I just bought rear control arms and two pairs of end links from this fella on eBay:

http://stores.ebay.com/MCSpecial-Mini-Cooper-Suspension

Looks like a home machinist, to be sure, but it also looks like fairly high quality stuff, and his ad copy is exceptionally well written - not necessarily important for good engineering, but something I appreciate nonetheless! He's got a bunch of positive feedback, too, and I had a very good exchange with him a few months back about a number of different parts. I'll post an update when I get the parts!

 

I spoke to him about rear control arms a few months back. He's a very intelligent and personable individual. Most of his parts seem home brew, but then again, so do Alta's rear control arms.

 

I have been using them for half a year or so. No issues, well made. I got them with the boots and they seemed to be a great value for the $$.

 

Glad to hear it. Unfortunately I think my parts are going to arrive right after the long weekend here (i.e., tomorrow), but I guess I have something to look forward to next weekend!

 

Please post your thoughts and some pics.

 

Survey says... They're awesome. Very high quality fittings, excellent adjustability, smooth installation - other than extracting the stock bolts, which have been subjected to five Calgary winters. Thank God for air wrenches! The included installation instructions are excellent, though the installation of both control arms and end links is fairly straight forward.

Control arms:



End links:



Installed:







Am I pleased? Absolutely. Would I buy the same bits again? Absolutely. Would I recommend this product to anyone else? Absolutely. Do I have any experience with competitors' more expensive items? Absolutely not. But I can't help but feel like these pieces do their job more than adequately.

 

Those endlinks look BEEFY compared to stock. I might have to pick up a pair if I can convince the g/f she doesn't need another pair of boots for winter.

FWIW, the control arms also look BEEFY compared to the ALTA V.1 arms I bought off LOKI. They are made of aluminum, though.

 

If anything, they're BEEFY. Everything's beefy. I'm really pleased with all of it, though I can't say as I see the benefit to adjustable sway-bar end-links, unless one wanted to pre-stress the bar by setting them at different lengths...

In any case, maybe it's my shadetree fly-by-night set-up (I've yet to have the car professionally aligned, but I have a date), but it handles totally AWESOME. Nine thumbs up.

 

Keep us posted if you start hearing noise.

 

We'll my drivers rear end link broke. The dealer was about the same for the crappy end link as he charges for one (broke down using the math). I went ahead and ordered a complete set.

As for why adjustable, even on a street driven car setting the preload can improve handling. No matter what they are stiffer than the factory ones (which will flex under load) and not a bad upgrade for stock prices.

 

I guess it's the "preload" part I don't understand. Everything moves as one unit (at least until the bar is stressed and then flexes, in a mode almost like a spring). Otherwise it doesn't matter if the sway bar is "tipped" up or "tipped" down by longer or shortly end links - they're still going to move the sway bar the same way.

The exception, as far as I can tell, is when the sway bar begins to flex. Then the end links are going to be loaded unevenly. If you were to "prestress" the sway bar by using end links of unequal lengths, then the situation changes. (And I do know this is a technique one can use to make one's sway bar react faster, or at least differently, but mine seems to handle great right now in the neutral position.)

As for yours breaking, one thing I did read about end links (in a VERY awesome old chassis tuning book called How to Make Your Car Handle) is that they're designed to fail before the sway bar does... Yours certainly did that!

I should add: still no noise after a week. But this doesn't surprise me! I suspect if they ARE going to make noise, it's not going to be for months or years...

 

I put both upper and lower arms and the endlinks on my car a few weeks ago when I put my sway bar in. Very nice quality products, and he even gave me the boots he was trying out on the sway links now for free. I would definitely buy from him instead of spending more money on other control arms.

Both have much more beef to them than the stock parts, especially the sway links.

 

Hmmm... That's odd. I didn't get any boots with my end-links! I figured they just didn't need it or something. I suspect after winter I'll wish I had them...

 

So it turns out the end-link boots are just prototypes, and as such still leave a lot to be desired. Moreover, Duane, the maker of all these nice bits and pieces, is on the fence about whether they're even necessary or not. He's going to send me some end-link boots, and I'm going to subject them to a salty Calgary winter. We'll see! In any case, I don't feel like the end links I received were deficient in any way, that's for sure!

