I am looking for some shocks and struts for my mini for the next autox season. I looked at the koni yellows which allow ajustable rebound stiffness and will complement a 25mm sway bar very nicely to bring the *** end around. Is this the best way to go? Are there other options in terms of shocks and struts?

 

I went with the Koni Yellows and a 22mm solid bar. So I'd say you got it right, but if I had more $$ I'd have gone with some custom valved Bilsteins from Fat Cat Motorsports.

Others can chime in, but I think those are the two most chosen options, unless you are jumping out of stock/street... then coilovers are an option.

 

The Koni yellows would be a great choice. There are other options but you probably don't want to hear the cost and they would have to be custom fabricated anyways.

 

personally going the bilstein sport route - not sure if I'll have them custom valved from the getgo though..

 

Are the Bilsteins coilovers? Cause those are not stock legal. I am building the car for stock class.

 

me too - see the build in my sig.

bilstein HD and sports are just dampers, which are stock legal. Monotube gas. According to more than a few people, the bilstein sports revalved should be as good as anything for stock class. cant afford what FCM asks for a revalve quite yet, so I think I'm gonna run with the sports stock for a while. Was going to go with the Konis, but for the rears you have to remove them to adjust anyway, which can take a toll on the threads in the rear control arm I believe. So at least for the rears, just want a high quality set and forget setup. That was my thinking anyway, all but certain I'll be running the Bilstein sports next season. I had the Bilstein HDs on my evo, was a great setup.

 

The problem is that the adjusting the rears is the easiest way to tune the car's handling. I've had mine in and out at least a dozen times now and the threads seem fine. Just be gentle and hand thread and don't over-torque.

 

i agree, definitely a valuable degree of freedom as far as tuning handling. personally though, i'll just be adjusting tire pressures and adjusting rear bar if necessary. i think the bilstein shocks are worth giving that up, esp once revalved. we'll see though

 

I have seen someone in a mini adjust bump stiffness without taking the shocks off. The yellows are out of the question if I have to remove them to do adjustments

 

i believe so, just the rears obviously, unless you've got a jcw front strut tower brace (which I do as well). adjustability is nice (i've got ohlins on the evo) but for the mini i'd rather just get an awesome damper in a set-it-and-forget-it format. one of the suspension gurus around here will tell u the bilstein sports are as good as the koni yellows, and that's before revalving.

your call of course. adjustability is nice, but seems a pain in this set up. for the evo, the adjusters for front are on the bottom, and for the rears it's just a matter of removing the trunk liner, which i just leave out these days

i checked with FCM about valving the bilsteins to spec though.... it costs more than the bilsteins themselves