I'm looking to lower my MINI and I would like to lower it about as far as the JCW Challenge car. I think that car does a 2" drop but that seems pretty low. Does any one have pics of a 1.5" drop or 2" drop? I want to see what it looks like to determine what is doable for me.

 

Drop it too much and you will get a lot of wheel rub in the wheel well. The plastic lining will get eaten away.

 

A 1.2"-1.4" is good enough. Why go lower unless you want to slam the car completely.

 

If you want to be JCW Challenge low, you need coilovers. That's all there is to it. I believe they used to run a modified KW V3. Not sure what kind now. Even on lowering springs you'll have plenty of wheel gap. By plenty I mean about two-three fingers. Certainly better than a fistful like stock. There are plenty of pictures of users with lowering springs on this discussion:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ered-mini.html

Mine is lowered over 2.5" and I would say it's right at the limit of being too low for track. On 215/45/R17 tires running 17x7 wheels at +43mm offset in the front (+10mm spacer) the front tires definitely will rub a bit when the suspension gets loaded after coming over a hill really fast. It's not to the point of rubbing on metal though. I have a gash in my front wheel well liners and just a hair of the plastic had to be shaved with a Dremel tool. But man does it look good

My rear doesn't rub at all, but that's most likely because I don't need to run a spacer in the back. The only reason I need to have spacers in the front is so the inside of my tire doesn't rub the coilover spring and I also need to clear my big brake calipers.

Here is what it looks like. There is just a little bit of suspension loading on the drivers side since I'm tracking out of a turn. It's still very tucked looking standing along in a parking space.



The lower you make the MINI the larger small objects and animals in the road start to become. BEWARE

It's definitely possible to go lower, but I can say without doubt that driveability will be affected after that. Sure, a car slammed on airbags looks insane, but there is no way a car like that gets driven hard. It's a balancing act.

 

1.4" drop

 

HAHA! I'm sure those objects do get larger, but your car looks quick enough to make them look smaller once you fly by them. I think the 2" drop is enough. I like the stance the Challenge car has but I wasn't sure if I would run into problems with the 2" drop. Your photo was exactly the visual help I was looking for. I think the H&R Sport Club kit will work perfectly at this point. Now I need to get some rear control arms so the back doesn't have excessive negative camber. Is there something to reduced the negative camber in the front without needing to buy camber plates?

 

Usually, when you go more that a 1.5" drop, you will need camber plates (front and rear). You will also need adjustable lower control arms as well. This is the very reason I went with a 1.4" drop (H&R sport springs). No need for camber plates. There was enough adjustment for camber. I did install NM Engineering Titanium adjustable lower control arms. For the street, my setup works extremely well. It would even be suitable for some track use. For an all out track car, I would definitely go with coilovers, camber plates, and lower control arms. You may even consider a stiffer adjustable rear sway bar. I am using a 22mm NM Engineering adjustable rear sway bar with NM adjustable end links.

 

I'm glad I could help!

You will definitely need rear lower adjustable control arms if you want to get exactly back to stock negative camber in the rear. H-sport make some great ones. Before I had camber plates up front, my front camber was from what I remember about -0.6 degrees MAX. It will differ car to car, but it was nothing extremely out of whack. You can definitely live without them.

 

You no not need camber plates to drop more then 1.5". Ride height doesn't effect camber very much in a macpherson strut suspension.

Adjustable rear control arms are definitely advisable though.

 

I am close to parting with my Koni yellows and NM Springs if you are interested.

 

Don't lower it. On my last mini, I tore off the front bumper pulling into someones driveway that sloped uphill and had a small crack in it.

 

Sounds like you need a lesson on how to drive a lowered car. My last car had less than 3" of ground clearance, and I never had issues.

 

 

Wheel Gap kills bro!

 

On that note going with a coilover vs. a lowering spring allows you to adjust the ride height. However most, if not all coilovers, even at their highest setting are lower than stock height. It is my understanding that Megan coilovers, all the way up, are fairly close to stock height. Can anyone verify that as a true statement? My daughter who will be 16 next year will eventually drive the car from time to time. I’d like to have the option of bringing it back up to stock height while she is home but be able to drop it a little while she is away at college.

 

KW coilovers 3.5" front and 4.5" rear ride height and love it for street use.

















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What KWs are you running and did you need spacers?

 

Kw v1 with 5 mm front spacers for front spring clearance and Hotchkis rear adjustable arms for camber.

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That is pretty damn low for V1s for sure.

 

The coilovers have around 5 threads left. I doubt ill go lower.

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Why? Because Race Car!

 

Dear Shane. You stopped my heart. It's true love lol. Extremely nice.

 

I am!!!!!

 

Was just gonna say that I already hit my driveway entering it at even the slowest speeds Luckily the plastic on the bottom of the aero kit doesn't seem to mind the scraping too much, but it doesn't sound pretty.