Hello everyone,

I am interested in installing lowering spring into my MCS and I have been reading here and there about springs/suspensions for the R56 but still feel as though I have come out still having questions. My only experience with lowering springs are with Eibach and Tein but on different cars. I am hoping that I can gain enough feedback from you all to make a great decision on lowering springs. My MCS has the sport package and I am not worried about a harsher ride. If anyone knows the spring rates for (stock springs too) H&R’s, Tein, Eibach, KONI and any other spring manufacturer that would be awesome. Of course I want the maximum drop without moving to a adjustable coilover. I am very open to your honest opinions too. Of course I want a quality spring that wont sag but also want something I can install and not worry about for the life of my car. So let me have it….you help is very appreciated.

 

There is no discussion....

NM Engineering has the best setup. They handle good enough to track, they’re smooth enough to hit speed bumps and they lower the car the perfect amount.

I have coilovers only because I track the car so much. I wouldn’t think twice and switching back to NM’s setup if I was not tracking it.

HTH’s,

Mark

 

I have the H&R Touring Cup kit. Tons of pictures linked in my sig if you want to check out the ride height. It's pretty aggressively low in front, moreso than I'd prefer, and not too low in the back, producing a slightly raked look. It's a good solution offering good ride quality (better than stock IMHO) and improved handling, but the car clearly hits the bump stops too easily in front, and if I had it to do all over again, I'd go with NM springs and now that they're finally available for the R56, H&R Sport struts/shocks.
NM's ride height isn't quite as aggressively low as the H&R kit, and I've had Bilsteins on a half dozen cars over the years and swear by them.

Whatever you do, if you lower the car, DO replace the shocks! The stockers are pure garbage, and if you lower the car, they'll beat themselves to death very quickly and the results will be terrible. Don't listen to anyone who tries to tell you they stuck with the stockers and the result is "fine" - it most assuredly is NOT.

Good luck!

 

What about the TSW lower springs?

 

Kevin is right, I forgot about the shocks. A good set of Bilsteins will make the car even that much better. I used the stock shocks for quite a while but eventually I broke down and ordered the Bilsteins.


Mark

 

Be specific, if you are going to get Blistein's, get the sports for use with a lowering spring. The HD's don't get along well with lowering springs.

Or get Koni yellows.

I've got the TSW springs and Koni's, it's great.

 

My choice would be swift lowering springs, with Bilstein shocks if you have the money

 

I'm running swift springs on my BC coilovers. Work fantastic on the track, decent on the street. Like I said, if I wasn't doing track days, I wouldn't have the coilovers.


Mark

 

With the amount of suspension travel in the MINI, my opinion on lowering springs is
to stick with stock ride height. Second choice would be JCW springs which only
lower about 10mm.

 

Coilovers. I have both Mach V and NM Springs on my Mini's. Running ST Coilovers now. Nothing compares to the difference between springs on stock struts and coilovers.

I didn't listen to people at first because of the cost but I will always run those now going forward!

 

It depends on your budget. If you have to stick with the stock shocks due to $$, this will limit your ride height to TSW or JCW (3/4" or so). If you really want to go lower, then your stock shocks will get abused quite a bit. Also, if you go really low you will likely need a set of aftermarket rear control arms to get your alignment done (I have read this frequently, I am not speaking from personal experience).

If you don't have the budget for shocks now, but want to get pretty low, get the springs you want, and don't cut the shock snubbers. Start saving for a set of Koni Yellows or Bilstein sports.

If your budget allows, you have some good advice above. My choice is TSW springs on stock shocks for now, and Koni yellows when the bank account recovers from the other mods.

Mike

 

I just purchased Swift springs, Koni Yellows, H-sport comp sway bar and a set H-sport rear Control arms. Hope to dial in a very stable ride.

 

I've got the Mach V springs on mine at the moment. Very harsh ride unless your city's streets are perfect, but it sits just right. Equally minimal wheel gap front and back with the nice bulldog lookin stance. Definitely going with coilovers once I have the money, but for now, I'm just fine with the springs.

 

I have a 2011 Mini Cooper Clubman, I just want to lower it, no plans to race it, what's the best springs around? where do I take it (shop) to do it? I have a 17" Borbet LV4, Bridgetone 215/45/17 XL tires, NM stress bar, what would be the issues t

hat I possibly come out with?

 

I just ordered KONI Yellows and NM Alpha lowering springs ... i will report back once i put them on and give you my feedback..

