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My name is Brad, I am a car enthusiast through and through. I currently own 15 cars, with my latest acquisition being a 2003 Mini S. No not all of them run and they are all in different levels of modded. I build and race cars, have been since I was 16 before that it was lawn mowers and bikes.
My Mini is in very nice shape, it has a few minor mods but I am looking to ad to that as I have already purchased a few parts. I bought the car from a very close friend who has a baby on the way so they wanted a bigger car. He has cautioned me to do lots of research before buying parts as he says there is not much that needs to done to suspension. I am looking at front and rear sway bars, sport springs and new better shocks. I will use the car for Auto-X and daily drive when I feel like it. I also really want to do a big brake kit as the brakes seem to be very week to me, even for a small car.
I hope to find a lot of good help and information on this forum and maybe even get involved in some local events that are Mini related.
Welcome to NAM, Brad! 15 wow... What all do you have that you're working on? A rear sway bar is the best bang for your buck mod that you can do to your MINI. Do remember, any type of lowering you do to your MINI you'll want to invest in a set of adjustable rear control arms like the Hothckis arms here. This will help you from getting abnormal tire wear and burning through tires. We run the Brembo Big Brake Kit here on our R53 with Enkei RPF1's. We also go over the install in our DIY tech article that you can check out for yourself. Are you only wanting to go with a strut/shock and spring set up or would you consider coil overs? If you're wanting strut/shock set up look into Bilstein Sports or Koni Sports, which will allow you to add lowering springs. The Koni FSD's and Bilstein Touring Class are only meant to go with OE springs. For springs on that set up VOGTLAND Sport Springs are a great option. Also, since you're looking into the suspension, be sure to check over all the bushings. Depending on if the previous owner ever did replace any of them, a good alternative and upgrade would be the Powerflex bushings here. Those bushings will offer prolonged tire life, improved performance, better handling and they are more cost-effective than OEM bushings. Otherwise, if you have any questions as you go forward and mod your MINI be sure to let me know and share some pictures for us when you can.
My name is Brad, I am a car enthusiast through and through. I currently own 15 cars, with my latest acquisition being a 2003 Mini S. No not all of them run and they are all in different levels of modded. I build and race cars, have been since I was 16 before that it was lawn mowers and bikes.
My Mini is in very nice shape, it has a few minor mods but I am looking to ad to that as I have already purchased a few parts. I bought the car from a very close friend who has a baby on the way so they wanted a bigger car. He has cautioned me to do lots of research before buying parts as he says there is not much that needs to done to suspension. I am looking at front and rear sway bars, sport springs and new better shocks. I will use the car for Auto-X and daily drive when I feel like it. I also really want to do a big brake kit as the brakes seem to be very week to me, even for a small car.
I hope to find a lot of good help and information on this forum and maybe even get involved in some local events that are Mini related.
