I picked this '09 Cooper S up from my dad a couple months ago- he decided a Miata was a better choice for towing behind his RV.

It was SUPPOSED to be my daily driver- something I could leave stock while I focus on building my Datsun 510. Then my buddies at Air Lift Performance announced their new kit for the R53 Minis, it got my wheels turning... and here we are!







So, air suspension, new wheels, some tint, and now I've got a daily driver to be proud of!

I've still got a few other items planned, but for now I'm really happy with my Mini. If you have any questions about my air suspension installation, let me know!

 

Welcome to NAM! Love the slammed look

 

Looks good!

 

Welcome to NAM! Very nice! We have a member (Spencer) who just bagged his R53 and doing some more fun goodies. Can check it out here. What wheels are those? They really set off your MINI's look.

 

Thanks! They're Rota RBs in a 17x7.5, with 205/40-17 tires.
I modified the Rota center caps to accept the factory Mini caps.

 

Very nice! I like how you modified the center caps. You should look into doing the stubby antenna mod. I think it'd really tie in well with your MINI's look. Keep up the good work!

 

I've been looking at one for a bit now. Once I finish the roof graphic I'll pull the trigger!

Spencer's R53 is awesome- very clean installation.

 

Saw it on the other site. Looks good!

 

Wow pretty low. How much are you below stock height. What did you mod to go low ?

We carry Air Lift for the Gen 1 in stock. Hopefully something for the Gen 2 will come out some from them.


Looks like someone moved the Cooper S emblem on the trunk to the other side and lower.

 

I never noticed that!

 

My car at full drop is approximately 5.25" below stock. I didn't modify anything on the car.
My struts are the Air Lift Performance models for the 1st Gen Mini. I machined new upper camber plates for the front, and used adapters from FastMini.net for the rear lower strut mounts- everything else bolted directly into place.

I'll be offering the new camber plates for R56 owners soon, as Air Lift doesn't have concrete plans to release a kit this year.

 

Welcome! Beautiful R56, very well done! Has to be the cleanest bagged MINI I've seen.
If you ever want to add some go fast parts to it, look us up!

 

Either someone moved it ( had it removed for a cleaner look ) or had something repainted and then put it down there.

 

performance wise how well does it handle. did you lose the go cart feel or improve it. thuinking about this kit
http://www.d2racing.com/air-suspension/basic/

 

The car still scares me with how well it handles! I'm sure that "at the limit" I've given up some of the cornering performance, because I have the struts set to a softer setting than how the car felt stock, but it's more than enough for me.
I looked at the link you posted, and I have one MAJOR piece of advice: always keep all four corners of the car separated with their own valving! Their "basic" kit uses two valves from what I can tell- one to lift both front wheels and one to lift both rears. When you go into a corner with a setup like that, the air will actually transfer from one side to the other, making your car lean twice as hard as it normally would- probably NOT the type of handling characteristic you want!

By running four valve pairs, each corner can be adjusted independently, and no transfer will take place, giving you the best possible handling.

As for D2's struts versus the Air Lift Performance kit I'm running, I can't say what the differences are. I'd recommend a front kit with adjustable camber to keep the wheels from going positive at full drop, but other than that you'll just have to read around a bit to see how people like the D2s.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

Woah- is that $3700 for their basic kit?!

Send me a PM- I can point you toward something a LOT better for less. Or something 1000x better for the same money! Haha

 

pm'd