Scott,
I am in Cromwell. I just ordered these HD's yesterday. Got the last set as they are on backorder from Bilstein NA. I plan on pairing these with some NM engineering springs. I am looking forward to them. I, of course, have to get the car first. It's on order...should be here in 3 or 4 weeks. Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

I talked to Bilstein this morning about using these HDs with lowering springs and they said that the HDs work just fine to about a 1 1/4" drop. So TSW or Eibach springs will be fine with these. The HDs have an internal bump stop since you are unable to reuse your factory one. I have Eibach springs and will be adding the HDs as soon as more come in.

 

That is good to know!!! What I can tell you is it doesn't matter where you cruise with the Bilstein HDs, over the interstate, through NYC or on the twisties, they are F*&KIN AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I wish they'd just make Sports for the Mini and be done with it.

 

How is this compares to Koni FSD? Currently i'm looking for a set of shocks to pair up with JCW springs.

 

The engineer at Koni said DO NOT use the FSD kit with any kind of lowering spring. They show the FSD with Eibach on their site as a package but not for our car. The kit used different FSD struts made for use with the Eibach.

 

Scott, I must have missed it in an earlier post...what springs are you running with the Bilstein HDs?

TIA,
Chris

 

Due to the factory springs being weight specific to each MINI based on the specific configuration of each MINI (i.e. Manual-vs-Automatic transmission, sunroof option, etc...) I chose to keep the factory springs.

 

Ordered Bilstein Sports last night. I will report in a couple of weeks I hope.
(R56 auto)

 

Nice to see Bilstein has a selection of sport shocks now for the R56.


Please let us know how you like them.

 

TVRGEEK,

do you mean HDs like what Scottab36 got and not Sports? Bilstein only lists HDs on their site for the R56.

 

There is a wider selection now on the Bilstein website.

 

Take a ton of pics!

- andrew

 

I installed my Bilstein HDs last night and all I can say is WOW. I am using them with my Eibach springs and the ride is PERFECT. It reminds me of my 1995 M3 and I couldn't ask for a better setup. Bavarian Autosport had them on sale for $125.95 front and $80.95 rear plus free shipping. The car feels like a properly tuned german car. Much smoother ride, no more bouncing and jiggling. I highly recomend.

 

what did you do with the bump stops ? full height, cut down, removed ?

 

The Bilsteins have built in bump stops on the front struts, the rears re-use the factories at stock length.

 

Mine came today. If I can get some torque specs, I will put them this weekend, pictures etc.

 

Rears went on this AM. Perfect fit as one expects from Bilstein. About two hours and that included cleaning my wheels. On the floor, no lift. Darn easy job. A quick test drive does not fully tell me if it solves the hopping yet. The front is still so upset at a bump in the corner, it is hard to tell how much improvement the rear got. Some for sure. I had hoped it sould be so obvious I could decide if I needed the softer Justa springs. Inconclusive.

 

I still don't understand why you went with the Sport Bilsteins, especially if you were thinking about swapping to the softer Justa springs. The HDs would have been a much better package.

Let us know how it all feels with the fronts though. Are the shock body lengths different on your sports?

- Andrew

 

These were what I bought. Web says Sport, but the Bilstein packing sheet says HD. "BE3-D939-H0"
http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html...=MINISPSET2007

There are several schools of thought for street cars. I have had good luck with the stiff-shock, soft-spring, big bars philosophy. I am not looking for it to ride like a Camery, just enough to keep the wheels on the ground when you hit a bump in a corner. I managed to do that in my RSX with the KW V1's and a 1K softer that supplied rear spring. Got my front grip with camber and a larger rear bar. It could hold a 4 wheel drift biased to either end with the throttle. Perfect, IMHO. I wonder if the young lady who bought it understands how special it is?

I will probably hit Burtonsville again in the AM then get home and do the fronts. I plan on grinding the holes a tad but don't have time next week for an alignment, so I had better measure REALLY carefully to keep it close. I put my new Pioneer speakers in this afternoon, so a little trip is definitely in order. Scary, the easiest speaker install I ever did. TS-A1702C's

External dimensions are identical.

 

Sure enough, they do make sports too. Somehow, by accident, I got the right parts. Well, If I want to put out the big bucks, PSS10's would be next.

 

Got the Bilstein HD's and NM springs coming next week. Should be here Tuesday and then I will install over the weekend.

 

All on. Big difference. The roads are too wet to really put it through it's stuff, but this is the right direction. The fronts took a while as I had to go out and buy a 21 and 22mm deep socket and modify them for an external wrench to get the top nut off and on. ( Mini uses 21mm, Bilstein 22). A little of a wresteling match to get the strut in the knuckle socket, but all is good.

 

Can somebody please show me where Bilstein offers Sports for R56s! I can only find HD and PSS10.

 

Try this link.

http://www.bilsteinus.com/cart/ymm.p...l=COOPER&zenid=

I searched the web but couldn't find any vendors offering the Sports for sale yet. Maybe someone else will have better luck.