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Hope it’s not a problem to bump a thread this old…
I am curious if anyone else is running these by now? Not sure I want to drop the height of most other springs, and I’m not ready to go with coilovers. 0.75” seems perfect.
This seems like a good alternative. Wondering too if it’s recommended to use adjustable rear links to get alignment in spec with a <20 mm drop?
I installed the springs and bump stops a couple months ago on my 2020, F56 JCW. I am happy with the ride, but the amount lowered was different than Dinan advertised. I wish I had measured the car before putting the new springs on, that way I would have before and after measurements for my car, instead I have to use the OEM stock height I found in one of Charlie's posts. Power Corrupts page 22
According to his post stock height (when measured from the bottom lip of the 17” wheel to the bottom of the plastic trim) is 23.34” (front) and 22.60” (rear). After installing the Dinan springs my measurements are 22.25” (front) and 22.5 (rear). So, the Dinan springs lowered my car 1.09” (front) and 0.1” (rear).
(I hated posting a picture my car so dirty, but this is the only picture I've taken since the install)
Also, the bump stops did not fit well. I do not know if it’s because I have EDC, but the I.D. of the bump stop was smaller than the O.D. of the strut shaft. I the O.D. of the EDC strut is 0.885” and the I.D. of the bump stop is 0.835”. The original bump stop sat at the bottom of the strut shaft and the shaft moved freely through it, as the strut went up and down. The new bump stop will not move freely on the shaft. Every time the strut compresses the bump stop is pushed up the shaft and stays there. Since, the boot is on the top of the bump stop, this left the shaft of the strut exposed to dirt, which is not good. To get it to work I had to remove the boot from the bump stop, reinstall the original boot, and let the bump stop ride at the top of the shaft, rather than the bottom. It still does its job, I just expected a better fit out of a company like Dinan.
This is helpful. More info than I can find just about anywhere else on these springs.... Seems not many have installed them yet. Kinda disappointed to hear the drop was that far off from what Dinan was advertising. I think that's more than I'm looking for. Can't seem to find any other options without going full coilovers.
I was also disappointed. 99% of the mods to my Mini are to improve performance, that's why I chose the Dinan springs. They advertised that they lowered it that sweet spot, where it dropped the center of gravity some, but not enough to destabilize it due to jacking forces in hard cornering. To fix the front, I was thinking of having a machinist friend of mine make some spacers to go between the top of the springs and the bottom of the upper strut mounts (basically it would just a slightly thicker upper spring seat). I don't know what to do about the rear only dropping 0.1". A spacer won't fix that.
This is REALLY good info. BTW, in the installation instructions it states to remove the boot from the handling kit (bump stops and boots) and reuse the factory boot.
I'm considering these as well. I can only add two things:
1: recently read on another forum that someone else also got slightly over 1" drop in the front, on a S F56, so this seems to be a thing, even though Dinan claims .75" That user had no problem with the rear, though. So... hmmm....
2: Similar to what Dannie mentioned, a Dinan support guy told me these were designed not just lower the car a little, but to make the height more even, front-to back. (Something I strongly prefer.) It seems that that's not just a load of bunk, but the opposite of what actually happens.
I am interested in getting my setup right. Please explain what you mean by this, I don't understand. Also my car has the older EDC, rather than the newer DDC.
Last edited by dannieh42; Jan 15, 2025 at 06:38 AM.
Reason: missed something
I mean nothing. Just looking for a possible explanation. I'm thinking there's a tiny chance that the dampers sense the lowered front, and maybe get softer for some reason, lower the front another 1/4" Not likely, if anything you'd think it would be the opposite, but you never know.
BTW- I thought the newer systems were electronic and the older ones were not. Maybe I have that wrong?
In 2022+ the wire went away and its built in like the KONI FSD: 2022 MINI: Frequency Selective Damping
Have not heard anything on the springs and the dampers counteracting?
2022+ From motoringfile "MINI has eliminated the electronic adaptive dampers and replaced with what they call Intelligent Adaptive Suspension. It’s a simplified approach to providing the best of both worlds that initially reads a bit like cost cutting on paper. We know it works with a passive frequency selective set-up that opens a valve in each damper 50 milliseconds at a time to change damping by up to 50% during the largest wheel impacts. But there isn’t a lot of information beyond that data point out there. So we went directly to MINI to better understand the system. "
Springs are also average drop, if you car has a bunch more stuff in it (options) and weighs the car down more, you could have slightly more drop. MINIs internal spring table they used to determine springs also used this function, with Genuine MINI springs.
