After reading through the recent posts on my other thread about lowering not being worth it, I still have the nagging thought of doing it come next spring. Now, I don't need it slammed. It is PA here, after all. My combination I thought would be a good canidate is TSW springs on Koni yellows. I like the Koni name and the TSW springs are a little drop, enough to take out a little gap but not totally F up the attitude of the car. I'm going more for looks but also seek better turn manners. Mostly street but I would like to do a NASA day or 2. I know the rear bar does wonders and would have a 19mm added at the same time.

 

DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

New TSW's with stock shocks and 19mm RSB here! A great set-up, you will not be sorry! I will prob get the Koni's when the stock struts wear out, but no need to until the stocks are gone....

 

Go with the TSW springs, you will love them.

I have them on my Mini. See my gallery. There are before and after pics in there.

With any lowering springs you may need to get lower control arms as lowering your Mini can cause too much rear camber.

 

Do it ++ and enjoy it.

I have Alta springs, original schocks, 22mm Ireland hollow rear sway bar, M7 front strut plates and bar, cross drill brakes front and rear and running 245x45x17s on S-lites = AWESOME handling and looks.

 

Your plan is fine.

See how your MINI handles after the install. Most likely you'll be OK

Add an alignment if it handles roughly (harsh bumpy ride).

 

With a slight drop like the TSW springs, will I need an alignment or will it actually be good at where it is? I know the cars need more neg. camber, especially in the front. But, what about the rear? Will it be good or will it step out too far?

 

I installed the TSW springs last month. I don't think an alignment is totally necessary. My rear camber was the only thing out of spec at -2.0 degrees. Toe wasn't drastically changed. I got an alignment because I autox but you could probably get away without it for street driving.

 

you will could get lucky but you wont find out till your tires are worn funny.$600. for tires or 80. for alignment.up to you.

 

How are the tires running with a 245? Do they fit well? This is interesting, I would love to know because I wanted to do this, but was advised not to go more than 225x35(40)x17 on my S-"Heavies"

hemiheaded18- You should definitely do it

 

Anytime you change the ride height of a car there can be changes in toe settings and camber. For the MINI usually the front camber is not affected by a drop. Rear camber is usually more negative. How much your toe settings and rear camber are affected will vary from one car to another based on your stock parts, weight and settings before the upgrade.

If you feel that your car handles well enough and tires are wearing ok then after the suspension upgrade you can just watch and see. If you feel your handling is horrible then do the alignment.

-2.0 degrees camber in the rear is managable for street driving but more rear negative camber will increase understeer and not be very helpful if you are doing performance driving. It will also tend to wear out the inside edges of your rear tires.

Front camber for the MINI will be about -0.5 degrees and stay there unless you add adjustable or fixed front camber plates. Rear camber can change with suspension upgrades and you can adjust it a little if you have a 2005 MINI or later or you can buy adjustable rear lower control arms. Rear camber can be more negative than the fronts for street cars usually about -1.0 to -1.6 degrees with no ill effects. I've even run my MCS at -0.7 and it was fine.

For high performance driving we often try for -2.0 to -2.5 degrees negative camber in the front and about -1.0 to -1.5 in the rear with roughly a +1 degree difference front to rear.

245/45-17 tires are very wide for the MINI.
They fit rims 7.5 to 9" wide, perfect fit for 8" wide rim
Section width 9.6" and tread width 8.8" (some variation found)
Weight would be about 3-4 lbs more than a 205/45-17 tire
Tire diameter is 25.7" which is 1.4" taller than stock and likely rub against the wheel arches if you have four people in your car.

205/45-17 fits rims 6.5-7.5" wide, perfect fit for 7" rim
Section width 8.3" and tread width 6.5".

The 245/45-17 could be squeezed onto the narrow stock 17x7 S-lyte but it's not a really good fit as you'd loose some of the width of the tire and the tire would bulge out to the sides.

235/40-17 would seem a better size if you had to go wider since tire diameter is 24.4"
Section width 9.5" and tread width 8.1"

 

I have the 245x45x17 for 10K miles with no problem, I had a very minor rub on the rear (at the 2 o'clock spot) just the black plastic trim and went away shortly after.

My car is also lowered with Alta springs, see my gallery, and 22mm sway bar.

I highly recommend the 245x45x17, a lot better handling (more rubber hight and width - no rubber band style tires), a better stance, better response while rolling, better cruising ratio...

Go for it!