Still stock S suspension, leaning towards either FSDs or B6s and probably justa springs for best possible ride.

Spent 8 hours in the saddle yesterday on a 300 mile trip over Chinook Pass (5,400ft elevation). Lots of twisties and bumps. Almost made the 1,200 miles "break-in" point, 150 miles to go. I will say you get used to the ride on that long a drive. The only thing wearing out was my right leg and foot with not using cruise control during break-in. Wife took over after about 6 hours. We felt no worse for wear than we would have in my 2008 GMC 3/4 ton crewcab diesel truck, or the PT Cruiser that the MINI replaced.

Darn if the left front wheel didn't come loose not even halfway into the trip, started feeling something like a wheel bearing thumb, thump, thump only in tight left turns. Just had the wheels changed out at Les Schwab a week ago, so pulled over in the 96 degree heat and check the lugs. Sure enough, very loose. Glad MINI has a lug wrench in the car, even with no spare.

Got in late have to remove and check it tonight for lugs and wheel damage. Hopefully none. Will switch that wheel to the rear regardless. And check torque every few days for awhile! The new wheels had stickers on the back of them right on the lug mounting area. Thinking Les Schwab did not clean off the sticker material fully, or poor torque job, or skipped that wheel torque all together!


Post #11 here makes me wonder if they torqued them to 88 ft lbs in error.....


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ut-torque.html

Also they never said to come back in 50 miles to re-torque them...

 

Hmmmm .. Just called the dealership parts dept - And he said there are 3 levels of springs, and that my car does not have the sport suspension. Says it already has the softest springs.....

I see that's true in the MINI configurator - a $500 option you can add even to a justa....

So now it's just down to which struts/shocks.... FSD or B6.......

 

As best as I have gathered:
Justa in the 3.2K range, MCS in the 4.9K range and Works option "slightly stiffer" I believe the works option is also linear, where the base and S are slightly progressive. Maybe. Series one were quite a bit softer, 2.9K on the Justa.

I guess we could all plead you to go FSD just so we got some feedback.

 

Where did you get the info that the MCS springs are almost 280 lbs/in? I'm not sure I believe it.

- Andrew

 

FSDs for sure.

Well I took that wheel off that came loose, thankfully no visable damage to the lugs or wheel. Torqued them all to 103 ft lbs per the manual. They were more like 50 ft lbs from Les Schwab, set the torque wrench to 88 and it still turned them a bunch.

 

From TSW:

- drew

 

That would have been Gen one Justa. I came up with the value by comparing vendors that gave their ranges as well as a % change from stock MCS. At least two did. As the gen 2 MCS is still slightly too stiff on the spring, and having driven the Justa and first gen Justa mush-wagon, I tend to believe these numbers are in line. Rember that the OEM springs have some amount of "tender" or progressive rate so measurement is not as simple as a scale and a brick.

Finally got the front end to chirp a tad, so my setup still has basic understeer. I will leave the bar adjustment alone.

 

No, i got that from TSW's thread on their replacement springs for R56....I should have posted the link. Their own TSW springs for the R56 come in at 229 front 260 rear or something. Seemed like they got pretty good reviews.

I think they measured R53 at around 160-ish front and rear.

In my experience advertised "% increases from stock" from vendors are highly susceptible to marketing spin and should never ever be taken as fact, espcially with progressive springs. Depending on the intended market, the percents may be fudged or taken from different parts of the progression to provide the user with a certain perception about the spring that may not be that accurate in reality. When they don't post the actual number, you have to take it with a grain of salt.

Remember the "feel" is deceptive because of the highly progressive and highly active bumpstops.

Unfortunately not many people care about the actual spring rates of most of the aftermarket springs out there.

Would like to see what the NM springs are.

- Andrew

 

Listed as 4.3 and 3.7 progressive. As they are progressive, a single number is useless. About all I know is members seem to like them very much.

R53 at 160-ish. That's right in what I had heard, 2.9K or so. TSW, 4 to 4.7. About what I had.

