Hello everyone, new here and new to Mini's.

Bought an '03 R53 about 6 months ago with 80,000 miles on it. Drove great for the first 5 months and then everything started going wrong. Ended up needing over $2,500 in parts and $4,000 in labor (stealership) to fix the darn thing! More than what it's worth but I was too far in to it and really want to love it. Repairs were coolant reservoir, thermostat housing, water pump, supercharger, oil pan, front axle boots, front control arm bushings, power steering pump, and a little bit more that I can't remember off the top of my head.

Anyways after all of that the Mini's ride is still awful. I know it's a small sports car and the ride can be rough, but it's real bad. This is my daily driver and I just wanted a fun car for my long commute.

I have run flats with 17' wheels. I know that non run flats will help the ride a lot along with going with a smaller wheel. Should I go as low as 15 or go to 16? I'm just trying to get the smoothest ride as possible. I will likely never see a track and cornering fast is fun and all but having a smooth ride is the most important for me.

Also now it almost has 90k miles and the rear suspension feels a lot worse than the front. (They did replace the front control arm bushings) I'm going to get new rear control arm bushings should I get the mini ones since the fronts are those or could I get aftermarket in the rear and it will help more but not throw anything off since the fronts are oem? (Sorry trying to pick up on all of this)

I'm on a really tight budget after all the other work that had to be done, should I just get new struts and not springs? What does everyone recommend for a daily driver that won't lower it? Are the Bilstein B4 Touring Class the way to go? What about the Koni FSD? Would I need to buy anything else to put the new struts on?

Sorry a the ton of questions. Any help would be very grateful, thank you all.

 

At 80K are the struts original? If so, they are more than likely shot. Check with some of the vendors for good deals on struts.
A 16 inch wheel and NON RF(!!!) tires will also help with the ride a great deal.

 

16's or 15's with non runflat tires will make a big difference in it self, then wait for one of the huge koni sales, and get the fsd's. the oem shocks even newish are still a harsh ride, they don't have good dampning manners

 

+1 on the FSD struts. Should have mentioned that.
These guys have them on sale now.
http://www.motoringwerks.com/default.aspx

 

^^^^^^^^ Like Salty said; just ditching the run flats will improve the ride immensely. The Koni sales just ended unfortunately, but it will start back up next year around mid Spring, and the FSD is a great riding/handling shock if you're looking to stay stock height (they're not fond of lowering springs).

 

Thanks everyone appreciate it.

 

+ 1 ditch the runflats and get 205/45/17 Hankook V12s , i have them on both my MINIs.