I'm scheduled to have the Dinan suspension installed. I've been reading around, but I can't find specifics on the springs from Dinan. The yellow Koni shocks and struts seem to be a good choice, though if I'm not mistaken, they are straight off the Koni shelf, and Dinan just turns the setting to match the MINI. Do the Dinan springs lower the car? Are they straight or progressive?
Why do so many people say the Ireland Camber plates are better than Dinan?

 

I don't have it but I have to add a remark. Somewhere I thought I read that Dinan actually revalved the struts and shocks for the MINI, not just dialed in the *****.
http://www.dinancars.com/Mini.asp?Se...0&Model=91#188

 

Not sure how much it lowers the car, but it's probably around 3/4"-1" if I had to guess. Pretty standard drop.

I've been nothing but happy with all my DINAN parts (performance S1 kit). Koni makes good shocks, so I'm sure you can't go too wrong with the DINAN kit.

 

Thanks guys.
I keep getting encouraging words like these, and believe me I appreciate them. I would like to hear from anyone who has the suspension, do you like it for regular street driving?

I called Koni, those tech support guys are really nice. The yellow shocks and struts are straight from Koni (not revalved or anything), with 1 turn from full soft on the front
and 7/8 turn from full soft on back. The blue sport springs are straight (not progressive). The ride height is lowered at most 1/2" to 3/4".

Anybody got the Dinan suspension Stage 1, 2 or 3 setup?

 

I don't think they re-valve, but they do match the springs to the struts. The springs are linear, but I don't remember the rate. FWIW, I had the Dinan demo car for a weekend and I actually liked the suspension set-up more than the power! It is a well matched system.

The Dinan plates don't add as much camber as the IE ones do. So it depends on your driving mix if it's good or not enough.

There was a good article in Grassroots Motorsport about dialing in camber for a track Mini, and while tire temps said that 3.5 degrees negative was good for cornering, longer braking distances and poor power down on corner exits actually resulted in slower lap times! But that's wayy too much for the street.

Matt

 

+1 on off the shelf Koni's and +1 on too much camber slowing things down. On my car with 215 width RE01R's and -2.0 front camber, I can spin well into third on full power corner exits.

I had the Koni Sport Kit on my car earlier this year - from what I've read, the Dinan setup is better. I was never very happy with the setup I had....the rear sat too low and I didn't feel it handled all that well compared to stock. The 'smart' ticket would be to get the best deal you can find on Koni Yellows and the buy the Dinan springs.

 

Thanks. I am getting the price that I am getting, it is the price Dinan lists on their site. Basically, I had mushrooming (I can definitely see it) above the struts and torn rubber strut mounts. Sterling MINI was doing my 25K checkup and they said it was going to cost about $1K to fix that. After picking my jaw up off the ground, (and saying "don't you just pound that back down with a 2X4 a la MC2 this most recent issue?") I asked what an entire new Dinan suspension would cost. He came back to me with $2K installed and the mushroom problem fixed. I told him to order the parts and do it. Now I'm just kind of checking to make sure I shouldn't back out and go some totally other route. But everyone sounds encouraging.

So I should be getting the DINAN suspension this week. Esentially, I'm making sure I don't get the mushrooming again (camber plates add strenth) and getting what sounds like a better deal than $1K for fixing something that will probably have the same problem again.

Plus the yellow shocks and blue springs are gonna look cool on my car.


Thanks everybody.
Mike Harvey

 

are you getting plates too? $2k/installed is pricey. You can almost buy Cross coilovers for that and install is easy. Dinan is nice, but....MoS severely overcharges for everything, including labor.

 

I now have Dinan's revalved Koni's and springs on my '03 and all I can say is WOW! This is by far the best suspension I have had on the MINI.

This is the 4th suspension that I have tried on the MINI and it is the best yet.

The Koni's are custom valved for Dinan by Koni. As mentioned earlier they are set at +1 on both front and rear. The coils are linear and wound to Dinan specs by Eibach. They only lower the car by 1/2" or so.

Yes, it was expensive, but it is worth it. Very good ride with exceptional handling!

Good Luck,
Mike

 

as mentioned earlier - they are NOT revalved. Dinan just turns the **** for you to their recommended setting.

 

Ok, so I have found that Mini of Sterling is charging too much for everything. Currys in Falls Church will do the install for $700. I found the parts bought separately and upgrading to the Ireland adjustable camber plates will cost $1230. So I'm at $1930. I'm waiting for MOS to get back to me with an exact price for labor. (the only thing I didn't have written down) If it is a significant difference, I will be ordering my pieces separately and going to Currys.

Mike87 Thanks for your reply. It's really great to hear such good reviews. I talked to Koni and Dinan. The shocks and struts are straight off the shelf, and as has been pointed out, with 1 turn from full soft on the front
and 7/8 turn from full soft on back.

Again, great to hear you are loving your Dinan setup. I'm sold, I just gotta see how much money I can save.

