I took a picture of the part numbers off my '13 for you guys to compare. hope this helps answering your questions.

 

So there is something of a workaround... Forgive me if I seem annoying but I find even slight vibrations unacceptable. Many other cars both FWD and RWD go lower on coilovers without a hint of vibrations. Plenty of VW people do it everyday. Civics too.

My question is, if a GP2 on its lowest setting drives without vibration and a normal Cooper with coilovers will vibrate at the same height, would switching to a JCW driveshaft fix the problem?

Airbourne Ranger, could you adjust your H&R's to the lowest derivable setting and report if you notice any problems? If your car is problem free there may be hope for those of us afraid to go low because of potential damage. It would be interesting to see the axle angle with the suspension that low, to see if its orientation is in any way different from a normal R56.

 

No because you are assuming the lowest setting on the GP is the same as the lowest setting on the MCS.

Every coil is different and threads differently some have more threads than others.

From my personal experience in seeing H&Rs is they do not go very low and have limited number of threads.

Where as my JIC-Cross are threads from the top of the shock tube pretty much to the bottom with the lowest settings putting me almost entirely on the ground.

So you cant compare like that.

 

here is a picture of the stock Bilsteins with stock H&R springs set on the lowest setting (lock nuts bottomed out).


It actually looks a little lower perched on my driveway than on level ground...It drove without vibrations nor issues- it wasnt low enough for my liking so I had the H&R coils put in



Still drives great without vibration (or tire rubs). Hope this helps
-Tim

 

FWIW my H&R's are at the lowest setting in the rear. the fronts have like another inch of threads before bottom- I dont want to mess with it since the car had the alignment done- plus I am sure it will rub the liner or fender if I go lower without adjusting the camber...

 

while I got the photobucket up- here is a test fit of my 18x9.5 HRE C20's




a little too aggressive for me- need to change the outer lips back to 18x8 - it was nice having the lip but stuck out way too far for my taste.

 

Do you think there is any hardware reason why a GP2 would not suffer the same vibrations as other R56's seem to?

 

KCCO!

 

I am sorta curious what vibrations people get too. Cause I do not have them. I am low and my axle is about 5k miles old, same with my JCW trans but I do not have these. I feel like if peoples vibrations are that bad there might be a little more going on like a poor alignment, but again I do not know.

Actually age would make perfect sense to me. Most GPs have very few miles on them at this time, where some of our MCS's have 100k on them. Their CVs are still new, still too early to tell in my opinion.

I believe the GP has the same axle and transmission setup as the JCW. IIRC the JCW and MCS axles are the same even though they may have a different part number. I have run both axles on my car throughout my previous issues.

 

I really don't like the new GP, but man yours looks really good with the coilovers and Volk wheels

 

Just dropped mine today. I installed NM lowering springs on stock shocks. Installation was very straight forward.

 

Cap'n Jambz

Looks good I like the checkered plate and mirror.

 

Dropped? Looks like some gap there

 

I meant just a slight drop. Not as in dropped down.. Just enough for me. ;-)

Thanks 07R56MINI.

 

I'm just giving you a hard time. Kidding of course

 

Oh I know.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but you seem to be under the impression that vibration in lowered R56s is common. From what I have seen it is a fairly rare problem. I have heard about and seen far far more lowered R56s with zero issues then I have seen with.

I have heard about less then a dozen incidences of vibration. I have seen countless R56s lowered successfully, including mine.

In some cases like Jeremy's his axle problems were long attributed to this problem. Then in the end we found out it had nothing to do with axles but instead was faulty transmission mounts.

I am pretty sure Mini is not aware anyone even has this problem and never even considered it when designing the suspension/alxes for the GP.

 

Finally installed ST coilovers this past weekend

 

Well put.

I think most peoples problems might attribute to age of ball joints, cvs, etc.

Since my mounts have been fixed. Problem free in that area.

 

This is reassuring. I was scare to go lower after reading people's claims of vibration after lowering. The few people who had vibrations either seemed deal with it (which I find unacceptable) or raise the suspension.

For my purposes I am simply looking to eliminate most wheel gap. I don't need to tuck tire (stock 16), or slam the car. Just want to come down about 1.5 -2 inches.

 

I have also lowered over 2.5" and do not have CV axle vibrations.

 

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

Vibrations are most likely from the axle(w/ existing wear) having to adjust to a new position or angle after lowering.
If you lower a new car w/o much existing wear, you're unlikely to have the said vibrations.

 

Just to confirm. So the general consensus is that people on this page were isolated incidents? One guy said he drove the car his coilovers were on before he bought them and it was fine, then he puts them on his car and has vibrations.

I am less worried than before, thanks for all your help.

That guy with 19 axles is either made of money or pretty stupid.

 

that rear bumper looks very lamborghini gallardo'ish lol where is that rear bumper from???