Absolutely - find a thin wall socket that fits and pop it with an impact wrench... This assumes that you know what lb/ft your impact gun torques to on a given setting - for instance, our's is right in spec when we set it on a setting of '2'. Otherwise, use a torque wrench...

 

OK... I'm a victim of a failed install, now....

I installed last night but didn't have time to test drive before partytime...

Took it out today, and on any fairly small bump that creates maybe 1/2"-1" of front suspension travel, I have a "knock"... not really a "clunk" - but a hard, definite metal-on-metal knock.

I checked my clearance well during the install, including using a jack to load the strut after install to check loaded clearance.

Turns out that on both sides, the spring is actually bottoming on itself on the first gap from the top on the outside of the spring- even though there's a good 1.5" of space left between the other two gaps going down toward the lower perch. I've gotten up in there and shined the light around, and nowhere is the spring contacting the tower.... it's just like there's something wrong with the way the spring is compressing under load. Just in driving a couple of miles over a few speed bumps, you can see where the powdercoat has been banged off of the spots on the two wraps that are bottoming out.

Any ideas? Could this be anything other than bad springs?

I've switched back to the stock springs on the front now until I have a solution. I took lots of pics before of the loaded and unloaded springs, and of them off the car showing the powdercoat at point of impact, if this would help...

 

Dang Paul, shouldn't be doing that. How much drop did you get before you took them off?

 

This sounds different than the initial problem I had. After install, when turning the wheels I heard a clunk that was like a binding sound. It was the springs making contact with the metal on the inside of wheel well. Apparently this is a known problem but doesn't happen on every MINI. All it took was a couple whacks with a hammer on sheet metal to make some more room for clearance and every thing was fine.

 

Mark - only had about 1/4" drop initially on the front - and side-by-side height of the springs themselves were very close to stock stack height - though I understand they settle a good bit over the first few hundred miles.

Jack - yeah, I woulda had that problem, but I beat the bejeezus outta my towers with a 5 pound hammer.

 

Yea you will get a good bit more drop with in a couple hunderd miles. So with that drop we know it's not the spring height, just about has to be bad springs..to weak a rate. Give the guy's at TSW a call in the morning I'm sure they will get it right for ya.

 

FWIW, I got a PM from another member who had exactly the same problem - turned out to be a bad batch of springs. TSW replaced with no issues. I bought mine through AutoXCooper and he's working on it now. I'm sure we'll get it resolved. Just making sure I wasn't missing something - and I don't think I am at this point.

 

mine were doing the same thing, I ended up wrapping the middle coil with some rubber tape I had laying around. After a few thousand miles though the tape is starting to wear through and the noise is coming back. I guess I will go try to dig up my Texas Speed Works reciept and get in touch with them.

 

Hello again

After Blimey's post I was motivated to see if I could finally get the noise out of the driver's side. I went in and made sure everything cleared the spring (I hammered a lot angrier than before). Great news! I'm finally cleared on the driver side.

Now for the bad news. I think I went a little hard because all of the fuses in the fuse box were loose. I put all the fuses back in, but now the check engine light is on. Any ideas? does it just need to be reset? I didn't get to angry did I?

Thanks

 

I've had the same issues with noise going over anything over a slight bump. Clearanced the hell out of my towers too and verified there's no contact. I saw evidence of the top coil windings touching so I too ended up wrapping them with some plastic wire loom material and that quieted things down except for really hard bumps. This was with my OEM shocks and I have since put in Koni yellows. The noise had disappeared for the most part but lately it appears to have returned and is getting louder. Perhaps it's time to find my receipt and get this remedied once and for all as this thread confirms that there was a bad batch.

 

UPDATE!

With a little persuasion everything is working perfectly. Thanks for the help. As far as the others that have the banging noise.... I had that also until the springs settled in after a couple of hundred miles. First always make sure the springs are clear (basically the sheet metal should be flush with the fuse box when looking from up top). Second, give the springs some time to settle and if its not working call the guys up. This process took about 4 times to get right because I just didn't know how much was enough.

BTW the engine light turned off by itself after a few starts.

 

I can't see how any amount of settling is gonna fix what my springs are doing... if they settle any more, the top coil will be sitting on the next one all the time....

But I'm on the list for one of the first sets of V3 springs when they're ready.

 

We have discovered that we had a few sets of V2's where the pitch of the last winding was incorrect and is causing this issue - for those that have this issue, please contact jeff@txwerks.com and get on the list for some V3 replacements.

