Koni SA/DA's with Linear springs - if I can get a Linear Spring that works

Billstein PSS9's - Progressive

Leda's - Linear, but, not as reliable

KW Varient 2-way competitions - takes 3 months to get!!

Pilo/Megan Racing Coilovers - Linear and very inexpensive


What do you guys think? It needs to be a nationally competitive setup.

Billsteins and Pilo are easy and cheap, so are Leda's, not sure about production on those though. Koni's would be cheap as well, but, not height adjustable. I know the KW's are probably the best way to go, but, I don't have 3 months to wait.

What about the Pilo Megan coilovers? They are Linear rate.

Any knowledgable opinions?

 

What is unreliable about Ledas?
Also, what is inexpensive about them? It looks like their coilover setup runs about $3400 for the set that is remotely double adjustable after the exchange rate.

Jake

 

I have seen them for half that rate, although, maybe we are talking about a different coilover. I guess thats still not "cheap", but, I'm basing it off of the KW prices for the Competition 2-ways. From what I have heard from others, they leak oil and need re-building a bit more often.

I just checked my Koni's in the garage, and, oil poured out of one of them, so, I guess Koni's are not that reliable either. Not real happy about that.

 

if you have a relativly soft spring, don't let the travel get shortened too much. You'll bottom the shocks, gets even worse as you lower. Stiffer springs mitigate this, but require more dampening.... I bought used Ledas that were tracked for a season or two, and I've had them for about a year, and no leakage. I think something was changed in the seals to reduce that, but they can be revalved, and rebuilt, and when I looked into it, it wasn't that expensive.

For a good look at the aftermarket, European Car did a wonderful series of articles that looked at many, many offerings, but on an M3... But you can see the dampening vs velocity curves, and the range of adjustability. They also compared speed through turns on a track etc, while it's not a Mini, it's the best comparison I've seen on the subject....

Matt

 

I'm sure linear springs could be fitted to PSS9's but it would be a extra expense and that's what I'd do if I didn't already have the KW Competition 2 ways, which I am very happy with, and needed a very good shock quicker than KW can deliver.

 

Richard

thanks for the input. I might just go that direction. I wonder what the availability of such springs might be.

I have had an offer to convert my Koni DA's/SA's to coilovers using ground control sleeves and custom linear rate springs. So, I am currently looking into that. But, the PSS9 idea seems to make perfect sense. Any idea on sprint rates? 275/325?

 

Couple of comments about the Ledas as well. I have them on my 911 track car. I like them in all respects with the one exception that the body is steel. There were two things, aside from relative cost, that swung me to them. First, they are rebuildable locally. Unlike some (most?) shocks, Leda supplies rebuild components and the shocks can be redone without sending them back to the factory. To my mind thats a big plus, as it can take upwards of a month to have stuff revalved. Second, you can order Ledas as single adjustables (which I did) with the remotes blanked off. If in future you require doubles, it can be added after the fact. They can in some apps, don't know about minis, be mounted upside down, which if your talking nationally competitive you should certainly consider doing if its possible in the MINI world.

Of the higher end solutions Ledas are actually pretty inexpensive and compare resasonably IMO, to the JRZ, Penkses, Fox and to some extent Motons & Ohlins.