Well...now that I threw my KMAC plates on...it turns out that my right spring is binding on itself. I had a popping sound when I lock out steering wheel travel. The top 2 spring rungs stay stationary while the 3rd one moves and "POPS". I am slammed all the way down running on the bumpstops with pretty much no piston travel. I actually want to go lower to. What springs would I need to go with? Has anyone had this issue? I am going to try and reseat the spring again to try and fix the sounds for now...:impatient

 

u dont need to run springs....just take them off!!!

 

Man..all this time and your the only one to respond to this? Hey...why didnt you come over beotch? We need to figure out something else to do to the Mini... Oh and BTW...the Cooper is so much better than that poop-face ride your driving...when we gonna be on Pinks!

 

hypercoil sells some nice stuff. will your kmac's accomodate a 2.5" ID spring? If so, that's a good option....$80 a corner I think. Stock freelength is 7" if I'm not mistaken. Maybe drop down an inch or inch and a half.

 

For some reason the right one is the only one doing it. I need shorter springs I guess.... . I will check into them. As far as I know the KMAC's do fit perfect with the PSS9's. I got all my stuff from the now dissolved SPEC Mini race team...

 

well, the issue with PSS9 front springs is that they're a 2.5" ID lower and OEM tophat upper....oddball springs you won't find. Might want to get h-sport plates that have adaptors to use either design and then track down those shorter springs.

The bigger issue is that you're taking the front damper out of it's intended stroke. A three way design like the Megan or Cross allows you to go low in the front without preloading the springs like you've done, plus they both come with integrated camber plates. As someone who just swapped from PSS9's to Cross, I can say it didn't hurt too bad $$ wise since I was planning to get h-sports to replace the IE plates I had to get new inserts for.

Jan at Revolution MINI has a nice price on the Cross kit.

 

But see the thing is...is I like my PSS9's... I didnt have an issue until I threw the KMAC's on there. Like I said...the SPEC team used this setup for a year or so with no problems. Plus...I only paid 1300 for the c/o's and the plates were FREE. All NIB. So anything more is extra expense . I think I will contact Bilstein this week to see what options I have. Thanks for your input. Damn.....

 

well, I got about that price for my PSS9's with IE plates used. Add a little more and you can get a new Cross set. The kicker is if Bilstein can get a decent spring option. If not, you're gonna spend more than a new set making them work and you still have 2 way coilovers where ride height and preload are linked.

 

Here is a post I found helpful when thinking about swapping my progressive springs on the PSS9's to linear. It should apply here. I ended up switching to the Cross system as well so I didn't end up doing swapping the Bilstein springs.

Link

 

I believe what is happening is that the top of your spring, or that top perch is lodged against the inner tower. You just need to back off your neg. camber a bit and you should be OK. Or else remove the strut and bang out those tube shaped humps up near the top.

You seem to be doing two different things here I think. You add camber plates to enhance handling, but the more you lower the car, you are increasing roll, which ain't the best thing for handling. There is a point that you just need to get over being as slammed as you can get. It will shorten the life of those sweet PSS9s.
Putting on Hypercoils is relatively easy if you want to change the rates. Think about talking with Turner Motorsports as they have re sprung many PSS9s for the track.

 

Its weird because it does it when I lock the steering out both ways only on the right side. You can see the top two rungs hold and the 3rd pop. Here in a bit I am going to reseat it to see if it helps. When I put the plates on it decreased the travel by 2 inches or so. I know TMS pretty well. I will give them a shout. I want to go lower...

Question...how am I INCREASING roll being lower and having negetive camber on all 4 corners?

 

Lowering the car messes with "roll center".
Michael (meb) is a good guy to discuss this with. Start with this recent thread that touches on roll centers. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=122461

Oh, yea, the "popping" sounds absolutely like what I describe above. I will bet for sure that you are making contact with the towers and binding the spring so it can no longer rotate with the shock. I'm sure this is your problem and just backing off on camber will cure it.
What are you running for alignment specs anyway?

 

What are alignment specs.... I put them on the setting.....AS WIDE AS THEY CAN GO...

 

Maybe your yankin my chain and I'm just not gettin it..

 

Yes - I have the same sound with my stock springs on full lock with -2 front camber. There are ridges on the inner wheel well that stick out, so you can either hammer them down or back off the neg. camber as onasled suggested. I don't mind the sound since I love the camber - it's worth it to me and all it does is scruff up the springs a bit - minimal harm, minimal foul.

mb