Here is the list of what I have gathered:

Apex/Moss Sorry, $30 a spring just can’t be good.
B&G S2 1” “higher rates” progressive
Dropzone 1.5
Eibach 1.2,” 3.2 to 4.3 progressive
H&R 1.25” 4.9
Koni 1.2”
M7 1.5 progressive
Mach V Technic 1.25” 5.1, 5.1 progressive
Mini R53 0 2.9, 2.9
Mini Base 0 3.2-ish
Mini R56 0 4.9K–ish
Mini JCW .4”, lin (stiffer)
MiniMadness Sport 1 progressive
Mini Mania 1.2” looks prog
MiniMania perfor 1.25 stiffer
NM 1.2 1.2” 3.7, 4.3 prog.
TSW 1, .75 4, 4.8 Linear
Tein-STECH 1.2, 1.1 3.8, 4.5 progressive “style”
Tien HTECH .6, .5 3.7, 4.1 “luxury”

I have numbers for a lot of coilovers too. The basic trend seems to be about what I would expect. I agree, for many the drop and the price seem to be important, not the handling.

 

Where are the NM rates posted? I've been looking for those.

I have an "in" and i'm going to see if i can get the actual stock spring rates and maybe even a shock dyno of the stock struts. We'll see.

I do mostly trust TSW's measured rates but would still be nice to see some verification. I really don't trust advertised percent increases.

- Andrew

 

I have a set of R56 struts with only 10K on them available for testing. My stock springs are, of course, on the car.

No idea where I dug TSW rates up. I made a lot of calls and e-mails, and did a lot of Googling.

 

^ might take you up on that in a month or so. We are considering doing a set of springs for the R56. Mild drop, 10 to 15mm at most. Nice medium rates....probably do some fairly firm spring rates a starting point to test from. With the mild drop it should ride well thanks to staying off the bumpstops more and dealing with the overdamped stock struts. Will of course change with testing and the shock dyno.

The numbers i had for the R56 were posted by TSW somewhere deep in this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ming-soon.html

- Andrew

 

Done! Order placed last night, confirmation says shipping in 1-5 days. So should have them within a couple weeks.

A local club member sent me his FSD results on 2 cars:

Another local club member that also has FSDs on 2 cars, WORD:

Quote:

I have FSDs on both my MINIs. I am just returning from a 3,000 plus mile trip in my wifes MINI and the ride was great even fully loaded with our belongings and all my wife bought along the way. I had the FSDs installed just before we departed.

FSDs smooth out the ride through it's damping action. They are great for touring. I use mine with the original springs. I do believe that you will be very pleased with them.

 

Excellent. I know the BMW 3 series folks love the heck out of them, and they were all Bilstien guys.

 

I ordered a set of Bilstein HDs from Bavauto today to go with the NM springs that will be here monday.

 

^ very nice, you won't be disappointed!

 

 

FSD lady arrived today via FedEx home delivery. Pretty quick shipment...... Here's were I got them from:

http://jdmultimate.com/store/product...?itemid=342345

Exactly 1 month from taking delivery of the MINI......

 

hey chilimini81... could you send me an email at erik.kong88 [at] gmail.com?
I saw you have mach v springs matched with the bilsteins... I had a few questions if you didnt mind... and I don't have PM's unfortunately... thanks!

 

Ask 'em here if you don't mind. That way everyone can be informed.

I'm still on the fence between the bilsteins and the konis. The only thing really pulling me towards the konis is the adjustability.

 

Then you are looking at Koni yellows. Very different shock. My experience with them is they my be too stiff for street use on the Mini. The FSD is a very different animal. I might also note the RSX crowd had a lot of problems with Yellows blowing out. Different car for sure. If you want to drive yourself crazy adjusting shocks, go all out and grab the PSS10's.

RSX base had more low end torque than the type S, so it was more fun. Nothing like the MCS torque! I hated the way the manifold snapped in and out and the abrupt action of the v-tech. Much worse wheel hop than the Mini. It was half the car my 88 Prelude si was. But, it was a very high quality and durable car. I had zero manufacturing defects and only one warrantee repair in almost 180K. Sure can't say that about my Mini.

 

There is not that much adjustment needed on the PSS10's. I have basically set and forget. If I do AutoX or track day then I will need to adjust again.

I love mine.

 

wrx, if you would let folks know what street and track settings you use, it could reduce the amount of fiddeling others will do. Needed or not, there is the temptation to go one click here and there just to achieve some perfection that never comes. Without adjustments, you spare yourself the torture.

 

Street use.
My wife prefers 2 I prefer 3-4 all around.

Autocross
I am not sure what is best yet.
I am leaning towards 6 on the fronts and 5 on the rears.

No track days yet. Expect similar to Autocross.

 

Useful for all. Good show!