Hi,
I decided in the end to change the shocks on my wife's Cooper S, we can't stand the harsh crashing suspension anymore. Any rubber mounts that are worth doing the same time? the car has 55k miles...
Thanks

 

Feels like I need more information on why or what you think is making the Mini ride so harsh? I fully understand harsh ride and my wife basically hating to ride in it , but I had JCW springs on custom valved double adjustable Koni's for autocrossing. Liked the look of the springs and the performance but it is no longer our autocrosser. Tried another setup and was not much better. In the end I just went back to my 60k mile stock shocks with the JCW springs. In the process I had a bad inner ball joint on a control arm so I replaced all four upper mounts, all 4 bump stops, all 4 swaybar endlinks , front swaybar bushing, control arms, outer ball joints and aft control arm bushings. The car rides good, still a little harsh on a few bad bumps but the steering response is greatly improved and not a rattle or squeak from the suspension.

anything connected to the shock is no extra work to replace and the parts are not that costly.

 

Plus my mini has 140k so it was way over due for the refresh.

 

Does the car still have runflat tires? Going to standard non-runflats will likely fix the ride way more than changing out the shocks.

 

Yes, thanks, been there... already had non-run flats when I bought it... still tough as hell and crashing everywhere. Thanks!

 

I would keep the stock springs, get Koni FSD shocks, new sway bar end links, new front strut mounts, and PowerFlex rear shock bushings.

 

+1 front shock mounts and rear ones replaced. Powerflex rear if you never want to do it again.

 

Links? can't find them on your website... I am an ECS customer for over 10 years now

 

Front mounts:
https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2012-...t/Strut_Mount/

Rear PowerFlex:
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-powerfle...fr5-115x2~pfx/

 

Hello, Thanks for the orders nik beat me to it.

 

Is your Mini lowered? Looks a little like it in the pic?

In addition to non-run-flat tires, if you have 17" wheels, you will improve your ride going to 16" wheels. We went from run flat 17's to regular 17's to regular 16's, wouldn't go back.

Jeremy

 

No I don't think it is lowered. I mean that's how I got it but stance looks oem.. Got koni socks to go on in soon so we'll see.. Might look at wheels next... Thanks

 

Well, I had some time today and changed the front shocks for now... All I can say that it transformed the car. All I did is koni active FSD shocks and the top front shock bushing (the big one with the bearing inside). The car is no longer crashing on bumps and potholes, it drives more like my 335xi ... Still have to do the rear, but the improvement is very noticeable.
Thanks @WayMotorWorks for providing the shocks so quickly, they are very nice indeed.
I am happy to report it does not need any wheel change or anything like that; it was just the poor quality of the OEM shock absorbers on these cars (like many other items, unfortunately).

As soon as I get the top rear bushings, I will proceed with swapping the rears too. Can hardly wait....

 

Happy to help