My reason for choosing the springs was because i felt the 1.2 was good enough as TSW i believe is 1.5 ... a bit to low for the area i live in (horrible with pot holes) ... Get NM as a lot of ppl have said

 

TSW- lowers the car the least around an inch http://www.waymotorworks.com/tsw-min...6-r55-r57.html
NM/Eibach- are in the midde around 1.2 inch
H&R-lowers the car the most at 1.4 inch
I have Koni Yellows with NM springs and it is a great combo. Very smooth, but it handle excepetionally over stock. I have heard from multiple vendors and others that the H7R lower the MINI too much and actually make it handle worse.

 

There are plenty of people that will tell you that the stock shocks are crap, but not everyone wants to spend $700+ for aftermarket shocks. The TSW's are supposed to work well with the stock shocks, and that is what I bought. I may be installing them this weekend, will let you know the results and my opinion. Similar to you, I dont have track days in the future, but want the car to sit better.
If I don't like the stock shocks, Koni Yellows will be in my future. The tough thing is that if you end up buying good aftermarket shocks and springs, you are at the entry level price for coil overs, which will give you more flexibility.

Mike

 

What's everyone's take on negative camber with Mini's? With a .75 - 1.25 drop, is it necessary to buy the adjusting camber plates and/or rear tie rods or do most people just run the negative....or....does the lowering not affect it that much? When I put H&R's on my S4, it threw it pretty negative...I didn't adjust it at first and it wore the inside of my front tires pretty bad.

 

stock shocks are great on this car ... scratch that, the whole suspension stock is amazing on the MINI, but people hate the wheel gap or depending on what they do wit the car, want to improve the handling. But your right the shocks are great and you could just use lowering springs.

like porthos said, key thing you always want to remember is to keep your resting roll center of the car above ground. If its below ground or "slammed" you will actually not improve your handling but affect it negatively and also mess up the aerodynamics of the underpart of the car ...

 

Neg camber is good. It heps plant the tires better in the turns. The downside of this it causes you to lose forward stabilty, whihc is why you adjust the toe in. I have rear Hotchkis rear control arms and I went an extra -.10 in the rear over stock which is more than enough for the street. The more neg camber you add the more staart wearing the insides of the tires out. The rear camber keeps the rear end planted a little bit better which is good becuase i always feel the rear end wanting to step out more then I feel the understeer. I do want to do camber plate ups front so that I can get so more stability up front. As far as just lowering the car you can't change the camber more then what stock will allow you unless you replace the stock parts for parts with adjustability.

 

Porthos...you always have great info! If I was to go with the TSW springs, how close to stock camber would I end up with? Can I just swap them out and run with it without adjustments? Playing on springs and 22mm rear swaybar...then runflat deletion.

 

Unless you get stuff to adjust the camber you will only be able to get whatever stock is. Which if I am not mistaken is -1.75 degrees in the rear I forgot the front because I can't adjust it yet. If I were let the new springs settle get an alignment and you should be fine. You could do just springs and since TSW isn't a drastic drop I am pretty sure you would not kill your stock shocks. Though if I were you I would just go ahead and get shocks too. Just for the added handling and depending on what you get better ride quality.

 

Thanks! Got this from the site:

Linear design front and rear, slight increase in rate over stock in front and rear - they play well with OEM shocks/struts, Koni Yellows and Bilstein SP's. The ride with OEM shocks/struts is by far better than with OEM springs... The rear spring rate is slightly higher than the front spring rate - our testing on the R56 revealed the rear needed a bit more spring... It allows you, the user, to dial in whatever you want with a rear sway bar.

If I do get shocks too...like the Konis...I do get close to coilovers price wise...hmmm...

 

I never understand why anyone goes with the Koni/Spring combo, the cost of the springs and struts are right at or more than 1000. ST's are less than that, KW v1's are slightly more than that.

I have the ST's and absolutely love it over just the spring and stock strut. The adjustability and ride are not even comparable to mach v springs/stock struts.

 

I put the NM springs on about 8 months ago...was nice to get rid of some of that embarrasing wheel gap (for minimal $) but with the stock shocks...eek..starting to not feel so good...wishin' I'd just spent the extra $ and got goilovers.

..since I already have springs...may eventually just go with the konis.

Porthos - what firmness setting do you have yours set at? ..or how much of a difference does changing it make?
J