My JCW is in need of a suspension refresh (108K miles: signs of slight damper leakage and the top mounts need to be replaced anyway). I have the factory setup and would love to keep it original. Can you still buy brand new JCW struts? Or can the original ones be rebuilt by whoever manufactures them? Many thanks.

 

IMO

Don’t waste time with the JCW struts/shocks.

Also, IMO, don’t lower the car at all for the street or you will most likely lower the handling performance and increase NVH.

The R53’s already have only a small amount of available travel to deal with real roads, rocks, potholes, rough patches etc... every mm you take out is less that the suspension can deal with roads and still have optimal control.

Many enthusiasts often mistake firm ride or flatness with higher performance... not necessarily the case always.

Go straight for the Koni ‘Special Active’ Strut/shock package (AKA ‘FSD’s) ... get all new rubber components and strut mounts..

FCP has these great kits with OE components
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/min...-31306778833kt

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/min...rder-3125201kt

The FSD’s are what the factory would use if they could afford to put them on the car and meet consumer price points... in fact, that are now an accessory item available for the new MINI E.

Make no mistake that they are one of the best engineered ‘packages’ for the car ... Koni made great efforts to take a ‘systems approach’ with this package. They will improve both NVH and handling performance... The FSD equipped cars that I’ve driven/ridden out performed all shock or coilover packages, on the ‘real world’ streets... and all setup and tuning has already been done... just make sure to use stock MCS springs (not the red factory JCW springs)

I have Ohlins R&T’s and AST adjustable setups on two Minis... which took a LOT of work to get dialed-in... the FSD’s are 95% there, out of the box, for about 1/4 the price... of that tells you anything.

Tire rack Konis front link


Tire rack Koni Rear link





If you truly want to have super crisp handling, better than new ... Make sure that all of the rubber parts are gone through ... even the rear control arms

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/min...er-33326768724

if your inner and outer ball joints have any play on them ... like most 15 -20 year old Minis ... even many ‘low mile’ ones ... all of this stuff will not reach its potential.

I have the same factory JCW setup ... I have ordered or already have al of these components for my May refresh of the car!!

Im pulling off the factory struts/shocks whole and not reusing the springs as I believe, that I will have better performance overall with the factory MCS springs I picked up nearly new from a fellow NAM’r for peanuts 🥜! 🙂

I’ll keep my still working factory JCW parts in a box on the shelf for ‘posterity’


One other thing that I’m going with ... that is not ‘stock’ but all research and experience leads me to install a larger rear sway bar.

Im going with this (free shipping)
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-progress...m/62.0210~prg/

With good non-RFT tires on the car ... the handling will literally blow you away ... and ride better than the factory MCS or JCW ... or most aftermarket setups ... again, on real roads...








.

 

You can, have to purchase the struts as if replacement parts for a 2006 GP.
I'm on my third set of struts since installing the JCW suspension at 40,000 miles. It now has 244,000 miles.
2 sets were JCW and last set = Bilstein Sport Struts = https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...er-s-set-of-4/
Very happy with the swap, every bit as good as the JCW's and are designed for car running lowering springs so work with the JCW springs very nicely !




Bilstein Sport Shock Set for 2002-2006 MINI Cooper/Cooper S; Set = 2 front + 2 rear. Bilstein Sport Shocks offer a firmer ride quality than standard Heavy Duty (HD) shocks, these are designed for lowered vehicles and sport applications. For the performance minded driver, Sport shocks deliver absolute mastery of the road surface

 

Just my unsolicited advice, if you're going to replace the strut mounts, go with the ireland engineering fixed camber plates. I put some on 5,000 miles ago and my only regret is not doing it sooner.

 

Racingguy... curious what your model, year, suspension and wheelwheel/tire setup is?

 

I have an 03 S with stock springs, koni FSD shocks, IE fixed camber plates, adjustable lower control arms in the rear. I have a few sets of OEM wheels. My daily wheels are 17 inch S-lites (s-heavies) with michelin pilot sport as 3+ (all season pilot sports) in 215/45R 17. My track day wheels are OEM 16inch X-lites with hoosier R7s in 205/45 R16.

I'd actually like to find a set of JCW springs to swap onto mine, that would really complete my suspension set up, I think. I've pretty much replaced every suspension bushing with powerflex black. the last ones are the rear trailing arms, and I have the inserts, I just need to install them. Then with my power train mods, the car is a ridiculous amount of fun, while still being perfectly civilized for daily driving.

 

Nice setup .. the FSD’s are position sensitive in their valving...and the 10mm lower will make a diff... plus, you give up some precious travel... the FSD’s are amazing engineering. IMO, stick with your stock springs 😜

You kept stock rear swaybar?

 

Eh, they’re ok. But only depending on what area of the country you reside. For those whom reside in wet/winter regions, the only issue I have with their plates is that they RUst.....😡

 

The FSD’s are not designed for the OP’s JCW’s lowering springs....The FSD’s are not designed for any car with lowering springs. The set up would be operating outside the boundaries if their manufacturing design...

 

Thank you for the contributions! It sounds like using OEM JCW shocks is not the way to go. I really like the ride-height with the JCW springs - it's perfect for me, so I'd like to retain them, if possible. I would be glad to use Bilstein products: seems like Bilstein Sport shocks would complement my JCW springs the best?

 

I guess I haven’t had them long enough to know about rust, I did coat them with fluid film before I installed them, I was tempted to paint them for more rust protection.

im running a 19mm rear sway bar.

I believe that the new koni fsd aka special active, are approved for lowering springs, so that may be worth looking into.

