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Great write up. What wheel/tire combo are you useing? Psi? Do you have a g-tech or anything else that could give an idea to what kind of skid pad hold these are capable of?
STREET: I run BFG KDW2 (215 / 45 / 17) ASA AR1 wheels 42 ET 7.5 wide (33 psi f & r)
2mm spacer on the front and 8mm spacer on the rear.
AUTO - X: I run Hoosier A6 (225 / 40 / 17) Enkie, NT03+M 45 ET 7.5 wide
15mm spacer on the front and NO spacer on the rear.
( I start at about 40 or 42 f & R and do serious temp, pressure & roll checks ... )
Last event was LOW adhesion and finished the day at 36 f 34 rear .. right before run
TRACK: R6 same set up as above.
(Rear arches and inner liners are modified !)
Alignment
FRONT
AUTO - X
-2.6 camber front
4.6 caster
.01 toe in
Tow
Street and track I pull just over.5 out of the camber and this then gives me a bit of tow in.
REAR
AUTO - X
-1.6 camber
0.00 tow
H Sport COMP rear bar Stiffest at Auto-X
sometimes leave it there for track (If short track & and tight turns)
move to mid if longer course and more open turns.
OEM front bar with adjustable end links ... that is where I did my corner balancing as they are about 5 degrees UP from horizontal (a bit more on drivers front.)
I DON'T daily drive this !
YES ... I do have a G-Tech but have not logged G ratings
I have found that for some reasion I just seem to start to stiff on the suspension
(I am an ex motorcross racer who liked get BIG air and was HARD on front suspension)
I was starting at 20 front and rear (30 being stiffest)
Looking at photos and the amout of rear wheel inner lift ... and STILL understeer...I went softer up front on the compression.
Now I start at 15 f 20 rear .... VERY much improved.
On a high tac auto x with 38 psi F ... NO understeer ,,, and I am often a bit agressive.
OK. I'm playing around with my BCs, and want to make sure that I'm absolutely clear on the ride height issue...
First off, I don't understand how adjusting the spring perches changes ride height. Isn't ride height entirely dependent on how far the cylinder is screwed into the bottom?
Right now, my bottoms are as low as possible, and so are the lower spring perches. This still isn't giving me enough room to screw the springs low enough to be "droopy" or loose on their perches. But they're linear, so it doesn't matter, right? (There's still plenty of spring "travel" so to speak.)
Also – I only have the rears in so far, and the ride height is pretty underwhelming. It's about the same as the lowering springs I've used, h-sports and konis....? It's OK, but I wasn't expecting to be using the lowest possible height since I'm not looking to slam the car.
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[ pics ] [ page ] 2006 HB/W MCS: 15%, CAI, cat-back, 380cc injectors, RMW tune (201whp/191lbs tq), BC coilovers, 22mm rear sway, rear control arms, Carbotech pads, whizzeels, various other crap.
It took a lot of phone calls "after" I bought my Megans to find out that they will only drop the car 1.5 inches. (This holds true for the BC's as well) ! They do not list this info on there sites and I have yet to talk to a dealer that actually knows what the drop really is for the Mini Coopers. I know the Megans of old would drop the car a great deal more but that is not the case with the redesigned shocks and springs.
__________________ Work of art, labor of love ! West Coast Mini's
If the lower is body all the way into the lower perch that is the lowest ride height ...about 1.5"
BUT ...
you can actuallly ower it a bit more 2 different ways.
1. As you mentioned you can back off the preload ..I do not sugust NO preload.
2. Also the clamp that holds the brake line and the signal wires bracket does stop you from screwing the body all the way down.
If you remove that and use a longer bolt and attach it to the outer part of the coilover body (not the threads) ..you will drop about 1/4" more at the coil over ... that translates to about 3/8" maybe more at the wheel arch
Good info COR BLMY ! I know that for me I have plenty of drop on the rears, it's the fronts that I wish I could drop just a bit more or a least have the option to drop a bit more . Like you said, I think that after a few hundred miles or so, it will drop into place a bit.
__________________ Work of art, labor of love ! West Coast Mini's
Last edited by pauliekeys : 03-13-2008 at 11:45 AM.
i've had mine for thousands of miles now and they haven't dropped at all. but they did soften up quite a bit during the first 500 miles.
i was expecting more drop than i got. it's only about 1.15-1.3", NFW 1.5"
with the front tube threaded all the way down until it bottoms, there is still about .1" to .2" between the top of the tube lock nut and the bottom of the perch lock nut with the top perch nut set at the factory location.
on the rears, removing the sway bar bracket and letting the tube bottom out will only gain you about .1" to .2" drop. i was all set to do this, but after seeing the minimal gain, i didn't bother.
but i love them! the ride is firmer, but the handling gains are more than worth it for me.....
I just got Megans installed yesterday by Danny at MINICorsa. Combined with my Nitto NeoGens 215/45r17, I absolutely love the feel. We actually raised the rears to compensate for the excessive drop I had. Fronts were lowered only a few turns. It's not slammed, but after having driven for the past several months on 15's where I scraped every speed bump and driveway, I'm glad to have some ride height back, lol.
