Love the Red Belt line on yours and have you consider the Red mirro caps.

 

Thanks! I tried red elsewhere but settled on less is better. I intentionally put black mirror caps on both MINI's and put Cooper fuel door and spoiler on the "S" to make it understated. I also removed the emblems on the rear hatch on both MINI's. I put the JCW Scuttles on both yet kept the amber signal lamp lenses in them to match the front turn indicators. I took the skylight/moonroof and had it covered in pepperwhite vinyl because if I want light I will open the roof, if not then all I need is fresh air and I crack them open. Lots of small things.

Suspension testing and work station for the home. This is how I heard the "Clunk" without driving the car.

 

Nice lift.....do you have a link to that baby?

 

http://www.ezcarlift.com/

Good folks to do business with; follow the directions and you will not have trouble. You do NOT need any of the accessories like the "Pucks" to lift a MINI, just the Lift itself.

 

Well, I tried them and they produce a great ride, BUT, they seem to be ripping up my top strut plate rubber to metal bushings. I get a clunking noise and once I found the source of the noise it appeared to be a top strut plate separating from the rubber bushing in itself.

I bought a new set of OEM strut plates and the noise went away, for a while, and now it is back. I will soon put the MINI back up on the lift and see if it(the clunk) is coming from the same location. So, it appears that the MINI Sport Suspension Bilstiens are going to go back on the little beast Terrible ride but they work...

Any suggestions???

 

Another data point - one of my '08 MCS front shocks had failed at 23K miles. Symptoms: clunking from that right (passenger) front corner, yet the sway bar links were good and nothing was loose.
Replaced under warranty, though the dealer refused to replace the accompanying left front shock. I escalated to MiniUSA, and am still (not really) awaiting a response a year later.

For what it's worth, when I had a similar failure on my BMW (with one rear shock), dealer replaced both under warranty without any hassle. That's one of many differences between BMW and Mini service *sigh*

a

 

I have gone to Koni Yellows. The rears are set at 50% and the front at about 70%. I love the ride. No problems so far.

 

If shocks do not perform properly, they increase the wear rate on the coils. When coils fail, they twist and snap, creating razor sharp edges. The broken coil dangles down and frequently gets its pointy edge into the inner wall of the tire.

If this happens at speed, the literal shredding of the tire creates a potentially uncontrollable vehicle at speed. My vehicle broke its OEM front right coil after 66,000 miles. I would change all shocks and coils after 50,000 regardless of what anyone says about their suitability.

The life you save might be your own.

 

I was wrong about ripping up the top strut plate. They shocks would not stand up to the "Sport Suspension" springs and then developed a clunk internal to the strut/shock.

The OEM shocks never made this noise but they also rode like I was driving my antique bulldozer, stayed flat but felt every little bump/seam in the pavement.

I have been using Bilstien B8's and Swift springs for over a year and they ride firm but smoother than the OEM setup and boy does it corner!!!

I would put Bilstien shocks on again if necessary.

 

This might be a couple of dumb questions:
Why would I replace my suspension?
How do I know when I should replace them?

 

If you are bottoming out when hitting a pot-hole or going over a speed bump.
Also, if upon inspection a shop tells you that the control arm bushings are shot.

 

It has been a while since I have been on this Forum.

From my experience I would say that normal suburban driving, and urban driving, are more destructive to shocks than freeway or race track driving. Think potholes and driveways, speed bumps, etc. Those kill shocks, and your MINI.

How do you tell if the car needs to change shocks? Well if you notice a bouncing after going over a bump then the shocks are not dampening.

Why would you change MINI shock that don't bounce? Well, I have the factory "Sport Suspension" and it rides/rode like an empty 1 ton truck without changing things, unless I put a full load in the MINI (wife, luggage, and several boxes of books) and then it rode nicely. That is crap, so I swapped out the springs and shocks. Shocks alone would have softened the ride but I figured why not make more changes while I was there.

I put in Blistiens B8 shocks and Swift Spec-R lowering springs. WOW, it handles like a real gokart and is not more stiff than the oem setup but the harshness over small bumps is gone. We took a trip across the USA and it was comfortable and no complaints from my wife.

I am going to put Bilstiens , maybe B6's , on the "Sport Suspension" springs as a second set so I can get ride height back to stock. Lowering it meant I need to be more careful on speed bumps and driveway aprons, but it handles great. The stock height might sacrifice handling a wee bit but that might be acceptable because I am getting older and slower :-)

I hope my observations have helped someone. And BTW, I swapped out the springs and shocks myself and had them re-aligned once I get it re-assembled.