Hi there,

After lots of reading here, I ordered the NM springs yesterday and the NM torque arm insert. This will be a street car only, and is a Justa. With that in mind, this is what I was thinking of doing and I'd appreciate some feedback if this will be a nice setup for street driving (don't want too harsh of a ride):

- NM 22mm rear sway
- NM sway bar link
- HSport Lower Control Arms

I'm undecided about shocks... Can anyone say which would be the best choice for a street setup between Bilstein HDs, Bilstein Sports and Koni Yellows?

Am I missing anything here, and does this sound like a good route to go?

I appreciate any input! Can't wait until winter is over and I can drive my new toy again!

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nm-spring.html

I also had the same question. And I decided to go with koni sport yellows for shocks after reading thousands of threads.

 

I did read your thread actually and it sounds like we have a similar plan. I read in another thread that the Koni Yellows offered a pretty harsh ride though, hence my question.

I'm wondering too if a 22mm sway might be overkill for a street only car, but I do like the look of the NM bar (although really a bar is a bar I suppose).

Would love any other feedback anyone has.

 

Koni yellow, TSW springs, and HSport 19mm rear bar. Rides better than stock. Less harsh.

I bought the HSport rear arms, but really didn't need them. I'll put them in anyway when it gets warmer.

 

If you are doing shocks then get the IE fix camber plates for the front. Those and a 19 mm rear bar will make the feel like it really is a go-cart when going around corners and these will have very little impact on the ride quality. Note, a larger rear sway bar will tend to make the car oversteer more and that can be a problem, especially in tight turns. This can cause the car to swap ends if you are not really careful - kinda like the old 911s. I would stick with the 19 mm for the street.

Lower control arms - nah...don't need them for the street. Spend your money on the camber plates. If you think you need the control arms after everything else is done, then they can be done later. But if you do the camber plates, you want to do them with the shocks.

 

Ok, I think I'll go with the HSport 19 bar instead of the NM 22 then. Thank you for the advice. NM recommends the Koni yellows with their springs, so I'll probably go with those as well. Any recommendations on where to buy them would be appreciated!

Eddie can you tell me more about the camber plates? I'm not too sure what exactly they do. I'll probably still get the lower control arms too if for no other reason than if I'm going to spend this much on suspension toys, what's a couple hundred more...

Finally, for those who have done a rear sway on a lowered car, have you also gone with adjustable sway bar end links (and if so, which ones)? Or is this a mod that isn't really necessary? From what I understand, they take excessive load off the sway bar.

Thanks everyone!

 

That's a good setup.

I have all of it in stock and would be happy to help you out. Also if you have any other questions call me at the shop.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/07-10-c...ng/suspension/

Camber plates will get you more front camber. They will improve the handling by keeping the tire more planted in the corners.

Most people don't replace the end links with the rear sway bar. It's not necessary, and more for the racer.

 

Thanks Way. If you ship to Canada, I'd be happy to send some business your way (no pun intended).

In your opinion, for a street car, are adjustable lower control arms overkill? The money isn't really the issue, I just want to make sure I do things properly.

So as things stand now, here's what I'm thinking:
- NM springs
- NM torque arm insert
- HSport 19mm rear sway
- IE fixed camber plates
- Koni yellows

Optional parts:
- HSport adjustable rear control arms
- NM adjustable rear sway links

 

The Mini is "camber challanged" on the front end (lots of threads on this subject). BMW only designed in -0.3 deg of camber. When you go into a corner the tires tend to roll under and you can actually wind up on the sidewall. The more negative camber the less the tires roll onto the side walls or even stay on the tread (ideally). Also more camber increases the "bite" the tires have and the steering response goes up. The race cars go to about -3.5 deg. The problem for the street with that much camber is that the tire wear goes up (probably other issues too). The compromise is about -2 deg or less. BTY the stock springs will only let you go to about -2 deg anyway. The IE fixed are a nice option for the street for a lot of reasons. First, they will give you about -1.6 deg camber. Really nice handling and steering feel without extra tire wear. Second, they are made with stock Z3 parts. These are stronger than the mini part but retain some of the rubber cushion, so ride doesn't suffer. Third, the IE plates are made with an extra plate which helps to stengthen the strut tower.

The NM springs on lower the car a little bit; ~1". The angle change on the sway bar is not much and that should not affect the it. My guess is you don't need the adjustable links. Again, these are something you can easily add latter if you think you need them.

I see that Way is there to help you out...You'll love it when you are done keep posted

 

Oh, one more thing...if you want another big bang for the buck...get a lightweight set of wheels. With less rotational inertia the car will accellerate faster and the lower unsprung weight will improve the ride and handling by keeping the tires on the road over bumps.

