say. My guess is that the reduced center of gravity somewhat cancels out the softer spring rates, so the actual difference isn't as pronounced as it would seem.

I can report back once I have had the chance to spend more time behind the wheel.

 

This is the ride height the CM should have come with, it looks right, it makes the standard height look wrong, god only knows why MINI decided to turn the CM into an SUV.

Was you're on sports suspension before lowering?

 

I would like to know if you had sports suspension as well. Also, I assume you are using the stock dampers/shocks?

Does anybody know if this is designed to work with them? Some spring rates are too harsh that it causes premature wear on the dampers. But if you say that the ride hasn't turned bouncy, it might be okay.

It is a cheaper alternative than for relief compared to replacing all 4 18" RF tires. LOL

 

just order some NM's for my Countryman. Call there order line from the nm website, and they'll be here Friday. Free shipping and great service over the phone - cant wait to get them installed!

 

No, we don't (didn't) have the Sport Suspension, just the Sport Package. And yes, I kept the stock dampers because they had very few miles on them. Because of that fact, they hadn't taken a set yet, so they should last a good, long time compared to installing lowering springs with older dampers. With the light spring rate of these springs, I do not anticipate any issues.

I have owned many lowered cars and have lowered countless others for customers and this particular set up impressed me like few others have.

 

How long did it take to do the installation? Was there any alignment issues? Ordered my NM springs from Way Motorworks Wednesday morning and recieved them by Thursday noon time. I'll be doing the install this weekend.
By the way your Countryman looks " Awesome" with the new stance. �� Can't wait to install mine. I'm also having the 3M clear bra done in the morning. It's perfect timing ow that the car will be lower to the ground.

 

Shatmepants, it looks great, I really like it, MINI should offer a lower stance like this as an option. Now all you need are some 19's like these sexy beasts.

 

KiwiRob, Thanks! I really like those 19's, but my wife works downtown where the roads are less than ideal. She's really good about driving lowered cars, but wheels with lower profile tires are no match for the roads.

So we had the first chance to drive around town with another adult and a 12yo in the rear. The added weight is definitely noticeable. We had to drive through some road construction areas and I could feel the rear hit the bumpstops a couple of times. It wasn't harsh at all, just noticeable. However, the massive improvement in small bump compliance overrides this by a large degree, so I'm still very happy.

 

Nice job Shatmepants
I run these as my summer wheels.... Time to get serious about NM springs

 

Have the nm springs sitting in the store for sometime. Guess I will install it next week.

 

This goes on my list of "next thing to do". Interested in people's install stories on this.

 

Definitely next on my radar - in black though!

 

Shatmepants, looks great! Any alignment issues or abnormal tire wear?

 

Can we do a group buy set up?

 

I'd definitely be interested in a group buy.

 

There is a lot more to spring design than just wire diameter, so keep that in mind when comparing. The number of coils and overall diameter have a big impact as well.

I'd guess the progressive NM springs are going to be softer throughout the entire suspension travel stroke, even after the closely-wound coils bind. The springs are designed like this so the "soft" coils bind and progressively transition to wider coil spacing--which is stiffer.

I'd be curious to know the initial and final rates of the springs compared to stock. If they are TOO soft, you might have bottoming issues or reduced load carrying capacity and possibly unpredictable handling under hard cornering (bottoming is pretty unforgiving).

The lowered CM does look great though.

 

I'm also interested in knowing if an alignment is needed after installing the springs.

 

Anytime you lower any MINI with any springs you should get the alignment done as the tow will change with any height adjustment.

 

Thanks, WMW - could you give me a rough idea how much an alignment typically costs?