Anybody have any experience with these? I'm kind of window shopping coilovers. I currently have stock springs with Koni FSD shocks, but I think the shocks are done. I'm mostly daily driving these days but may have some track days/track attack events in the next year or so, as well as more mountain drives in my future. I'm not old, but I'm crotchety, and I've previously owned a lowered R53 and I was not thrilled with the ride, though the handling was fun. I'm trying to find something that will ride decently well so I can take my kids to school and not hate my life going to work, but still might give me options for adjustment and improved handling. The other setup I'm considering is stock springs with KONI sport (yellow) shocks and vorshlag adjustable camber plates (probably will get these with either setup, though having a set of coilovers with the vorshlag plates and keeping my stock setup to swap back in for extended periods of daily use is on my list of possibilities too)

 

The PSS-10 kit is now labeled as the B16 kit. I just installed the B14 kit in my R55 Clubman. So far, VERY impressed. Although, I did replace a blown out set of Megan Racing coil overs... The B16 are supposed to be pretty much the same as the B14s, just with adjustable damping. I would not hesitate to recommend the Bilstein kit. The damping on the B14s seem well suited to the springs that are included. Maybe reconsider if you REALLY need the adjustable damping of the B16. You can save almost half the cost by going with the B14s.

 

I have no experience with those coilovers, so can only comment on my R53. Originally fitted with Bilstein Eibach lowering springs in combo with Koni Yellows, Helix adj camber plates and -1 size 205/40R17 DOT race compound tires was much too stiff for local streets and highways. Changed that to OEM JCW Sport springs ("reds") in combo with same Koni Yellows, Helix plates and +1 size 215/45R17 Michelin PS4S summer tires made a world of difference. Much nice ride and no scraping the lower front center spoiler and diverter on dips and pot holes. Since you already have IE plates, why not keep those? I couldn't find any alignment shop within reasonable driving distance able or willing to deal with the need for extra steps vs typical Hunter equipment most shops use. I ended up doing it myself using an SPC Fastrax 91000 camber caster gauge but would have preferred to simply pay a competent shop to dial in my preferred settings. In hindsight, changing to those IE fixed plates might have been a better option.

 

That's not a bad thought, need is probably a strong word but want on the other hand.... How's the ride with the B14's? I found a deal on a set of the B16's lightly used for the price of the b14's


@MCS4FUN yeah, my ideal setup would be adjustable coilovers that are able to maintain the stock height and suspension travel, I think, but would have adjustable ride height, rebound, and compression. I think I may start to lean more towards the koni's with the stock springs. I'm really not interested in going lower, though it may be necessary. I really love the fixed plates, but with the amount of highway driving I do, I've been wearing the inside of my tires faster than the outer edges, Also I haven't been able to get both sides equal with fixed plates, so I'd like to use adjustable plates to get it exactly right. I have lifetime alignments with firestone and what I've been doing is trying to get it close at home with strings/levels and then getting firestone to check/fine tune it. But I think I may find a race shop near me and make some friends/spend some money.

 

Where are you located? I could make some alignment shop recommendations in the Rochester, NY area. If you are wearing your inside tire edge, I would blame a bad alignment with wrong toe measurements. I wouldn't trust Firestone techs to get it right, regardless what gets printed out on the paper.

The Bilstein are firm, but not harsh. Considering the Megan coils are almost the same price, the Bilstein are so much better at controlling suspension movements. My ride height is also at the low end of the recommended height from Bilstein. Not sure how the R53 set are designed, but I don't think mine could get to stock height.

 

I'm in Oklahoma for the next few months, then headed to Denver. I do often have to do some adjusting even after I get it back from firestone, but I've been running pretty much 0 toe or 1/32 toe out. The inner tire wear isn't terrible, but mildly accelerated when compared to the rest of the tire.

