I asked this question in the GP1 section without replies. Perhaps it will do better here: Just wondering if anyone has swapped the progressive rate red springs for linear Swifts Spec R's. Did you leave the original struts and shocks? If so, how did they work out? Any other combinations with the Swifts? KONI Yellows? Bilstein Sports? TIA!

 

I have no experience with your question, but I would do Bilstein B8s with the Swift SpecR springs. Swift likes to use very stiff rates on their SpecR springs, which will be too much for the stock struts.

I've had bad experiences with Koni shocks, so I will hesitate to recommend them. The Koni yellows will also handle the SpecR spring rates, and being adjustable, you can dial them in to your liking. However, the rears need to be removed to adjust, which is a poor design.

 

Thanks for your input. I have good experience with the KONI Sports and Swift Spec R's on my previous R53. I figured out a way to adjust the rears while on the car by drilling a hole just above the shock...but it does require removing the rear side panels.

 

if the swift are stiffer than the reds that might work. I have koni yellow + jcw red for non sunroof car and it bottoms out HARD, I really hate this combination because of that. I put better bumpstops in and it took out some of the crashing sound on bumps but still no where near enough damping for the roads around here

 

Thanks for the input, Mr. Blah! How do you have your KONI Yellows set? Soft? Mid-range? Did you previously use the reds with JCW struts and shocks? If so, did you bottom out with that set-up as well? Using the Powerflex bump-stops front and rear?

 

I had koni FSD gold with jcw reds they bottom out hard, then moved to koni yellow with reds. The adjustment on these yellows is for rebound and does not seem to do much for preventing bottoming but generally I have them set in the middle of adjustment range

I use 5x bumpstops up front, stock in the rear I only bottom in the front, the bumpstops did help soften the blow

I would not buy these again, I'm not aware of any oem style shocks that are digressive and do both rebound/damping at the same time. Next R53 that needs shocks will get meisterR zetaCRD I have them on my 135i and I really like them

 

Yes.
I bought an 05 JCW about two years ago. The previous owner had installed the Swift springs in the car.
One thing that I did NOT like, the rear of the car sat almost the stock height while the front was nicely lowered. You can see this in the information sheet of the springs.
The front is a nice height, the rear is too high.

So...one day I removed one rear, cut one coil off, reinstalled the assembly. Cut the other side the same. Did a lap around the block to settle everything...

I ended up cutting another 1/2 a coil. The rocker panel is "almost" parallel with the ground now...MUCH better. The tires rest much better in the front vs rear fender openings.
Didn't seem to bother the ride noticeably.

Overall, happy with them the way that they are. Stiff, but you don't need a mouthguard for your teeth ! Handles, well with a little additional camber in the front.

Mike

 

Mike, are the Swifts installed on the original JCW struts and shocks or ?

 

NC -

Yes factory struts.
If you read the "Swift" information, they list the front as .7" drop and the rear as .5" drop..? WHY...isn't the car even close to parallel to the ground. Most other springs are designed to have at least the stock body angle, if not more level.

In seeing my car when I bought it, I'd believe the front (.7") dimension. The tire location in the fender well looks nicely centered. I think the rear drop (.5") was a lot less. After all, it took cutting 1-1/2 coils to get the rocker panel "almost" parallel with the ground. The rear is still a little...high, but not objectionally so. Now...the rear tire is almost...centered in the fender well.

Mike

 

they lower the front more so the car will handle better, I do the same thing with my coilovers on my mini's and on my 135i

 

The proper term is "Negative rake". Most European vehicles will exhibit this front drop.

 

Really..?
While I haven't seen that...many Mini's on the track...the one that I have seen on the big track or the Auto-X tracks are...mostly...level.
A high "C.G". (center of gravity), and an out of whack "roll center", helps NOTHING, does NOTHING positive...in any car..!

Mike

 

well you're wrong because it helps quite a bit with the mini and a BMWs that I track and time trial and autocross and have trophies to show for it increasing the rake moves weight to the front which makes the rear rotate.

There's a few things you can do at the track to easily change how a car is set up one of those is reduced or increased the rake with the rear coilovers it's one of the easier things to do because of ease of access