Back and forth, forth and back I go. I've determined I want a decent ride for the street but with enhanced track capabilities for my several track days/year I will attend. I've deduced that a system engineered together is better for what I want than throwing springs and shocks on the car, lowering it too much, and dealing with all of the trouble that comes with it.

SO the finalists are the Dinan stage 3 suspension (minus the swaybar - already have an H&R 19mm) and the JCW suspension plus a front camber kit.

Dinan - $1,600 plus about 10 hrs of labor. You get springs, adjustable struts and shocks and front camber plates. It's all designed to work together, and I've read nothing but positive comments about it in various BMW/MINI/other car magazines.

JCW - $700 plus labor (not sure how much) plus +-$500 for a camber kit. You get springs and shocks designed not only for each other, but also for the weight of your specific car. I have heard many positive testimonials from this board which praise the suspension's street and track abilities.

Oh yea, both don't lower the car more than an inch - which is good 'cause I wouldn't get paid to be a plow in the winter.

This almost seems like the JCW is a bargain! Whoodathunkit?

So what do we think? Experiences? Thanks all!

mb

 

10 hours of labor to do 4 struts and an alignment??
Wow!!

 

The site says 9.4 hours. Seems fishy.

mb

 

Seems outrageous, is what it seems.

 

Performance Spring Set; Koni Adjustable Struts and Shocks; 19mm Adjustable Rear Anti-roll Bar; Front Camber Plates + an alignment.

 

Not that I know for sure, but just from Dinan's website. The camber plates in the Dinan kit are fixed, not adjustable. Camber plates in the $500 range are fully adjustable. Depending how the rear sway bar is installed, if they cut the original bar or if they drop the suspension, that could add to the labor time.

 

The article I read liked the Dinan over the JCW..... if you are only going to do it once it might be worth it..... I think it was in MC2

 

Yea that's one of the articles I read, too. I love the idea of upgrading with a MINI product, but I know that I'm not going for the whole JCW kit, so that sort of throws a wrench in that idea.

Anyone here with adjustable shocks? You like?

mb

 

I'm running fully adjustable coilovers... there's something to be said for complete adjustability...

 

The Dinan kit is not fully adjustable - it's just the shocks. Coilover kits alone put me up in another price range with a camber kit added, correct?

mb

 

I know you're trying to pick between the Dinan and the JCW based on their engineering, but you should really wait for just a few weeks until Texas SpeedWerks releases their Sport suspension. I have the first one (I'm the tester / guinea pig) and it is FANTASTIC.

The TSW Sport suspension uses Leda struts, Leda springs in the front and Hypercoil coilovers in the rear. I don't know the spring rates but I know how it feels, and I love it.

Having driven other MCS MINIs with the JCW suspension I can say that the TSW Sport suspension rides better, handles better and feels more attached to the road. I think the total time to install and corner balance my car was about 6 man-hours but I could be mistaken. In any case it's well engineered and I really love it. TSW also will be making a fancier version with adjustable Ledas.

 

I recently put the JCW suspension kit on my car after having h-sport springs and koni shocks on it. The h-sport springs were way too harsh for my needs (driving in LA traffic). My cooper s handles great!. It is firmer than the cooper s I drove with the sports suspension +, but not too bad. The JCW suspension reminds me a lot of the first 2002 cooper s that I drove which had a firmer stock suspension setup. I also have the 19mm h&r rear sway bar. Steering feel and response is improved over stock, not much lean in the corners, darting around, changing lanes is also very quick. BMW, Mini dealers charge too much for labor. I would buy the JCW suspension kit and have another qualified mechanic with lower labor rates put the kit on. It is a very cool suspension setup. The JCW suspension is the BEST suspension setup that I have tried. Just my 2c

 

I love the JCW suspension. Smoother ride than stock and better handling, plus it is one of the few JCW items that is very reasonably priced.

 

Thanks for the input. I've never heard of the texas speedwerks product except for one other thread here, but I'll keep my eyes open for it.

mb

 

I can't say enough good things about JCW Springs with Koni FSD setup. It replaced PSS9s and for my tastes it really seems like a simpler, cheaper and better setup for doing rural and city (Boston) driving plus about 6 track days on most years. It was more of what I was hoping the Bilstiens would be on their softer settings. I still think my mechanic and i may have somehow blown the setup on the coilovers. Next Mini event I'll try and drive or ride in a PSS9 equipped car and see if it seems like it had the same ride as mine.

