Greetings!
I own an '05 Cooper S with 79K miles on her. I've owned Twiggy for a year now and I am wondering if I should replace all the shocks or not.
The ride is firm and comfortable and I don't track or race her. I do notice that on certain bumps or potholes--small ones that you can't miss, the car seems to hit pretty hard.
How do I know if they are really bad or not. The tracks straight as an arrow and no shimmy.
I've been reading on Koni's new FSD shocks. These are not coil over. So what's the real difference between coil over and not?
Thanks all!

 

to check if they are still good go to each corner and push down on the car multiple times in succession... if the car beings to stiffen up and become more difficult to push back down, shocks are good. but if you can push and the car just bounces up and down and is easy to do this, shocks are bad.

cooper s shocks are stiff to begin with, so hitting dips in the road and pot holes will hurt.

coil overs are just shocks and springs. the springs go over the shock body(coilover). as apposed to a normal every day shock where the spring sits on this giant perch on top of the shock body. also the coilovers are adjustable and depending on how much money you want to spend the will either just lower your car and the more you spend you can get a full race setup with you can adjust height, dampening, rebound, camber, caster, toe, ect... your average good coilover will be around 800-1000 and will do height, dampening, and camber. even some regular shocks can be adjustable too like these koni yellows have dampening abilities.

if you want you can change over to FSD's they will make your mini ride so much better than the stock setup.
coil overs

regular shocks.

 

Coilovers include springs, and can usually lower a car, and usually has multiple adjustment options....until you get pretty $$$$ ones, they tend to ride much firmer than stock, but CAN offer more adjustments to get better race-car like handling...and ride.
Koni fsd's are pretty nice...
I found my stock struts had "firmed" up with age ...no traditional bounciness...just a firmer and firmer ride...no leaks. The fsd's restored my ride to better than new....the rate at which a stut wears depends largely upon roads and loads....so no majic number like some adds would lead you believe .

 

And i can say, while the suspensions on mini's are firm, a bump or dip should never "hurt"....if you mini rides more like a sled or wagon than a car...you are WAY overdue for struts!!

 

I replaced struts at around 65K with KONI FSD and really like them, also added a 19MM adjustable sway bar at the same time and really like it a whole lot better. Got them on sale from: http://www.motoringwerks.com/c-631-m...uspension.aspx
and they're on sale for the same as what I paid last summer.

 

i dont mean hurt as in hurt, to me any bump like a pot hole hurts did i confuse you yet

 

If you have that many miles on stock struts they are done.

 

Nice link. Thanks. And that price is more reasonable for me and what I want out of the ride itself being I don't race and don't want to mess with height.
Thanks!

 

Hmmm, I never thought of the old school bounce test. I will do that this week. Lots of great info here and I appreciate you taking the time to help me out!

 

Yep, right at 80K miles and on WV roads.

 

Just replaced mine at 65K miles with Koni FSD and the ride is amazing. We found the old one were shots and I think it was around 55K miles because the hard rough ride.

There is no way to test the shock unless you take them out and inspect them.

 

These are the ones I want. Good to know you like them and they don't break the bank.

 

I had them for a week now and still looking for more ways to drive the car. Just amazing and comfort where the ride should be. Feel like my BMW again... well not exactly.

Way Motor Works has the best price when I purchased last week. Shipping and transaction was prompt and great deal.

Had them installed at Helix - www.helix13.com

 

We don't race either. The sway bar adds a huge amount of stability over stock and makes taking the twisties even more fun.

 

Koni fsd's for ride quailty...some track junkies don't like them cause they are progressive....but great on the street....
And a bigger rear swaybar to make the turns more fun!!
bet those back roads are a blast in WV!! I spent a few years around the salem/clarksburg/bridgeport area years ago....some of those lightly traveled back roads are truely gems!!

 

Found some nice back road today to try out the Koni FSD which was installed last week. Awesome ride and agility...

What do you think about adding the rear sway bar on the Clubman?

