Hello and thank you in advance for reading this. We just bought our first mini. 2002 S with several upgrades. Has yellow Koni coil overs front and back. New sway bars front and back (they are blue, don't know the sizes), front brake package by Willow (I think, hard to read on the side of the caliper), adjustable rear lower link arms, 17" rims and light weight crank pulley.

We love the car and are excited, but have the right rear tire rubbing on hard bumps. Never the left. I adjusted the camber to about 2 degrees on both sides, but still have the problem. I measured from front to rear axle on each side and the right is about 1/4" longer in overall distance. Am I crazy? Car drives straight. Seems like I just need to raise the rear of the car about 1/2
" and there would be enough clearence. I don't know if these shocks are adjustable and if so how.

The front shocks have a cover on top that can be removed and then turn the screw. They are two turns out from closed. I can't see the tops of the rear shocks and assume we have to pull the wheel wells to access.

We will have lots of silly questions so I hope this forum is the place to get help. Thanks again! Dave

 

Congrats on your new-to-you MINI.

The swaybars sound like they are probably H-Sport, based on the color. The brakes are Wilwood. In both cases, several different sizes are available from each company so you might need to do some additional research. Todd from TCE can probably help you with the brakes. Checking out the pictures at H-sport's web site and take some measurements of the diameter of the swaybars should help you identify what you have.

The Konis adjust the damper setting the same way in the rear. The easiest way to get to them is to jack the car up, loosen the two capscrews holding the top of the damper assembly / strut mount to the underside of the wheel well, and pull the shock down until you can get at the top of the damper. It should be much easier than it sounds.

If you can take a picture of one of your rears, I can tell you if they are height adjustable. In short, if the body of the dampers are threaded and the springs rest on a collar on those threads, then they are height adjustable.

Either way, you can try stiffening the rear dampers a bit to see if that cures the rubbing. Just be aware that it will also effect ride and handling to a degree.

Scott
90SM

 

Thanks for the reply. I have not been able to take a picture (yet), but I looked for the threads and did not see them. Which direction to you turn the **** to increase stiffness? I would assume clockwise when looking down at the top.

On the brakes, we started getting a rusty dust out of the front left. I pulled both front wheels and found that the closest part of the caliper housing is not even on both sides of the rotor. One side is very close, less than 0.050" of gap, while the other side is well over 0.125" It looks like I need to shim between where the caliper bolts to the control arm to even the gap.

Does that make sense and is there a shim available? The right side is also uneven, with the outside also tight compared to the inside edge of the rotor.

Thanks again!

 

if the shocks are yellow they're not coil-overs, instead they're the yellow Koni replacement struts/shocks that are "fixed". The Koni coil-overs are chrome plated looking and you would imediately spot the height adjustment...

 

That makes sense. Thank you. Does anyone see any reason I could not make a shim plate, perhaps 1/2 - 3/4 thick to raise the back of the car to provide the clearence I need? I have full access to a very good machine shop and would rather not buy new struts right now.

Also, I assume turning the damper screw clockwise stiffens the ride. Is that right? What is a "normal" street setting.

I found the website for the wilwood brakes. It was very helpful and solved my dragging problem.

 

I don't see a problem with making a shim plate as long as it's formed the same way as the stock spring seats, as long as the spring can't shift from its preferred location.

on my Koni coil-overs the damping adjustment works the opposite way in the front, my guess is that the yellows work the same. There is no "normal street setting", no default, it's whatever you prefer. I have mine set to "2/3" stiff, that's a pretty firm ride... you really should do a search on this forum on "koni yellow" and you should find the info you need...

 

Thank you again. I went to the Koni web page and they confirmed what you said. CCW makes for a firmer ride. Factory setting is full soft (full CW)