I figured as much, thanks for the info!

 

Tip: Especially when camber plate assemblies are involved, you may run into a clearance problem when removing and installing the RH side spring/strut assembly, even after compressing the spring. Don't fight it! Just take out enough of the plastic inserts and the two sheet metal screws from your wheel well liner so that you can deflect it, allowing the strut to clear. Five minutes will save you a bunch of stress.

 

Pictures all dont work?

 

Anyone know why pictures don't display?

Info would be great if I could have a visual.....

 

More than likely the OP ran out of room for the pictures and deleted them... just a guess.

 

Anyone know of any other write ups that may have pictures?

 

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

 

Thank you for this tip! (I know it was years ago now, but it saved my night last night). I wound up with a broken pinch bolt that I had to drill out, and an outer ball joint that would not come out of the wheel housing. I was eventually able to separate it from the control arm instead using a pneumatic pickle fork, but during reassembly, I was having a REALLY difficult time fitting the the new strut into the wheel housing. Your advice on using a 1/4" ratchet saved the day.
I was expecting to get both front struts changed out in 4 hours or so, but with all of the setbacks doing the drivers side this weekend, I have to save the passenger side for next weekend. Next time I'll try using an impact wrench to remove the pinch bolt instead of the appropriately named "breaker bar". And I'll be spraying pb blaster on all of those tough nuts and bolts a week in advance.

 

Hate to bump this thread again, but I am in a pinch. My rear struts have given up on me and I need to get them swapped out with Koni yellows. Does anyone have a lead on a good rear swap tutorial with pictures? Will need to purchase or rent the spring compressor...and perhaps the specialty 21mm strut socket as well, if necessary.

The rear swap seems fairly straight forward, with just a couple simple drill-outs on that washer and the hat. My main concern is the spring replacement with the spring compressor, but I'd imagine any generic youtube tutorial will suffice there.

Also, I know it is not ideal, but for now I would like to just replace the rears to get me going again. Any thoughts on mixing stock front struts with koni yellow rears for the time being? All four struts would have H-Sport springs installed on them.

Again, sorry for the topper here, but I am about to dive in and would love all the visual support I can get.

Stefan

 

This post has pics and specs

http://www.minicooperspeed.com/mini-...-installation/

 

I know this is an old thread, but I recently found these videos by KYB that are super helpful (of course after learning the hard way) -

 

Thanks for the videos. Im sure they will help folks out.

What I wanna know is if the regular R56 cooper springs will fit my R56 cooper S. Im tired of that pounding ride. Its atrocious.

 

The springs are interchangeable but that won't be overly helpful if you are on the stock shocks. I recently found out how much of an improvement new shocks will make in the car's ride. I have the optional sports suspension and put on a set Bilstein Sports shocks (supposedly even stiffer than what I had) and they made my run flat tires tolerable. We also have a base Cooper with the stock shocks and its ride has some harness that I am sure will disappear once the new FSDs go on.

 

What Bilsteins did you buy? I bought the B4s and I had to return them as there was a flang that held one of the brake lines preventing the strut from going all way the way down to attached the spindle bolt. I did buy the rears, installing those and my other three springs this weekend.

 

I have the B8s. The thing I found was that they took out that sharp, harshness that you get going over ridges or ridge like things in the road, making the ride much more tolerable. Note, I have stiffer springs than you and really big sway bars front and rear. So saying that the ride is now tolerable is saying something - IMO.

Sorry to hear about the B4s you got. There is a great B4 vs FSD thread hear on NAM and people are generally very pleased with the B4s. Bu,t then again, every once and a while there will be a post about something being wrong with one of the shocks in a set a person bought. So it happens. Hope yours gets worked out ok.

 

I put in FSDs, all new bushings front and rear and yes the FSDs help but the ride is still obscene. I have race coilovers and thick sway bars on another vehicle and it rides only slightly harsher than the Mini with FSDs. Those runflats are like concrete.

So youre saying that putting on non-S springs wouldn't help much?

 

No, only that if you were on the stock shocks, the springs won't help much. You have FSDs now, so the base Cooper springs should help further. Just reminder, the softer springs will drop the handling down a notch, not much but a little.

Another option to think about is wheels/tires. What size are you on? I run the 16" wheels with the stock tire size. This is far better that 17" tire/wheels. As for tires, the Continental DWS has a far better ride than the OEM RFTs, but some people think the sidewalls are too soft on those. Just some thoughts.

 

ah...thats good to know! Ok so I can buy some used non-turbo r56 cooper springs and they will fit? I assume the car will sit a little higher as well, yes?

I have Conti DSWs on a car....yes the sidewalls are soft like wet tissue paper. I think Michelins have a much better ride. The runflats are obscene but they have tons of tread on them so I cant justify getting rid of them yet.

Im running 17s? 18s? Its my girl's daily driver, so I cant go and check.

 

The S and non-S springs will give the same ride height (only the red JCW springs lower the car).

Have you tried raising the tire pressure on the DWS tires to stiffen the sidewall? Some people have found increasing the pressure by 2 or 3 psi helps.

Likewise, have you tried lowering the tire pressure on the RFTs by 2 or 3 psi to improve the ride?

 

There are actually 6 different springs for a non-S, and 6 different ones for
an S (3 front and 3 rear). This is based on info for the R50 and R53, I'm
assuming this holds for later models as well.
The springs are selected to keep ride height the same based on weight of the spec'd car,
so if you put non-S springs on an S, it will actually ride a little bit lower, especially in
the front. Other factors like sunroof, etc. also enter into the equation (springs selected
for a non-S with a sunroof and other heavy stuff will ride higher than springs selected
for a non-S without that stuff if installed on the same MINI).

 

What he said...

 

Yes on both and yes it helps.

 

Good info! I was hoping to get some used non-S springs for an R56 but this makes it more complicated for sure.

Im so sorry for buggering up your R50 thread guys. I didnt realize I was in a gen1 forum.