I have an 06 MCS and plan on replacing my struts. I have been thinking about going with the Sachs from Moss Mini. For those of you that have purchased the Koni FSD's, Are they worth the $700 price tag?
I can get the Sachs for around $400 and the Koni FSD's are running about $700. I realize that Koni had them discounted at around $550 this summer and I believe they were probably a steal at that price, however $700????

Is the ride quality that much better? I am replacing my control arm bushings, ball joints and strut mounts at the same time, by the way.

 

Go for the FSD's they have a much better ride than the Sachs. They actually change their dampening based on the shock travel.
Also don't forget to get the Powerflex control arm bushings, they are the best.

 

I'm running Koni yellow's (sports) and they are working great. But, I am running lower springs. I haven't ridden in the FSD's but my understanding is that they are not meant for lowered spring applications if you plan to do that later down the road; now would be a perfect time

 

l am on my second set of Koni's... first set was with h-sport springs which i really liked. the koni's were not a good match. second set with stock springs... i have one rear and one front leaking oil. grrrrrrrrrr

not sure what the problem is. the koni's are great handling but seem to be an eventual problem for me. or my mechanic is....

 

I have been running the FSD for about 40k miles now on my 04 MCS.
Have several track sessions on them also.
Stock springs, 19mm rear sway, poly bushings, fixed camber plates, adjustable rear LCA's.
No problems so far and I felt the ride was much better with no compromise in handling.
I tried them with a progressive lowering spring and did not like that setup at all. Bottoming out all of the time even with the bump stops cut down.
IMHO think they are much better than the OEM struts.

 

I am going to go with the stock sport springs and the FSDs myself soon. I think for the money, this will do the trick. It is hard to remember a time where I spent more money and regretted it, though the opposite seems to happen often.

 

I put on a set of Koni Sport Suspension (Yellow).
These have the Koni Springs that drop about 1".
They are great.
Ride, Control best I've felt.

 

You should talk to Koni, they are pretty good with their warranty, unless you have FSD's with lowering springs then there is NO warranty.

 

I run FSD's with JCW springs and love the setup. Ride is much better but handling improved quite a bit as well. Great setup.

When I talked to Koni they told me they would honor using those springs. The reason was they only lower the car by about 1/2" at the most.

 

hi i did use the fsd's with hsport springs... bottoming out was a huge issue. i am using them with stock springs now and two of the springs,. one rear and one front are leaking.... not sure what the issue is but i am looking for a good mechanic (not a dealer) in the vancouver bc area.

if anyone has a good recommendation i would appreciate it...

also, how does the cooper works set up compare to stock sport springs with the fsds???

thank you.

 

Since you have leaking FSD's it sounds like you damaged the shocks by using the Hsport springs. Otherwise the FSD's have a lifetime warranty.

I know Hunter99 says Koni said it was ok to use the JCW springs, but I wouldn't do it. I don't think they will warranty them if the shocks get damaged. When lowering springs are used on the FSD's the travel of the shaft damages the valve and they see this all the time so they won't warranty that damage cause they know lowering springs caused it.

 

Way is correct. They specificly say that FSD's are not to be used with lowering springs. Why they may have been cheaper than Koni Yellow's (sports) on sale you lose in the end. I am running sports with my H&R's. So far so good. Close to as good as you can get without a *good* set of coil-overs.

 

The reason they said the JCW springs, and only the JCW springs were OK, is because of how mild they lower the car. Since it a 1/2" at most it falls within the variance that any car could have and the springs are designed to allow for.

No car is going to sit at exact the same height. There are factors such as the springs beginning to wear, load in the car, etc. that can mildly affect ride height. Due to this thatnis why they were OK with the JCW springs. Koni has to design the shock to have a little leeway.

When it installed my springs I measured before and after the ride height at each corner. There was a mild variance of about 1/8". After lowering the car most of that leveled out with the average drop being about 1/4". Now that it has been a year later that has changed to 3/8" or so. I have never got the 1/2" that they say they could lower the car.

That being said I would not use dedicated lowering springs with these struts. I think why they cannot make them for this setup isnthe extra dampening in the strut leaves not room for them to be shortened.

 

thank you... i did not use then fsd's for long with the h-sport springs. i removed them and replaced them with stock springs.. i got tired of the lowered stance on dirt roads and in the snow...

looking for an opiion on the jcw setup vs stock and fds???? anyone out there care to comment?

and if anyone knows of a good indie mechanic in the victoria or vancouver area please let me know..
thank you

 

personally my right hand and my tool chest have been my best bang for the buck mechanic, lol. seriously, changing the struts on these cars is super easy if you either have a spring compressor, or a buddy to sit on top of them for you while you get the top hat back on. shouldn't take more than an hour or two and a few beers on a weekend afternoon for the pure novice. Im an ameture, and if you had the car on a lift and the wheels off, i could have the suspension off the car in under 10 minutes, if not under 5. its 3 bolts for each of the rears, and 4 bolts for each of the fronts.

 

hmmm well this would be useful if i were set up to do this work myself or lived in sc... are you offering?? ha ha ha it would be worth the drive

 

I understand what your saying. But I personally have put the JCW springs with the FSD's and 4 weeks later the customer was adding a body kit and needed to get more ride height out of the car so he switched to coilovers. When I removed the FSD's 2 of them were already ruined. Went back to Koni to discover the valves in them had been damaged from the lowering. I discussed it with the engineer at Koni and this is why Koni and I both do NOT recommend ANY lowering springs with FSD's for a MINI.

If yours are working, Great. But if there is a problem I really don't think they will waranty it even if they said so, it will be your word against theirs. I not trying to argue, but I think it is important for owners to read this information. Each person has the choice to put anything they want on their car, but I want to present them all the info I can so they can make that choice.

 

My kind of mechanic soccerbummer1104. I'm also considering going with the FSDs sometime this summer. Like Way said, also a change in the control arms bushings, that should make a difference, that's coming up for my MINI at the same time when I change to the FSD's. I'm very interested in how the handling improves after a change on a MINI with about 55k on it.

 

Waylan,

Don't worry, I didn't think you were arguing. I value your opinion and advice. Actually have bought stuff from you and will so again in the future.

I am not promising Koni would cover them and I understand that. So far so good on my setup. I will say, as much as I love the FSD's, I do hear about a lot of them failing. This includes ones used with the stock springs. I keep my eye on them for this purpose.

 

Good I didn't want you to think I was going after you. I just know some people will read what you said and take it as a guarantee.
If you do know someone that had them fail with stock springs they are under warranty cause they have the lifetime warranty.