If I lower my Mini will I lose the ride quality? I really love the way the lowered minis look with the flushed out tires and I can afford it but is there a way to do it without getting beat up while driving or is it directly proportional?

 

I lowered my '05 with ST XTA coilovers and improved both the ride quality and handling over the stock SS+ suspension. I'm not sure how worn my suspension was, but it was almost 10 years old and only had 37K miles when replaced.

 

When you think about in straight mechanical terms......when you lower your mini (or anything for that matter), you loose overall suspension travel. If you loose suspension travel, there is less travel available to damped a given amount of suspension impact (created by bumps, potholes, rough spots).......so the suspension is either going to have to be stiffer on compression dampening to soak up the bumps with less available travel (be harder), or it's going to be bottoming out on the bump stops (ouch!!)

I'm sure that during normal highway driving....a lowered suspension can be just as nice and forgiving as a stock suspension, but as soon as you hit some big bumps or potholes, it's going to be a hell of a lot rougher.

 

^^^Or you get comfortable coilovers that center the same total stroke at a lower ride height. Thus, good ride quality at a lower ride height.

 

I'm not sure about the details on stroke and compression of the XTA's, but my car is less harsh over bumps and potholes than the factory SS+. I didn't slam my car though, the height is pretty much right out of the box, same with the compression settings. I'm sure if I went lower it would ride harder. I think ST's and KW's lose travel the more they are lowered because you are only adjusting the height of the lower spring perch. Other coilovers I've seen adjust the length of the strut body, but keep the total suspension travel the same.

 

Are you maybe more so concerned with the stiffness of the ride? Coils will improve the feel and handling of your MINI. It also will feel much better depending on how many miles you have on your current suspension. In terms of stiffness and the feel of the contact on the road a lot of people will go with KW V3's over stock. A lot of people report back that the feel and overall comfort is drastically improved.