I have a MCS on the way and I'm wondering if I swap out the springs if it will change the ride or just the appearance. I have the sport suspension.

Thanks!

 

Changing the OEM suspension will always affect the ride. Usually the affect from changing just the springs is pretty minor though and if you want you could counter the affects a little with your tire / wheel selection...

 

Appearance will change. There won't be a large wheel gap. Handling is greatly improved. Much less for to aft pitching under braking, less side to side roll. Less torque steer. Overall, I'd say a 20-30% improvement in handling with a minor decrease in ride comfort.

Short story for me is it was a huge improvement. I highly recommend it if you're so inclined. I have the H&Rs with an Alta rear sway on stock suspension.

 

ditto! The H&R rides great, and many clients report a smoother freeway ride, due to the progressive rate. Good luck!

 

Thanks for your help folks!

How long would it take my dealer to install H&Rs? I'm trying to get an idea how much it will cost.

Cheers,

Adam

 

Number one....

 

You don't need the dealer. Any shop that knows Minis can do the swap for you. Check with your local club, they'll have recomendations for you.

 

2-3 hours if you factor in the realignment. I got mine done for $225 total.

 

Cool. Thanks!

 

wow. my local shop took that long to do my alignment.

 

To answer your question directly...It will change your ride hight, -1.5 inches. It will make your car less cabable in the snow, more likley to scrap the front nose. It will look "better", but there are hidden disavantages.

Normaly it is unwise to put stiffer lower springs on stock shocks with stock body lengths, it signifiganlty reduces the damping efficenty also makes the system even more underdamped. People that do it, are potentialy reducing the life of the OE shock, and making it less efficient also they are reducing the ride and handling quality during high speed transitions. Such as slaloms or small fast bumbs. Stiffer springs are offten better, but every spring need a proper damper and changing one witout the other is not optimal for performance.

I would personaly change to a better shocks with stiffer springs, like a Koni Sport. But that will make your car stiffer with the springs and more damped, bettter handling and ride on smooth roads but not on large bumbs like you would find on highways or bridges. Also in high speed saftey manuvvers your wheels will in check with the frame better with the higher rate springs and better damper shocks then without the shocks.



That is my experience in the past, I perfer a linear spring also for the street..or a custom wound progressive for the track.

 

I would agree with you. Also consider the fact that the R56 has almost no strut travel before hitting the bump stops in stock form. Lowering 1.5" puts the car on the bump stops as all times. This is not good for hanlding in the least.

 

I agree but who has shocks out for the R56? I put H&R springs and the stock shocks only because there were no other options.

 

I belive Koni make shocks for the R56 which are available, Grassroots Motorsports are using them on their project car. I belive they have Double adustable up fronts at stock Koni Sports in the rear.

 

I'm getting the JCW shocks.

 

I doubt this will solve the problem of riding on the bump stops though. Koni makes great stuff, but without them making a shortened stroke strut, the problem will still be present.

 

just tracked my JCW suspension, and it is in california...yippie!!

 

The do make shorter bodies, it costs a small fee for modified bodies.

 

You think the car does not handle well with lowering springs? Have you driven a car with lowering springs?

--Dan
Mach V
FastMINI.net

 

To my understanding--which tends to be flawed more than not--riding on the bump stop would not necessarily decrease handling, it would just make for an extremely crude/uncomfortable ride, but cornering would actually be improved due to lowered center of gravity.

 

Hitting the bump stop puts your spring rate to infinity it is the worst thing for handling. if it happens in the front you will basiclay understeer at any point while turning. The bumb stop is there to save the shock from damage, hense driving that low that you risk hitting the bump stops under normal driving will damage the shock when you hit a large bump.

If you want to lower your car to the extreme get a shock desgined to take springs that low and make sure the spring rates are still enough so you never ride the bump stopss

 

The bump stop RAISES the spring rate, but does not put it to infinity. The bump stop is an integral part of the suspension on most modern cars. Made of dense closed-cell polyurethane foam, it's a spring in itself.

Simply having the suspension touch the bump stop does not make the car explode.

--Dan
Mach V
FastMINI.net

 

JCW suspension just arrived and will be going on tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It's called a bump stop, not a bump slow.

Yes, modern bump stops do have some amount of give in them. But, it them hard enough and the spring will stop compressing.

And there's the whole under-damped oscillation thing to think about too. I've seen a few MINIs go through a quick transition and wind up pogo-ing because they had more spring than damper.

 

yet it's progressive in nature....firmer as the stroke increases