 

I've been very pleased with my JCW suspension (with an H-Sport Comp rear sway). Better ride than the SS+ on our 05 MCS, better handling during spirited driving & just the right amount of drop in ride height after it settled. I've also now added a set of H-Sport adjustable control arms for more adjustability in the rear.

As already mentioned, it is priced very reasonably and tailored to the weight of your individual car. I paid around $700, plus another $200 for a non-dealer install and then another $125 for a dealer alignment. I do recommend not getting the alignment until after the suspension has settled all of the way, instead of immediately after the install.

 

hey guys, can't you only corner balance with coilovers? Or can you do it with adjustable shocks and front camber plates/rear control arms?

 

Only with coilovers... You can drive on the scales and see how wacked the cross weights are with adjustable shocks, though.

In all seriousness, the MINI ain't bad right out of the box as far as cross-weights are concerned... Better than a lot of other cars I've seen!

 

thought so.

thanks

 

Tyder

How are the Ireland camber plates? Are they the fixed ones or ajdustable ones? I have a very similar car and I was hoping that the
the Ireland camber plates would do two things for me. One better turn in and Two
protection against the dreaded mushroomed strut tower. Did it affect your ride hieght?

Thanks

 

For what its worth, I have driven both cars with both suspension on the track. The JCW is nice but felt a little more squishy to me as you have to understand that this is offered from a dealer which has their main focus on the other 98% of the population that is not totally focused on performance. JCW is nice dont get me wrong but like I said I felt a slight bit more body roll with it then the Dinan suspension. The dinan is a nice ride and is firm, not hard but firm. When they put the suspension on my car it took a long time but then again I changed from H&R coil overs to their suspension, A. because I did nto like having to back in and out of my dirveway hearing the lower lip scrape everytime I did, and B. because it allowed my wife to be able to drive the car without feeling nervouse she was going to hit something. It took a long time because they had to order some OEM suspension hats for theirs to work well. I love the suspension now and so does my wife, but if you are going for that JCW badge look and everything then go that route, either way it comes down to what you want it to solve for you and what other factors influence your decision. If you were in the bay area I would happily let you drive my car and feel it for yourself, but your not. Sorry and good luck on that decision you have. Dinan = totally worth it, JCW = good stuff just my $.02 though.

 

I'm running the street/race Ireland plates... if anything, ride height dropped about 1/8" after install. Turn in is much better, and the beefy top plate can't hurt in preventing mushrooming. One thing to note - installing plates and tweaking the alignment will generally require you to back off the rear swaybar. That's been my experience on every car, Cooper or S, I have helped set up, anyway.

My current settings: -2.2 camber up front, 1/8" total toe OUT in front, -1.2 camber in the rear and neutral toe. Car has wicked quick turn in, immediately takes a set in sweepers, transitions with authority (e.g. slaloms or high-speed offsets), and just generally hauls major bootay around any course (autocross or road course). Corner speeds are definitely higher, and straight line stability is very good. The coilovers helped dial out the slight twitchiness I had before with the Bilstein SP/H&R spring combo, which I chalk up to a function of corner weighting, chosen spring rate and valving, and adjustability.

The plates DO transmit more NVH even with the urethane surround, and they will creak every now and then... But, it was well worth the tradeoff. So far, mine have held up well given countless autocrosses and track days.

Just my $.02.

 

scobib

Exellent feedback thank you

 

I don't think the article compared the JCW kit to the Dinan...JCW does not appear in the article as a direct comparison. I would bet money that the Dinan was compared with the stock suspension.

9 plus hours is a lot of time for four struts and an alignment...but if you want the warranty...JCW installed is approx $1,500.00 plus the camber kit. If the Dinan kit is ride height adjustable and corner balancing is inlcuded, then the 9 hours is still a bit much, but not all that bad. I had to remove and re-build my front Megans a couple weeks ago and the total job including clean-up took two hours.

Irelands fixed camber plate is approx. $300.00. Camber up to and a little beyond 2 degrees negative will not wear tires excessivly if rotated properly, but will diminish steering feel. Toe out will wear tires as the tires are literally dragged along for the ride.

 

Meb - actually they're $189 direct from Ireland. Got them in the garage waiting to go on, debating if I should wait until after winter..