The combination is absolutly great! Before the FSD, I was using the stock suspenions + HSport springs, which was a harsh ride. But since I had the FSD + HSport installed, I feel my MCS rides like a BMW 330I!

It turns better, grip better, stop better and looks better too!

As for some people may not suggest the lower springs by work with the FSD, but I read a lot of VW owners who had their Eibach Pro springs (1.5' lower) to work with the FSD with no problem at all.

Highly recommmand!

 

cool! great to hear. i might have to try that combo later on.

 

May I ask for a ball park of the cost. I keep wanting to wear things out before I upgrade but a better ride and better handling is pretty appealing.

 

Sounds like a good review! I can feel my Eibach springs not working hand in hand with my stock shocks anymore.... I was looking at the bilstein shocks, but your review is making me think otherwise...

 

Thanks for the replies, the Koni FSD costs me around 860$Can (Include installation), the different compare with the stock shocks is like night and day.

Another problem that I had before with the stock shocks was the spring vibration noise, and now is gone.

I used to feel tired by driving my Mini S around downtown, since the road in Montreal is awful! Pot holes everywhere, and the worst thing is, when they fix the holes, they fix it very roughly (they just put a stone into the hole and that is it. , one funny thing I found is, this year, a F1 driver complained our F1 track has some crack areas, which is normal ), now with the FSD, I can drive around all day long with a happy smile.

With the stock shocks, whenever I drive fast on an uneven road, sometimes you feel the steering wheel wants to spin off your hands, with the FSD, I can still feel the road from the steering wheel, but it is 10X much more stable than before.

Now with my combination of FSD, HSport springs, sway bar, control arms and front stru bar, I feel much more confident to turn my Mini S in any corner, and feel very happy with it, BMW should made Mini S this way.

And here it is a comparision in between stock shocks, Koni Sport and FSD. http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/tests/koni_fsd.jsp

 

I have had the H-Sport and FSD combo since the FSD kit for MINIs came out on my 05 S. over 12000 miles and counting at this point. There is plenty of discussion about how IT WONT WORK CAUSE KONI SAYS NOT TO on this board if you do a search-I said from the beginning how well they worked on my car and I will say it again, now that we have more converts-just because you are not using the entire length of the stroke on the shock doesnt mean it wont work on the length you are using. Congrats on your upgrade, you will like it for a long time to come!!

 

Hi Scott, thanks for your information. I did some researches before I go for the FSD (I think include your review , which I read somewhere before).

Plus I saw so many GTI owners who use the FSD with the combo of a much lower Ebach Pro springs for a long time and no complain at all, then I know this is reliable.

Happy Motoring.

 

Sounds very sweet to my ears! Or in this case, eyes... haha

I don't think they meant that the combo wouldn't work, but i think the life span of the shocks would be shortened. But hey, they are not meant to last forever anyways!

 

That sounds great may have to consider it.

 

sounds good...and so inexpensive! can't be beat.

that sounds like exactly what im looking for on my street machine.

 

Does anyone know the actual difference in the Koni FSD's verses the KONI sports? I'm guessing that the FSD's have digressive valving (piston blows off valve for softer high speed dampening).

 

tirerack says estimated availability 11/17/06?
WTF?!

 

very nice, yes there is a lot of guys in MK4 GTI scene practicing the combo for quite sometimes, and of course, the original manufacturer says it is only for stock springs but oh well

 

I drove Scott's car and it was awesome. I just sent a PM to Scott to order Koni FSDs for my MCS w/ H-sports.

 

I posted here a few months ago imquiring about the Koni FSD's with the H-Sport springs for my Cabrio S and got "smacked down" for suggesting such a thing!

The H-Sports did lower my Cabrio about 1 1/3 inch : wonder if that extra 1/3 inch would make any difference?

 

i think they were just being careful as FSD's are recommended to be
used with factory springs using factory stroke.

but i think its worth a try... it's only like $630 range, right? even
cheaper than the Koni yellow's.

 

Hi Kenchna, I get it cheap because I bought it and send it to my friend who lives in USA. Then he gave it to me while he came to Montreal by watching F1. That is why it saves taxes and shipping, the installation of the shocks is around 80$ by a BMW/Mini professional in Montreal (www.bimmershop.ca), they have super skill and also fix my pulley problem (I will post what happen later).

I think the suggestion from Koni about they do not recommand to use lower springs + FSD is somehow like Mini does not recommand we use smaller size supercharge pulley.

And driving it with 2 days, a weird thing I found is, it seems my Mini raises up a little bit, but not much, maybe around 0.2', or it could be I am too sensitive.

 

I just had the Koni FSDs installed today w/ my H-sport springs by Matt (suspension guru) at Central Coast Coopers in Oxnard, CA. Holly sh-----t

The car handles better, stops better and doesn't jump around as much on the bad L.A. streets. At under $900 installed this is the best suspension bang for buck out there.

 

Congratulation Larry, good tast. Now I am sure the more you drive your Mini you will be more in love with them.

Happy Motoring!

 

I have Eibach springs on my X3 and like the look a lot. What's the difference between Eibach and H-sport in terms of lowering (height) - when I do the upgrade it will be with FSD's too?

 

the reason they don't suggest using them with lowering springs is primarily b/c they are stiffer spring rates. Any suspsension that is specifically tuned fort frequency response will be different if you use different springs than what it is tuned for. Really, it just means your car will be slightly underdamped (than what was intended, it probably still be technically "overdamped"), thats all, and the increased compression of the shock will wear it prematurely as well (as has been said). If you put some springs that are 90% stiffer than stock though, it will bounce. . .

 

Congrats Larry. I'll be at Scott's this coming weekend to get the same setup.

 

Steve,

You're going to love the FSDs. The installation threw the front toe out a bit. I had the wheels aligned at EF1 today - WOW - My M3 (I mean MINI) has never handled like this before.

 

just a quick comment/note.

when i was dissasembling my shocks to put on the coilovers ( had h-sports and stock struts for about 1k miles) i saw that my one front bump stop provided by h-sport was completely turned inside out. no joke i pulled it off and it was inside out. it went on regular. i wonder what could have caused that.

the bumps are polyeurethane, so i just flipped it back to how it should be and it is perfect again. weird, i think so.

 

This is great news. I wanted to do something like this but was afraid of the "only use stock springs" thing.

Now I just need to convince the budget comitee. . . (girlfriend/2nd driver) But after listening to the results, that shouldn't be a problem!

Updates, pics, comments! Keep 'em coming!

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