 

That slight amount of toe out will actually cause the tire to wear like that. For a daily, I would go from 1/32 toe OUT to 1/32 to IN. You could probably even go a little bit more than that. 1/32" converts to 0.8 mm. Spec for the R53 is about 1.5 mm toe IN per side.

 

Looked this up because I just installed B16s on my owned-from-new 2005 R50. I have them lowered as far as they go and currently on setting 2 front and rear. We had a set of B16s on my wife's old F30 and they felt taught-but-comfortable, and that's my initial impression with them on the MINI. The car was previously on Koni FSDs with Godspeed lowering springs, but my left front blew out recently (I guess this is what they mean by don't lower FSDs; they functioned fine for ~8 years and were comfortable, but perhaps the lowering created excessive pressure in the piston?). Anyhow, glad to have something nice and new on the car. Had to get special adapter bushings for them to work with my Vorschlag camber plates, and the guys there were SUPER helpful. The car sits about as low as it did with the previous setup on the front (room for one finger), and a bit lower on the rear (not enough room for a finger), but there's no rubbing even with 215s (10mm spacers on the front, no spacers on the rear, and about 1.5 degrees of camber front and rear), and I'm personally glad that the car sits a bit more level now (previously the rear was noticeably higher than the front). Very glad I finally pulled the trigger on these.

 

I have B14's on my R53 and I do not think they will get to stock ride height. I have the fronts adjusted almost all the up and I have maybe 1 finger clearance between the top of my tire and the fender. It's strange because I feel like the rears would reach stock ride height if I raised them more.

I have 15mm spacers all around. My front tires will rub the wheel arch trim (not the fender liners) but that material just wears off without damaging the tire and I think enough has rubbed off, there are no longer any clearance issues.

In conjunction with full polyurethane bushings on my suspension and a thicker rear swaybar, my car does ride firm but it is responsive - like the steering is hardwired to my brain and the car goes there right now.

 

@Racingguy04 I AM old and crotchety, but I still love my FSDs for both track and highway driving. I know the FSDs are not available anymore, but they put a new name on them, and I'm pretty sure the performance is very close if not better. I don't have enough miles to warrant replacing my shocks, but if I did, I would go in that direction.

 

The new FSDs are essentially the same thing, just the technology is updated a bit and they are now a reddish color (I personally thought the gold was really cool). My FSDs served me very well for ~8 years, but the new B16s are night-and-day different. I have the fronts set to 1 and the rears to 2, and this gives me a very comfortable (more comfortable than my FSDs) but much more controlled ride; it's like a completely different car. Granted, the B16s are over twice the price, so anything less would be very disappointing. To me, they were worth it, but the FSDs (or whatever they're now calling them) are an excellent choice.

 

So if they're twice as expensive, as they twice as good??

 

I'd say at least twice as good, if not more. They're in an altogether different league.

 

But you said the new FSDs are essentially the same thing, so I guess they're 'sorta new but very improved'? These aren't the types of things you can test drive before purchase, unfortunately. It sounds like the night and day difference I experienced when I switched from stock to the old FSDs...

 

The new FSDs are essentially the same as the old FSDs (I was replying to your post about FSDs). The B16s are in a different league.

All the best.

 

The FSDs are a replacement shock only, for use with OEM springs.

The B16s are full suspension replacement - new height adjustable shocks and springs, with adjustable damping.

If I had to pick between the two, and increased performance was my goal, I wouldn't hesitate to go with the B16s.

If OEM replacement, budget, and ride comfort are your goal, go with the FSDs.

 

Gotcha. My mistake. Thx!

 

I have a set of the PSS10s with the Bilstein springs and find them very stiff for a DD. I tried the with Strange springs (linear, not progressive) with no efffect. The Bilsteins are much stiffer as a shock than Koni or whatever else. BTW,I'm running 16" X 7" rims.
On track, the bilsteins are fine, but for DD, I wouldn't recommend them.
Just my $.02

 

That's good info. I'm very happy with my Konis and no lowering, both on the track and the street.