Mike Harvey

 

$700 to install ( ) or $700 for install/alignment/mushroom fix?

 

the install took me and a friend 2.5 hours in my garage. The mushroom fix added 5 minutes using a large block of wood and a small sledge. $700 for that install is INSAnE.

 

if it's for the mushroom fix and the alignment, it's not too bad. I got a quote from Curry's for $600 to do just springs on my FX earlier this year. The front is similar to a MINI (three tophat bolts and four lower ones) but the rear is one bolt per side (spring carriers, not struts) - 5 minutes per side.

 

Yeah,
I have a mechanic friend who is real good, but he is not a MINI specialist. I go to him for easy jobs a lot. He put on my brakes and my rear sway bar. He said he'd be able to do all the work, minus the alignment, in a few hours. I usually pay him $50 bucks an hour. He is hesitant to just pound the mushrooming Strut Tower back into shape, he said it would cause metal fatigue. Suggested, without looking at it, that he would want to weld a supporting piece of steel inside the wheel well. I don't know, but I haven't heard that one on NAM. I haven't priced an alignment at Currys yet, but I think PGT recommended to someone looking for a good Alignment shop in Northern VA to go there.

So I could basically get all this done for $1220 parts (Ireland camber plates included) $200 labor (from someone who's never fixed the mushroom problem before but is a great mechanic) and the price of a Currys alignment.

Does that make cents? Everyone seems to think it's a pretty simple install, including my mechanic friend.

Mike Harvey
MyCarV

 

I wouldn't deal with Curry's over Mach V, as long as you're willing to drive to Sterling. I only mentioned Curry's to the person who said Sterling was too far.

 

Yeah, that person was me. But I was just saying it was a pain, I'd still do it.

Thanks for your guidance.

Much appreciated.

 

Dan will take care of you. Curry's...notsomuch. I'd rather have someone I trust working on my car...especially if the price is the same.

 

Catherine at Mini of Sterling just emailed me this qote:

Springs and shocks (Dinan kit) $1175.20 as well as a camber kit (Dinan)$199.00
Installation 8 hrs…$1000.00
Total : $2773.20 with four wheel alignment (this price included the strut towers as well: parts $208.00)
This is about 700$ above where I was originally quoted. Decision made.

 

8 hours labor FYI - they charge $199 for an alignment too....WAY over market price even at a race shop

 

ldg and bunch of other shops who can do minis quoted me 600 ish ++++ before too... flat rate or something..
even i, with no lift and no proper tools, chilling break in between, did coilover swapping in like 4 hours...

 

For sure, the install is extremely easy. Rest assured, pounding the mushroomed head back to flat will not cause enough "fatigue" to harm anything. The fact is those strut towers need to be flat, and if they are not that needs to be fixed. Pound them flat, install everything, and put an M7 strut tower brace on there, you shouldn't have a problem.

I replaced the springs in mine in 2.5 hours in my garage with a jack and stands. Your mechanic should have no problem doing all the work in less that 3 hours.

 

Abe Hamrah at Mach V wants me to consider H&R Threaded-Body Coil-Over Suspension Kit. About the same price for parts as the Dinan. Now I'm on the hunt for people's experience with H&R coilovers.

Don't think I want to spend the cash for Cross Coilovers.? Somehow, I wonder if people like DINAN so much, even partially because of the reputation and mystique of owning DINAN. I haven't heard one person say a bad thing about the DINAN suspension though. It seems some people have tried several suspensions then finally settled on DINAN.

Oh well, I'm off to track down peoples H&R experiences.

MyCarV

 

I had the Koni yellows with Koni springs (by Eibach). I wasn't a fan and got Bilsteins. No, it wasn't Dinan, but I wonder how much different it was....same two companies involved and the struts were identical.

H&R, Koni coilovers, Vogtland, KW...there are tons of quality products in this range, but, IMHO....springs/struts and coilovers are different types of products.

PS - I'm not familiar with Abe at Mach V (new?)- maybe talk to the owner Dan as well? He's a vendor on this board 'Mach V Dan'...get his opinion as well. Couldn't hurt.

 

I like what I see about the coil over adjustability, but I have a question. Does anybody know?

Without doing proper research, I was convinced by a sales guy at Rotora that my Kosei wheels would work fine with the Rotora BBK. I actually had to add 5mm spacers. My tires are Kumho 215/45 ZR17. Will I run into any problem with my tires rubbing on the fender if I lower my car using the adjustable coil overs? I realize I can't just randomly raise and lower my car without weighing the corners to be sure it's right. I've been told the 1/2" of the DINAN spring/strut system won't be a problem, but I believe the Bilsteins (and others) offer inches of adjustability.

PGT, Were your Bilstein's blue and chrome. Those blue Bilstein PSS9 coilovers would look great on my car. Don't know how much better they are than the H&R Club Sport Coil-Over or the H&R sport Coil over, or any others.