I been looking at mabye getting some cross coilovers for my daily driver. Im just woondering how well will they hold up and will they need frequent rebuilds? I know some suspensions designed for the track wear down easy driven as daily driver in comparison to something ment entirely for street. Im not concerned with harshness as Im more intrested in something robust yet excellent handling and adjustibility to dial it in. I drive 150mi avg a day mixed hiway and city.

 

How it feels is very subjective. Find someone who has them and go for a ride if you can. I find they are very stiff, but that is fine by me. They corner like the car is on rails. I don't drive a lot of miles, and roads in SoCal are pretty smooth so it is not a problem for me to have a stiffly sprung car.

However, my wife does not like to drive my car now, though as it is too hardcore. Thanks to Jan's Cross c/o's, Alta 22mm rear bar, OMP under strut bar, Alta rear control arms.,

 

I think that the Cross Coils are better than stock, but that's just me. I used to drive 70 miles a day to and from Los Angeles for work, and they didn't bother me. Mine are still going strong 15k miles later.

Not sure on rebuilds, that's probably a Jan question.

PS, the roads are smooth?!? Where do you live!

 

tire compliance will change subjective feelings a little for sure. But yea, where are the smooth roads? Go to NYC and you'll find some bumps that'l air-born a mini!

 

Adding to Silkworms questions, to those that run the Cross coilovers; what spring rates did you get (8/6kg or 7/6kg) and what damper settings did you go with for the street ?

 

I forget the rates on mine (from Jan), but I'm running full soft up front and one click of stifness in the rear for daily driving duties. More than comfortable and I've done no less than 7-8 suspension swaps in five years between my Subaru and my MINI to get that sweet spot between performance and ride Q.

I've got polyurethane rear bushings, a TSW x-brace, cabrio braces and a 22mm R-speed rear bar in the middle hole. Running 215/45/17 ZIEX 912 (not brutal, but not sissified either)

 

Thanks for the info PGT, So you would say that your setting is good for daily comfort as well as aggresive canyon runs ? I'm guessing you tried different settings and have found that the full soft in front and the one click in the rear is the way to go.

 

I tightened up the rear a bit to help the understeer I was getting. I'll play with it some more, but the car is in the middle of other work at the moment. I didn't slam mine either...plenty of ride height and not too aggressive on the alignment settings either.

 

I tightened up the rear a bit to help the understeer I was getting. I'll play with it some more, but the car is in the middle of other work at the moment. I didn't slam mine either...plenty of ride height and not too aggressive on the alignment settings either.

 

I vaguely remember reading something about their being two different size rear shocks available from Cross for the MINI. One of which had a shorter body. I may be incorrect but I thought that the one that Jan was recommending was different than the one that DMH was recommending. I also think that the spring rates were different for a street car. Would anyone be able to clear this up?
Thanks, Steve

 

Cross only makes the ones I sell now

 

I've had mine installed for the past year without any issues. I currently have them set at 2 from full soft/4 from full soft on rear and the ride is very comfortable (mini comfortable). I still don't know where the perfect setting is however, last summer I running them at approx f6/r7
This is the fourth suspension on my car and will not be changing for anything else. I am happy with what it offers...

 

I can't speak to longevity because I just got mine about 800 miles ago--on an R56.
I'm at 3 from soft F/R. The ride is excellent and the handling is superb. I find the ride comfort better than my stock MCS suspension.

 

Did they ever offer a spring rate of 7kg/6kg ? and will that spring rate be a huge difference in ride quality over an 8kg/7kg rate ?

 

7k/6k is what Cross is currently suggesting is the "best" overall setup for the R53.

8k/7k is what Cross is currently suggesting is the "best" overall setup for the R56.

With that said, you can order any combination of spring rates you want ranging from 4k - 8k.


Edit: After visiting the Cross/JIC site, I stand corrected, now they say 8k/7k for both. I could have sworn last week it said 7k/6k for the R53.

 

I like stiff as long as it is not so stiff it no longer grips over bumps or over high frequency bumps where if it was too stiff it would actualy skip over bumps rather than follow them. I think these will be the coilovers i get when i go for the suspension. Im thinking of the following:

-Cross Coilovers 8/7k
-Alta PRS
-Possibly a front bar but I think I can dial out enough body roll from the front without needing a new front bar.
- I have a alta bar in the back already (olderstyle) but im thinking of the web fully adjustible bar
- Front & Rear control arms?

Althogh its a daily driver I want to try to get the best handling out of it I can. It will see track/Auto x at some point.