I will be doing the R56 trailing arm swap soon and also need shocks and struts.

i know that I need a spacer if I put the trailing arms on so can I just buy R56 rear shocks and forego the spacers?

Also, do the front struts from an R56 work in the front of an R53?

 

I did some checking and I found out the Rear Strut mounts are the same part number. However the rear springs are different part numbers...I guess because of different weights? The rear shocks are different, probably because of the concaveness of the lower shock mount.

I wonder how different the springs are and if they are compatible.

The front had different strut mounts and different part numbers.

I'll have to take a look and see if the difference is just the hose and wire attachments. I have an R53 and an R56 to compare.

 

You can use R56 shocks in the back of your R53 since you have the R56 trailing arms in back. The real issue is that most performance shocks/struts are sold as a set of four for the vehicle, and that poses a problem as the front struts are different between R53 & R56. For that reason alone, picking up a pair of adapters can make sense. Price is $35 from Way: https://www.waymotorworks.com/r56-re...ngs-or-gp.html

 

You just continue to use the R53 shocks with the aluminum arms and our spacers. Don't need to order anything special or different from what you already have.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-re...k-spacers.html

 

Update: I installed the R56 upgrade last weekend. Hubs, rotors and brakes up front nad completely everything from R56 in the back. The R56 shocks were used because I haven’t figured out what suspension I’m going with yet. But so you know it’ll work with R56 rear shocks.

 

The R56 rear shocks cost $90 (for two shocks) more than the R53! The real question, perhaps, is can the R53 rear shocks be used on the R56? Even with Way's spacers, you save $50! I am in the process of doing the R56 aluminum trailing arm conversion and I bought Way's spacers. I am also doing the R56 front brakes so I bought his conversion brake lines for the swap on the same order. Thanks Way for supporting the Mini community!