Looking good Richard ! For some reason I thought you already had coilovers ? I just got mine last month. Blair put mine on for me, well I help a little (very little) lol ! It's taken a long time to get them set right(almost a month) but I'm pretty happy with them right now. Had the car aligned last week so every thing seems to be in place now. Took the car for a hard run with the WCM gang this last weekend and I'm happy to say nothing fell off ! LOL ! It's nice to be able to change the front camber. I could really feel the negitive 2 degrees up front. The rears are set at neg 1.5 with zero toe front and back. Here's a shot of Boo with the Megans !
__________________ Work of art, labor of love ! West Coast Mini's
Naw coilovers are new for me. I had Koni FSD's, H&R Greens, and IE Fixed camber plates--the whole combo is now in the marketplace, lol for a great price.
Although I've only had them on for a day, I'm very pleased with how they feel. Now that I've got everything adjustable (lower control arms, endlinks, camber plates)--I'm going to get an alignment ASAP.
Richard
Quote:
Originally Posted by pauliekeys
Looking good Richard ! For some reason I thought you already had coilovers ? I just got mine last month. Blair put mine on for me, well I help a little (very little) lol ! It's taken a long time to get them set right(almost a month) but I'm pretty happy with them right now. Had the car aligned last week so every thing seems to be in place now. Took the car for a hard run with the WCM gang this last weekend and I'm happy to say nothing fell off ! LOL ! It's nice to be able to change the front camber. I could really feel the negitive 2 degrees up front. The rears are set at neg 1.5 with zero toe front and back. Here's a shot of Boo with the Megans !
Yeah, I waited until everything settled and before I drove it hard to have the alignment done. I aligned the car from suggestions from others on NAM and M/U (neg 2.0 front 0 toe, neg 1.5 0 toe rear. I was very surprised to find that I was pretty much spot on with the amount of camber I had set on each side of the front of the car. It was a total guess at where I set the front. I had no idea that our cars are different from side to side, some more than others. I've got the rears set at 15 from soft and the fronts at 7 from soft. On the run this weekend I put the front at 10 from soft. The car handled really nice !
Side bar : I'm really liking the repaint of your rims Richard, They really set the car off nicely. I remeber seeing the pictures you showed us in your office and new that they would look really nice with the red !
__________________ Work of art, labor of love ! West Coast Mini's
Cor thanks for the great review. I have installed shocks on the mini before so install isn't my concern. It's the set-up of the coilovers. Meb said make sure the about the bottom being screwed all the way in. does it come from factory like this? or will I have to adjust before putting on the car. I currently am running stock with H-sport springs and like this height. I believe about 1 inch below stock.
I am totally lost on how to adjust these.
There are 3 adjusting rings
A. the bottom most ring
B. the 2nd ring (I'm assuming the locking ring)
C. The ring next to the spring.
which of the three are locking rings and which are adjusment rings?
As in your instruction "A" locks and you adjust height with "B"
or
Can you adjust height with "A" and "B"
because I see no mention of the second ring next to your "B"
Hopefully I explained this correctly. I just don't want to set it up wrong and have my shocks fail. My Koni yellows only lasted a few weeks before the 2 fronts blew. (daily driver without abusive driving and no "large" pot holes hit.) I don't want to have to replace shocks again. Thanks for the help and sorry for the coilovers for Dummies question.
I was totally confuzzizled just looking at photos, but after getting the coilovers and playing with them for 5 minutes, it makes sense.
The bottom of the shock screws up / down. The lowest ring is a locking right for the bottom. The second ring is a locking ring for the top. And the top ring is the spring perch.
Screwing the bottom up or down adjusts ride height. Screwing the spring perch up or down adjusts the amount of spring (you've just looking to make this tight enough so the spring is properly seated).
Mine didn't come from the factory screwed all the way down. I had to.
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[ pics ] [ page ] 2006 HB/W MCS: 15%, CAI, cat-back, 380cc injectors, RMW tune (201whp/191lbs tq), BC coilovers, 22mm rear sway, rear control arms, Carbotech pads, whizzeels, various other crap.
#848
'03 DS/W MCS......Alta 15%, 2% Crank, Alta CAI, Kingsborne Wires, Denso Plugs, Magnaflow, BC Coilovers, Webb Motorsport 22mm Rear Sway, M7 STB, Ultrik Upper & Lower adj control arms, Alta Frt & Rear End links, Engine damper, Unichip, Quad lamp light bar, Kosei K1 Racing 17 x 7.5's, Wilwood 11.75" Dynapro BBK, 215/40 General UHP Exclaim's, Promini gauge pod, Moss Mini Angel Eyes, Window Tint. DSOC #172
. Like you said, I think that after a few hundred miles or so, it will drop into place a bit.
lil'Black Wow
1988 TOYOTA MR2
Hybrid Mode