Turns out that one order we received from our supplier ended up being overruns from a prior order - some of these springs were not QA'd and thus we ended up with some fronts that were not in spec. After the initial report of a problem was made and diagnozed, we started adding another measurement to the QA process and were able to weed out all remaining offenders - however, between the initial shipment/install/discovery and the new QA process, we know that a few sets slipped through.

In any event, as everyone should know by now, we'll definitely make it right.

 

I can and will vouch for that!

 

txwerks, do you know when these particular springs were sold? thanks.

 

Would have been within the last 2-3 months... However, so far it has only been seen on 3 sets of front springs. Let us know if you have a similar issue - best way is via email - jeff@txwerks.com

 

E-mail sent, will report back as soon as it gets rectified.

 

I just recieved my replacement springs from TSW as my previous springs had the issue of the top two coils binding.

I am about to install the new 'revised' springs and did some measuring to makesure that this problem was resolved and I noticed that the two front springs which were sent are not the same length.

I am not sure if this is normal or not that is why I am posting this question to anyone who would know before I install them now (very busy school schedual have to do it now kind of thing before the work piles on)

The distance from the top of the 3rd coil (the last full coil at the bottom) to the top of the final coil at the bottom (where the coil ends) on one is 1.25" and on the other is 1.5"

The distance from the first coil to the bottom of the very last coil (where the coil ends) on one is 6.4" and on the other is 6.75"

The difference in the two coils is visable to the eye which is what initially prompted me to measure


I understand there is a possability of a minor variation due to manufacturing, but over .25"? This has me a bit concerned as I was under the impression that there was no left/right spring only front/back and .25" seems like a large variation to me...

I am really on the fence about installing these again in the cold and returning the spring compressor yet again (more money) with no use and just waiting to see the responses, or just installing them now and hoping for the best...

Can anyone shed some light on the situation for me? (will post pics of the measurements if requested)

 

Problem resolved, thanks Jeff!

 

Forgot to update this thread. Got my car back with the new TSW springs fitted. So far so good! I'm going to take it on the seriously pothole ridden roads to see if there is any noise at all. I'm positive, will keep you all posted.
Thanks again TSW! Great customer service even from the otherside of the world Highly recommended!

 

Update - I just received my TSW v3 front springs yesterday and installed last night - problem solved! These new springs are quite different than the old ones - not "barrel wound" but more cylindrical - should eliminate need to "massage" the strut towers for clearance, as the overall outside diameter of the springs is smaller. These new springs compress exactly as they should under load, and seem to have TONS of travel available. Felt great on a quick test drive last night - finally my front end springs feel like my back end springs...

I'll report on drop once they have few days and several hundred miles to settle.

TSW and AutoXCooper customer service ROCKS!

 

You sir, are hardcore. Mine are still sitting here, in a box, while I contemplate renting spring compressor/etc.

Were you able to install them without an impact gun?

I have no air here at the house, only breaker bars!

 

Let's see some pics. I am considering these.

 

If I can find the always disappearing digital camera I will post some pics today.
I got the TSW springs installed yesterday and wow!!!
It's true, softer ride over streets and freeways, yet they tighten up nicely when you start to turn in and load up the springs.
It will be a few weeks until I get back onto a closed course, but let's just say that I was able to get the car to cut out on the streets with a quarter tank of gas, and the only other time that has happened has been at the track. And this time the car felt much more settled and less stressed then it did at the track!
They also handled some nice freeway interchanges today without any drama at all.
Of course I also had the TSW X-brace installed at the same time, but I am really looking forward to weekend after next and the autocross and track days coming up!

 

Joe - glad you got yours installed, and glad you like 'em.
Yeah, I have air and air tools in my garage... so I cheat a little...

Still waiting for mine to settle all the way - they've settled about 1/2" since the install... only weirdness I have now is, since I'm a cabrio, the car is more rear-heavy, and the rear has dropped a LOT more than the front (basically 1" more at this point...) the rear is probably 1/2" lower than normal due to the weight difference... and a major contributor is that the FSD/camber plate combination probably raised the front 1/2" to start with... I wish my front were 1/2" lower and my rear was 1/2" higher - this will NOT be an issue for folks with coupes and otherwise stock suspensions... just an oddity of the combination of things I'm running now... I may see if there's a practical way to space up the spring perch in the rear to compensate.

I think this is one reason why a few other cabrio owners have gone from the FSD/TSW setup to coilovers... to get ideal height control...