I posted a message in a different thread about specific M7 products for heat reduction in the engine bay & several people suggested that I spend my $$$ on upgrading my suspension.

Info about Schultze in my siggie....currently 9100 miles on the clock.
5-speed

Open for recommendations & all opinions/comments welcomed.

 

Suspension can be upgraded for both the MC or MCS in similar ways.
You can go for more comfort with good handling or
go for much better cornering and handling but not as good comfort.

Also you need to know what sort of budget you have and what time element you want to work with. Do upgrades in stages or all at one time.

For daily driving with good comfort and improved handling-
Consider Koni FSD shocks and keep your stock springs. Add an adjustable three hole rear swaybar 19mm. You don't lower your MINI so any wheels and tires are OK that fit stock MINIs.

For more performance and slightly stiffer ride still OK for street use-
There are many options. Check out suspensions from Outmotoring.com or Webbmotorsports.com, detroittuned.com or Helix13.com and other vendors. Check out the M7 springs or Texas Speedworks springs. You can use your stock shocks or change to Koni Yellow shocks.
Again 19mm adjustable rear swaybar- no real need to go to 22mm stiffer bar for street use. You might want to upgrade tires for better handling.
For Texas Speedworks springs see
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=84628

How do you drive? What is your style? Often taking corners very fast, do you mostly drive at the speed limit or rarely drive at the speed limit?
Do you do high performance driving events (driving school) or any plans to autocross? What are your current tires and wheels- that's part of suspension.

If you want to autocross then you have to think about suspension upgrades that are legal for stock class (H stock) vs legal for modded classes like FSP (Street Performance) or STX (Street Touring).

What if your budget is huge? Then consider Coilovers (combined shock and springs) often adjustable. In some you can adjust ride height and in some the dampening or rebound settings to set stiffness and ride comfort. Some Coilovers are better for street use, some better for track not street, some are a combo. Check with outmotoring.com they were supposed to have gotten some new coilovers. Check with vendors listed about and M7 products.

MC with suspension upgrades is very very solid.

For more power in the MC
Cold air intake
Cat back exhaust- Helix13 or Miltek and others
ECU reflash- Unichip, GIAC, MTH

 

Everything minihune wrote is great info. But, it's missing a recommendation for front camber plates. More front camber makes a big difference in both handling and tire life on the track.

 

For an 06' MCS coupe-

Yes, you can add front camber plates but not for street driving.
Cost of the plates can be about $500 plus labor (usually done at the time of installing other suspension upgrades).

The biggest advantage of more front negative camber is you can corner a lot faster and wear your tires alot more evenly. If you don't really corner at high speeds then it's not a big deal. Stock front camber is -0.5 degrees and in older MINIs is not adjustable. In the R56 you can adjust a little about 0.5 degrees or less.

If you choose front fixed camber plates then you do increase negative camber but you might end up with right and left camber being slightly different since it is not adjustable. Even with adjustable plates there is a limit of about -2.4 degrees due to suspension parts limiting movement on one or the other side. Usually we try for right and left both being the same amount of camber.

For daily driving the added front negative camber will tend to wear out the inner edges of the tires. It's not horrible and toe settings (more toe out than stock) will probably wear the tire more than -2 degrees of front camber.

For the rear camber is adjustable in later model MINIs using a small nut on the bottom of the lower rear control arm. On older MINIs up to 2004 this was not adjustable. We had to buy adjustable rear lower control arms and this would allow quite a bit of rear camber adjustment. You should use about -1.0 degrees in the rear for most street driving.

Anyone looking at adjustable end links doesn't really need them if for street use only. If you have coilovers and want to corner balance your MINI (by adjusting ride height and using scales to adjust weights) then you can make use of endlinks. Aftermarket endlinks are stronger than stock endlinks but unless you do track work the stock endlinks are OK.

 

All of the above, and I'd also go with the M7 Strut Tower Reinforcement Plates to guard against mushrooming.

 

Actually, that was the first M7 product I purchased.

 

The only other thing I did to improve my Cooper's suspension [besides what has been mentioned] was to install my MCS springs when I switched the H-Sports to the MCS from the Cooper. I gotta say that the '06 MCS springs give a much better ride than the OEM '03s ever did [and I'm STILL running my OEM runflats].

 

This is what I got for my MC. It's only missing camber plates.

SUSPENSION
Bilstein PSS9 Coilovers
18x7.5 Exel TZ-10 wheels
215/35/18 Hankook tires
Alta rear upper and lower control arms
H-Sport Comp sway bars
Alta front and rear endlinks
H-Sport Front Strut Bar
Pilo Racing Rear Stress Bar
Wheel bolts
Hubcentric rings