 

Just got mine in. Con't wait to install them but that's going to have to wait a week or so due to schedule. The things look amazing. Very heavy duty.

I will admit for those of you that are into weight saving these are not for you. They are hefty feeling and I suspect it will show on the scale. For a street setup these are great and still a bit of overkill.

Applesauce, the sway bar loads on one side as you go around a corner. Setting the preload does precisely as you eluded to. It causes the bar to react faster. Important in autocross. I will admit I am not going to change them for street driving. I don't need a jittery suspension.

As for the end links breaking before the bar I understood the design. I have a big curb at the end of my driveway (they sell rubber inserts for it on the griots garage website) that I have to take at an angle. It really loads up the bar on one side. I think doing that curb for the last several years along with the stiffer sway bar wore out the end link that was being subjected to the most load (drivers rear) and it broke. These should help solve that and will most likely only allow so much extension before the wheel is simply lifted up. I may look into the rubber curb inserts though.

How do you like the control arms so far? Were they hard to install? I am looking at doing these to the front and rear to get rid of the stamped ones which can also flex easily under load. The ones he makes look beefy and I would be will ing to give them a try.

 

They are seriously beefy, and as well constructed as his end links are. I didn't look at many others, I'll be honest; I just decided to take the chance. My Mini is relatively new to me, as is working on cars, so I don't know the market all that well. I don't know how or if his design differs all that much from those of other leading manufacturers, or how it compares in price. Duane's ad copy drew me in - I finished graduate school, and appreciate clear writing! - and the design and machining quality did the rest.

I've been a bike mechanic for quite a while, including a stint in Ti framebuilding, so I know mechanical bits fairly well, and am familiar with basic machining. I'm totally impressed with these parts. Everything about them is top-notch. I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again, or to buy other parts from him. (But he needs a name for his company, such as it is!)

As for the installation: no, it was really straightforward. You just need basic automotive tools, including a torque wrench and silver antisieze. Removing the old ones for me, however, was a royal pain in the ****. The top M14 bolt is tough to access because of the fuel tank, and the oxidation on both ends of mine - a result of six long and salty Calgary winters - made getting those big, long bolts out. An air wrench came in very handy, but there's reason way you couldn't do it with a long breaker bar and some patience and elbow grease. (Mine were so oxidized that even reinstalling them was tough, and I found myself wishing Duane had included new ones - especially if they were to feature a 10mm Allen-hex head! But including the requisite 12.9-grade hardware would probably raise his prices by 20%, so I don't blame him for not doing so.)

 

I talked to duane yesterday and he did give me some weights for the end links and control arms. A stock front end link is 8oz and his are alb 2oz. He did weigh the rear. A stock control arm is alb 3oz and his are alb 15oz. Not bad that you get a beefy part and it's lighter than stock.

I hope he's able to build a little bit of a business out of these. He seems to know his stuff and it's obvious when you see them in person.

 

I purchased the strut reinforcement plates and they are much better than the Craven and Mini Madness ones. A little thicker, but they send replacement longer bolts and instructions on how to remove them. Next step is buying the endlinks.

 

Duane is a pleasure to deal with, and I can't wait to install his control arms. I bought four of them, fully specced up with powdercoating, neoprene boots, etc.

Insanely cheap too.

 

Phenomenally good value. Cheap makes it sound Taiwanese-built.

 

I can guarantee you that the endlinks are going to get real noisy. That is just the nature of a heim joint.

 

Not necessarily true. Only after a lot of driving on dirty or salty roads in the wet, and even then, all it takes is a 30-min clean and regrease. I've been running spherical bearings for 7 years on two different minis, that have seen all types of weather except for sub-freezing temps, and all types of road-surfaces, and lots of abuse. The only thing that has ever let me down are polyurethane control arm bushes for the rear arms, which I refuse to run ever again.

 

You had good luck........many, many more hate the noise.

 

Not concerned about it. If it starts making noise I can re-grease them, and the odds of me hearing it over the sunroof rattle and music are pretty small anyway