 

I would get the Bilstein sport shocks, new front upper mounts, new upper rear shock mount bushings, and call it a day.

 

If anything they’re just like the JCW’s and compliments my other mods, urethane suspension components and 25.5mm rear sway bar while IMO not as harsh a ride....still corners nice and flat and very predictable turn in. I’m able to very predictably drift out rear end on tight turns keeping in the gas pulling back end through corner....

 

Yes... as i said above... stock MCS springs... (not JCW reds)

I believe that on a street car... good available travel can make for performance improvements... lowering a car on the street can also lower performance... setups abound of course... and 'looks' that the owner wants can't be ignored.



.

 

Acutally, lowering a car increases performance for cornering by lowering center of gravity, reducing frontal pressure and minimizing air pressure under the car reducing lift and drag. Why exotic high performance cars don't have lift kits.....

 

The base suspension for the JCW came with black springs. If you have these, the Koni FSD and the latest version of the FSDs will work with these springs. These Koni shocks are good for the road and ride. An option for better shock control (thus handling) are the Bilstein B8s. These have amazing ride quality even though they are firmer than the Koni FSDs. I ordered my R56 with the base JCW suspension, which is basically the same as the suspension that came on the R53 JCW. When I replace the shocks with the B8s I was sad that I didn’t do that the day I bought the car. The MINI shocks are really poor quality straight from the factory and the Bilsteins are so much better. My OEM shock, although not leaking, were worn out in about 35k miles.

Just to note - the JCW Red springs were part of the optional JCW Sport suspension that MINI used to sell. This was about a $1500 option with another $2200 to have it installed at the dealer. Not too many MINI were sold with this.

My personal recommendation is to either get the Koni FSDs, if you have the black springs and looking for ride quality with good handling, or get the Bilstein B8s if looking for better handling than the OEM shocks gave, better ride than the OEM shocks, but slightly less ride quality than the FSDs. Replace the front and rear upper shock mounts. If you are looking to keep your JCW original, stay with the OEM mounts. Nothing wrong with that. The IE fixed camber plates will give a much better turn-in feel to the steering which most people appreciate. And they will add a steel plate to the underside of the strut tower which will keep it from mushrooming. Doing all of this is part of replacing the shocks. There is no extra work involved, so it is just the cost of the parts.

The only other thing I would do is, when the car is up in the air, just check the front lower control arm bushings. These are back where the firewall meets the underside floor pan. I would only replace those if they are damaged. These could be fine, but they should be checked.

Don’t bother with a bigger rear saw bars. The JCW already comes with larger front and rear bars than a Cooper S has, and the total stiffness is similar to what a MINI Cooper S suspension has with a bigger RSB. Plus the JCW is better balanced with its bars.

This is only true to a point. On MINIs this is true only to about 1” of lowering. In addition to the above, lowering a car also lowers the roll center. Because roll center is a function of the lower control arm angle, with too much lowering the roll center can be below ground level and that will actually hurt handling. With MINIs, a little is good; more is not.

 

Stronger springs/dampers/adjustable upper/lower rear control arm compensate for any ill effects. For the OP of this thread JCW suspension only lowers a MINI up to 3/4 of an inch. ( 1/2 in is advertised by MINI) but with JCW gas struts over time have seen as much as 3/4".

 

I appreciate the civil discussion here- I'm learning a lot.

My 03 MCS was delivered with factory "Sport Suspension", which is apparently lower and stiffer than standard. Are these springs suitable for the Koni FSDs?

Thanks again.

 

Bit confused now. My (black) front struts have JCW stickers on them and red springs. Are you saying that these red springs were likely not on there originally, and a previous owner swapped them in for a lowered appearance?

 

It sounds like you might have the rare 1st gen JCW suspension kit. The “option” was rare because it was a high cost dealer accessory and not a factory option a car could be built with, except for possibly being standard on a GP. Most went with lower cost aftermarket options with equal or better performance.

From all that I’ve read, the FSD’s or the renamed Special Actives will fail prematurely if used with lowering springs so the Bilstein B8’s might be the way to go.

 

There is no ride height difference between your 03’ Sport Suspension ( fairly standard on a MCS at that time) and the stock suspension....not sure who told you that but the only difference is the spring rate, not ride height.

 

Great, thank you.

 

True

I know this is confusing, as it was for a lot of people. MINIs had 4 suspension for the Cooper. The base Cooper, the “S”, the base JCW, and the JCW Sport suspension. The red springs came with the JCW Sport suspension. This was a MINI option, but it was a dealer installed option, versus being factory installed. The option came with thicker sway bars (front and rear), stiffer shocks and stiffer and lowering springs than what the base JCW suspension had. You likely have a bit of a rare MINI there. I would pair all of that with the Bilstein B8s.

As for how much the JCW red springs lowered the MINI, for the R56 it was 10mm. I am pretty sure the same was true for the R53. A lot of people rounded that to 1/2 inch, but it is more like 3/8 inch.

Just to add to the confusion, the base JCW suspension could be ordered on the Cooper and Cooper S. The option was called “Sport Suspension” and it was a $500 option. If yours was listed as an option, then that was what you have. The springs were black and were of standard height.

 

I’ve also seen “Sport Suspension Plus” which I could never find info on. Do you know what that was?

 

The base suspension came on the One. The sport suspension was standard on the R50 Cooper. Sport suspension plus was standard on the R53 and optional on the R50. All least that’s how it was when I ordered my car.

I don’t know about the factory installed JCW suspension (I assume that was a thing?), but I know the kit you could buy was just springs and struts. It used the same sway bars as the stock SS+ package.

There are a whole bunch of different springs for each package that are coded to the car options, like the sunroof.