Looking to get all my ducks in a row before lowering on coils. I've heard that with the R-series there were some issues with the stock axles when dropping a considerable amount (>2"). I'm looking to do at least a 2.5" drop and am wondering if the F56 runs into similar issues. Gonna also do endlinks, control arms, and rear swaybar at the same time as the coilovers.

 

If you lower when new, no issue.

If you lower with miles on it, the inner axle bucket already has a wear pattern.
Lowering will push the inner joint deeper into the bucket out of the wear pattern,
upon acceleration, the front end rises, and the inner joint tramlines in and out of the
wear pattern causing a vibration.
It does go away upon more wear.

 

I'm at about 41k milesbright now. Will probably be close to 48k by the time I've got the money for everything. Would you recommend replacing the axles or just letting them wear a new pattern?

 

I have Lowered my 16 F55 MCS on NM springs. Springs installed @ 29k miles. I experience this vibration due to lowering.

As stated above it will go away but I have put 5k miles on since and still experience it some days.

 

Delete please

 

Thanks for the response and no worries about it being a little late. I still haven't lowered the car but I'm getting close to it.

 

I've had my car lowered on Forge coils for a good 30k miles with no issues, the axles hold up to the geometry

 

brand new...installed K2's. -2 camber and a fair drop resulted in the driver side axle pulling apart on the test drive. 16 week wait for a replacement.....the combination of too much camber and too much drop appears to result in axle suicide.

 

Dude, that is the opposite of what I want to hear. How low did you drop? It's weird because some of our cars aren't affected by dropping while others run into plenty of issues.

 

You also had diff work done, axles and stubs were removed, no?
Sounds like installation error.

 

i did put an LSD in, but the work was done according to procedure; one side simply let go. i've never seen an axle pull apart so completely before...both sides. it had the look of a defect, and that was the opinion of everyone i showed the part to....a fluke of manufacturing perhaps....in any case, Mini wanted it back for analysis and i was happy to give it to them. i've since removed the KW2's in favor of Nitron's with the adjustable top plate. still, i've not gone back to -2....mostly because the Nitron's are set up so well it wasn't necessary. night and day handling improvement over the KW's.....amazing difference, and they have less height adjustability and favor a back to front rake. as for the initial lowering, the front was dropped 0.5" over the stock ride height; the rear went down 0.65". low, but not drug dealer low, and not something i was cautious about. i should say i've put almost 4k canyon hooning miles on it since the axle break, and there's no sign of drivetrain unhappiness. i did manage to rip apart one of Way's end links, and if that happens again, i've got to seek another, more durable solution....one that can clear the H&R front bar and everything else down there. crazy tight packaging like nearly everything else Mini.

i will say this. in stock form, the car is crippled compared to what a good coil over setup can provide.

 

Not sure about the position of the link mount in your struts.
Whether you can run stock end link length.
I’m running the H&R bars and springs.
ive got 7k miles on good old Moog links.
The H&R bars are machined correctly, so no need to preload.

Moog stood up to my 1.5” front sway bar on a SD455 TransAm
back in the day!!! 25mm is nothing!!
At $13 a side, it’s worth a shot.