I just installed the H&R sport springs and the Bilstein sports from ProMINI/BMP. I already had the 18mm rear bar from ProMINI.

Like an idiot I for got to measure the car before we swapped the suspension, but I say the 1.3" quoted is probably correct. I was thinking H Sports, but I am a Bilstein fan and decided to go witht he kit with the H&R springs. The car does not looked slammed, I think going with the Bilsteins may have helped.

The reason I did not go with the Konis because I know I will never adj them. I also decided to save a few hunred and not do an adl coilover for the same reason.

I have had a number of race cars (BMW Club Racing and SCCA ITS) with fully adj suspensions and for a street car that will see a few dirver schools, I think this is the right choice for me.

As for ride quality, I'd say worse case is it's equal to stock. I actually think it is better/less rough - and this is coming from a guy that had 950# springs in my BMW 325 racecar.

I will post pics as soon as I wash my car :smile:

I highly recommend this combination.

 

I wonder how it'll be with the H-sport and bilstein sport setup? Can you go more into detail on the ride. thanks

 

I too am going with the Bilsteins for the same reason. I'll never adjust the Koni set, and I've had good experiences with the Bilsteins. You are the first person I've seen post who went with them.

 

same here. I'll probably go with bilsteins once my stock shocks wears out.

I wish Bilstein release a PSS coilover kit for the Mini.

 

Having come from racecar set ups (BMW CR and SCCA), we ran coilovers with adj shocks, etc. We always wanted to make changes for the track, weather, etc.

With the MINI being a street car that will see a couple schools, I knew I would not change the settings for either the ride height or the shocks. My guess is 95% of people don't ever change them. I'd venture to guess that most guys with height adj coilovers have never even corner weighted/balanced their cars.

OK, off my soap box... From talking to Promini, they said the H&Rs and Bilsteins were developed togheter. However, I am sure they woould also work with the Hsport springs. I have always been a fan of Bilstein.

For what it is worth, I measured my car next to another stock MSC last night and it only looks like my car dropped about an inch. I wonder if the Bilsteins reduced the drop as compared to stock dampers. I wished I would have done a before and after measurement on my car to be sure.

I will post pics when I get chance. I doesn't look slammed by any strech of the imagination... it looks great!!!

 

I'm keeping my Cooper stock for now but eventually I'd like to remove some weight from it--unfortunately most of the weight will be from the rear of the car (spare tire assembly and rear seats/hardware make up about 70 lbs) so I'll probably have to go to a coilover setup to bring the rear down.

Right?

 

Apparently the rear stock springs are ~220lbs/in ... but there are two of them, so that's like 440 lbs/in. If you remove 70lbs and assume that all 70lbs was supported soley by the rear springs, the back end would raise by ~0.15inches (a little more than an 1/8th of an inch).

If the 1/8th of an inch is meaningful to you, then coilovers would be one way to go.

 

My guess is the weight reduction would not be noticed on every day driving. If you are building a race car that is going to meet a class requirement, then it comes into play.

 

Although I love the PSS9's on my Porsche but its a pain to change if you ever want to do a hard drive or track day. So for fun I went with the Tein shocks and the EDFC unit which lets you change on the fly, electronic controller on the dash. European Car Magazine has been testing all the shocks and it seems that they are all somewhat similar in quality. The only thing I was looking for is ease of operation. I'll give a report as to how good it really is.

 

It is my track car, though it'll never be a race car.....

And, honestly, the weight loss is noticeable (not night-and-day, but subtly) on the street as I did remove the stuff from the rear of my previous Cooper.
Every bit helps when you've got 115hp.:smile:

 

really looking forward in seeing some pics.

I'm about to go for the same set-up too but my concerns are how much it lowers the car and how's ride quality (i heard that H&R are pretty stiff compared to H-sport's)

 

I can't get my pics to load here, so I added them to my gallery. I know they are a little dark, but I think you can get the flavor of the drop with the H&Rs and Bilsteins. I am very pleased with the drop and more importantly, the handling and the ride.

 

nice pics!

 

I'm thinking of the same setup for my Cooper....how much camber did you end up with after the install, especially in the rear? Was it excessive and if so did you address it it any way?

Thanks.

 

I've had this combo on my car for more than a year now... I love it. If you do a search on Bilstein SP's, you'll find my posts and commentary. Personally, I've driven several MINIs around the autocross course with the Koni/H-Sport setup to compare, and I think the Bilstein/H&R combo is just as good or better given the same tires, alignment and rear swaybar.

I had about -2.4 in the rear after installing my Bilstein SP/H&R combo... I dialed it back to -1.2 with a KMAC Rear Camber Kit (basically eccentric bushings, proven in the e30 BMW crowd and working like a champ so far on my car). It came with 4 bushings, so I can adjust the top and bottom control arm lengths for fine tuning... Great product, IMHO.

In the front, I had barely any negative camber gain at all... until the Ireland Engineering Street/Race Camber Plates went in, that is... now I'm running -2.2 up front. WHAT a MAJOR difference...