 

I was looking at these... a really good alternative to the NM
springs:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co.../14695/cat/all

 

Thanks for that explanation Eddie, I appreciate it! I'm still pretty new to this, but when the time comes to align the car after the suspension parts have been installed, what would ideal front and rear camber be set at?

I figured that the adjustable rear control arms would make it easier to dial in the suspension but from what others have said, it looks like they might not be necessary from a camber perspective.

As for the springs, I've already ordered the NMs and after reading all the positive reviews here I think I'll be happy with them.

Wheels will be next on the list. What I really want is BBS LMs but at $780 a wheel they are a little rich for me. I may go with a 17" ASA AR1 instead or an LM knock off (which not everyone agrees with but oh well). I must admit that the look of the wheels is important to me.

 

This is fun, isn't it?
Again there are a lot of posts about this (alignment settings). But in the vein of keeping it simple...Up front you want the most negative camber you can get . The front suspension comes with camber slots at the top of the strut. There is a plastic plug on each side that need to be pulled and the struts can be move inward which will add to the negative camber of the IE plates (this will come out when you put the plates in). All total you should be able to get about -1.6 deg on the Gen 2 mini. That is what I got, but then I had stock springs. Lowering the car will add a little more negative camber, so you might get a little more (front and rear). The rest of the settings you can leave as stock. Here is a good post on the subject:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ustment-2.html

Post #44 shows the strut tower plug.

The springs are fine...I only suggested the TSWs as someone had them for sale.

Wheels...I understand "looks" but I think those are almost as heavy as stock. That's fine, but just remember lighter IS better for handling and acceleration. But a heavier wheel will tend to be stronger. If you have pot holes/bad roads to deal with, I would go with strength. If you look up wheels on Tire Rack, they give the weights of a lot of wheels so you can see what you are getting. Also, going from 15" to 16" to 17" increase wheel weight. You are best off with the 15's in that respect, but, I know, they don't look as good. According to a test done by Car and Driver a 10 lb change in wheel weight changes the acceleration times by 0.3 sec. However, the flip side is that handling tended to improve with the larger wheel size and lower profile tires, but handling got worse with 18". Oh, it is complicated

BTY - There are at least 4 problems that are going to come up with your mods -
*you will see a see a general increase tire wear from the fact you will no longer slow down for corners
*you will find that the Mini seats are not the greatest
*you will come down with a major case of "mod-idest"
*your cheeks in your face will get sore from grinning from ear to ear

 

Yes, this is fun!

Thanks again, I'll have a look through that thread and try and get myself more educated on the topic of alignment.

The roads here are terrible (Canada). I'm most likely going to go with a 17" wheel, which is what came on the car. I do realize that lighter is better but I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of performance to ensure that I'm happy every time I look at the car.

The ASAs weight in at 20.7 pounds which isn't great but isn't horrible either. I think the ALT 279s (LM knockoffs) are about the same weight wise. I figure getting rid of the runflats will make for some good weight reduction too.

Haha, I think I can live with those 4 problems! I only drove the car about 200 miles before it went into storage for the winter and I was impressed by how fun it was without any modifications. So with a proper suspension, I can only imagine how fun it will be! It's funny because it's not even close to as fast as my Audi TT was (I have a non-S cooper) but it seems way more fun to drive.

 

As you can see by my signature I have only added the IE plates and rear sway bar. The difference from the stock "S" to those was like night and day. The S is a great handling car. These made it even better. More neutral and quicker to steering inputs. I debated whether to go with the TSW springs and koni yellows and decided against it because of the winters here. The lowering and stiffer setup would have been too much. As a compromise I am going for the koni FSDs (next mod) with stock springs based on reports from some of my Mini friends who are using them with really good success. As for wheels, I run 16" for the DD'ing and the 17" for HPDE and autoX. The 17s I had been using are stock wheel and they are 25# each. The Enkie are ~15# and will have Yokohoma AD08 rubber . I expect that you will be able to run with the "big boys" with the setup you are creating. and as for the Audi's, I don't know about the TT, but others that I have seen in AutoXs have tended to understeer badly. The Mini is lighter and more neutral (still understeers, though), so it is not a surpise the you like it better. As I said, I would expect your mods to improve upon that.

 

We have no problem shipping to Canada you just have to call and place the order, our website can't get the shipping correct. Then we ship USPS to keep it the cheapest for you.

I really recommend the rear control arms, they will give you the ability to get the toe and camber in the rear perfect. That way your tires will last the longest.

Thanks
WAY
317.201.8670

 

Sounds good Way, I'll be in touch in the next little while.

Eddie, thanks again for your feedback, I'm glad you're enjoying your car. What's not to enjoy really?