Short history: Well I come from a BMW background, and as gas prices rise, and college came to an end, I needed better gas mileage. Test drove an '07 lease turn-in with 20k and had to have it. Chili Red/white S model 6 Speed/ sport package.

Within the first 3k of me having it, it needed a new tranny - under warranty.
1k after that - fuel pump failure - under warranty

Besides those two disapointments, I love my Mini and wouldn't trade it for a thing!

So with spring coming up soon, I am looking into just some minor modifications. I have done the reading and think I will order the H&R sport springs. I want to keep my stock 17" wheels but am curious about the look after lowering it....should I buy spacers? 5mm enough?

Other than that, I don't really have much else planned. Maybe a new exhaust and a re-tune - can someone also point me in the direction of the chip most commonly used?

Thank you for your advice!

 

If you plan on lowering it with new springs and not doing the install yourself, it would be about the same price as coilovers in the long run. The shocks/struts will go, then you will need to replace them and pay for labor.

Springs $250
labor $250
shocks/strus $600+
labor $250
Total=== $1350+

Coilovers $1100+ (h&r on sale right now)
labor $250
total===== $1350+

I made the mistake of doing it the first way on my GTI, not this time with the MINI.

 

Thank you for the reply!

I am a very handy mechanical person and do all work on my BMW, Mini and other cars myself. Am replacing the front brake pads soon and while the wheels are off, wanted to put the springs on...Alta has them for $199.

My main concern is the look after the lowering without spacers. Are they something else I should invest if along with the springs?

I also see you included new shocks/struts...do I have to upgrade those as well if I want to put the H&R sports on?

 

The shocks will wear out faster as the travel rate is being compressed. I am in the boat of do it once, and not have to do it again.

As far as the look, it depends on what you want. With the springs you are limited to how low they are going to go. With the coilovers, you will have more room to adjust how you want. The H&R's go down about 1.5", which is a little more than most springs go.

 

I was hoping that the sport suspension would be able to handle the load of the new springs but if this is not the case then I think I will pass on the idea. It would be getting up into more money than I wanted to spend...