Since it's my car, let me try to explain. If you open the hood, the struts are connected at the top of the towers by the three nuts you can see. There are two other holes in the strut tower on my car. One of them on each side had a hex screw in it that located the strut. If you take off any of the three nuts you will see that it is in a slot, not a hole. If you take out the hex screw then you can loosen the other three nuts and shove the strut inwards for increased camber. Camber will also increase as the car is lowered. On my car pulling the locating screws and the inch of lowering that the TSW springs provided resulted in a -1.5 degree camber. Prior to lowering, with the locating screws pulled, I was at -.4 degrees camber. Find any number of numbers out there and what happens is you trade cornering for tire wear. At -1.5 in the front and -2+ in the back I don't see any adverse tire wear. An R56 can probably get to factory rear camber with the TSW springs, or at least close enough so that tire wear is not affected. I wouldn't invest in lower control arms if you're just going for that sweet lowered look.

I've also looked under the hood of mwedge. His locating pins are white plastic don't have hex wrench indents on top. I'll bet a pair of vise grips could make short work of them.

 

Are you aware of anyone purchasing these springs (directly or through your resellers) for a Clubman?

I have an 08 Clubman with non-Sport suspension and Konig 17"'s. From what I've read in this thread these might be something I'm interested in.

I'm hoping for an improvement in how the car handles highway joints, minor road imperfections, etc over the stock spring setup. I use my Club strictly as a daily driver - she'll never set rubber on a track.

If the ride is going to be even a little bit rougher (for the sake of, say cornering improvement or wheel well gap reduction) then I need to keep saving my money for a coilover solution.

Your thoughts?

 

We have not yet checked a Clubbie - we plan on doing it ASAP, pulling the struts and shocks and test fitting our R56 springs with an eval of the CLubbie springs. From what we do know, there are different part #'s. Windings appear to be the same, though. To be safe, we really need a set of Clubbie springs to test spring rates, too, but our guess is that they are similar to R56 rates.

We should know more very soon - the R56 springs provide a better ride than OEM on an R56, though.

 

Hello,

Got my TSW springs installed yesterday...I love them! The shop was impressed with the fitment. I need to get some miles on them to assist with the settling but the car already looks and handles better than before. I will post some pics once they settle a bit.

One thing I noticed was that my factory alignment was way off (got the before/after alignment diagram from the shop). The rear camber and toe were out of whack considerably. All better now!

 

Do you have to let the car settle before you do the alignment?

 

You don't have to, but I normally suggest waiting a week before taking it in for an alignment... That way, the fronts settle in. The camber (and hence the toe) won't change a whole lot after the week, though. It's a bit more precise, but getting the alignment at the same time won't throw things much out of whack.

 

Springs installed today, initial thought- WOW. Give me a week and I'll post my final thoughts...

 

Check out www.realoem.com you either get sport shocks or not. Springs and shocks should be a good match for best performance. Off the lot the car handles great. On TSW springs the car handles way beyond just the next level. Their springs are a much better match for the stock/sport shocks.

Your ride will be smoother. Your car will look better. The only downside is the price to replace your current springs (that work really, really well) with way better stuff. Do it. You won't regret.

 

I installed springs on Friday, less than 100 miles on the springs.

Before:

 

That's cool art work above the hood. Oh Yea MINI looks good with TSW springs too.

 

Done by a NYC homeless artist, he went around painting storefronts for cash. That's the only one left I think...

 

Any updates on the springs for the Clubbie?

 

Quick question: I'm getting the TSW springs installed tomorrow on my R56 and a bunch of you have mentioned "settling" of the springs after a few hundred miles. What exactly is settling and why would it take several hundred miles?
I mean, wouldn't the weight of the car force the spring into position right away?
Thanks in advance for all of youe help!

 

That was my thought too, I know linear springs don't sag; but there will be some settling of the springs in the perches. After one week, I don't notice much difference in ride height from the day of install. This week I will double check and re-torque everything to make sure it's in spec, that way less likely to develop noises too.

 

Any and every spring settles in - some just settle in more, and others sag with time (mainly hot wound springs and/or those made of cruddy material). The weight of the car alone is not enough to set the final ride height (hence one reason that getting the ride height right is trickier than you would think)...

 

Thanks for the feedback. I had the springs installed today. Very early still but so far I will say that some of the things I've read here are true, that it does actually seem to ride better than the stock springs and torque steer seems greatly reduced!
However, the ride height is almost identical to stock! So much so (only about 3/8" front and rear), that after putting in the springs the installer took it upon himself to call txwerks and ask them what was up. He was told that they would settle to the tune of about 1" front and 3/4" rear just like they've said on this site many times.
I sure hope that happens! I did only want a subtle drop but paid decent $$ for the parts and installation and want to be able to notice it!

 

If you wanted to "slam it like a wife beater" then you should have purchased coilovers. I wasn't looking for drop, the roads in NYC burbs don't allow for it, very unforgiving.

The springs are inexpensive, the added performance makes it a great value and one of the better aftermarket options. TSW delivered exactly what was promised, better and smoother handling than factory with alot less float. I'm still wanting more, I think a set of Koni FSDs or Bilstein HDs are next on the list.

How are you measuring the drop? Level ground from the bottom center of the rim to the bottom of the wheel arch trim is considered the "normal position" from BMW NA. What size wheel are you running?

 

Not sure if you read my post.
"Slam it like a wife beater"? After installing, the measured drop was only 3/8".
What difference does it make how it is measured, as long as the same method was used before and after install?
Let's be clear, there is no TSW bashing going on here. I just figured the initial drop would have been greater so I was looking for feedback from others who have installed these same springs to make sure they do in fact settle that much?

 

It will settle. At the top of the TSW springs article in this month's NAM Alliance magzine is my car after several thousand miles on the production springs. It's settled to the advertised 1 inch in the front and 3/4 in the back.

I'm still on the stock 16" wheels and 195/55/R16 Goodyear runflats.

Have you tried measuring both sides? I've found that anything short of dead level really messes things up.

 

I read your post, my question is how many people can tell the difference between 3/4 or 1 in.? It sounds like to me that you want a noticeable change in wheel gap or lack there of. If so, TSW springs are not for you.

 

Do you have any of those pics to post? Thanks.

 

SK8BRD, sincere thanks for your help. I appreciate it!
Melman8r, again, if you would read...I only got 3/8" after initial install and was concerned. So I am looking for feedback from people who have installed these on their Mini to confirm their results did end up with the prescribed drop...not get questioned as far as what is noticeable.
As far as the wheel gap issue, below is the direct quote from the TSW site:
"Cold wound of the highest quality chrome silicon material, shotpeened, and then powdercoated... front drop settling in about 1" and the rear about 3/4". Why the difference? We think the front of the R56 is way to high. If you only want a slight drop to close up the wheel gap, look no further."

 

Did you measure before? What was the ride height? My point is that unless you know the ride height prior how would you know? You said the drop was "only about 3/8" that's not a measurement, it's a guess. I'll say no more, BTW factory ride height in "normal position" can vary +/- 10 mm.

 

You can download the magazine from NAM home page, if you click on the pic it will take to a full resolution picture. I'm picture posting challenged on NAM.

 

Yes, my friend. We measured before and after. That is how we came up with the 3/8" drop.