 

I just had Koni FSD's installed on my wifes R53 with 54k miles. Wow what a difference. We had a broken strut mount so i thought it would be good time for the new Koni's. Our car rode horrible, very stiff. Now it feels like a new car, very nice ride, crisp handling.

 

Never driven a clubman, but if you find it understeer a bit too much, it is a great help.
On gen1 cars, we GENERALLY use a bigger bar to get the same effect than gen2...
That having been said, i went with a mildly bigger swaybar to prevent slick road surprises...it stll made turns, ramps, etc nicer...not "wow..amazing" like some folks say with a hugebar...but i kept my cars manners pretty well intact.....no snap oversteer if i let off the fuel in a tight turn for a car/cop on a ramp....for me it is about finesse, not wow factor....i did this knowing i DO drive in nasty weather,snow tires and all....for a weekend car, a huge swaybar can be fun....but be careful about letting others barrow your car...if you are not ready for the handling change..can be a nasty surprise.
Imo, bang for the buck, the swaybar is the way to go....at one point i remember reading us cars got a smaller swaybar than euro speced cars from mini (years ago), cause it made the car handle like we expected...thank years of asian imports for training us consumers to EXPECT understeer i guess....

 

Thanks ZippNH - I still have the Blizzak tires so I did not push it so will wait for a bit warmer with summer tires. It is my daily driver so I don't drive crazy but just to enjoy the twisty once in a while.

 

heh. im at 92k, and often wondered if my struts were "gone".
ill ask mini of orlando to see what they "think" when i go for the next oil change.
but, it sounds like, they are indeed toast.

any ideas on how much the dealer charges to install a new set of coil overs?

 

I sure wouldn't take it to a dealer for that. I had mine installed at an alignment shop and the guy charged me $25.00 a corner including installing the sway bar while he had the old struts removed..

 

Well, mini of Orlando has always been really good to me. They have never forced parts or work or BS'd me in any way, so I'd trust them to give me an honest opinion about work needing to be done and costs. I also like having them do my work, bc if something craps up, they'll fix it no questions asked, and they are the mini experts! Great bunch a guys down there

 

+1

I replaced all of my stock shocks at around 80K miles with FSD's....and it was a huge night and day difference. The ride is SO much better....

 

I like others decided to take mine out because I had torn strut tower mounts - both of them.

First thing I will say about that -- while they were torn on top -- the tear only went down about 1/8" -- so my visions of the strut mount failing and having the strut drive straight through the hood while the car hit the pavement -- not sure if it would be that dramatic.

Second -- if your car grew up on the west coast like mine -- you might have a shot at getting the pinch bolt out without a drill or any kind of heat. Luckily we hit mine with PB blaster let it soak in while I changed my transmission fluid and then went to it -- they came out with steady even pressure without issue.

Passenger side came out clean -- no corrosion present, the drivers side like everyone has noted had some corrosion but also came out clean -- I had purchaed new pinch bolts from MINI $6 each, and re-installed them with a thin coating of anti-seize.

I went cheap -- and only got the two front struts replaced with KYB GR-2s...I wanted a comfortable ride, no firmness (live in NYC) and no height adjustment -- the car is staying stock height.

Comfort level in the car is dramatically improved -- even though I went from 16" rim and tires to 17" rims and 205 45 R 17s

I know I need to do the rear struts -- which I will in time but thus far I am super pleased with the new setup -- and the relative ease of installation...including fiddling around a little it took a hair over 2.5 hours.

One thing to note on the use of a spring compressor --make sure you compress it evenly so that the spring stays "flat" -- you don't want it getting pulled to one side like I had.. it makes putting the strut back together a huge pain.

Good luck.

 

So you are saying a local shop could do the work as well and cheaper than a dealer? I've heard Minis take all these special tools and know how to work on them. I'm even afraid to tackle the brakes myself though I've changed many on other vehicles. The local guy is very good and stands behind his work. Somehow I'm thinking a dealer would just breeze through the job?
Thanks.