Which type of lowering option should I go for?

My understanding of coilovers is that they allow you to adjust the height and ride comfort depending which one you get.

Springs are preset and they go with your existing damper.

The price of coilovers cost considerably more than springs. The only coilovers i can find now are KW v3 which cost around 2k. On the other hand springs costs a few hundred dollars (NM, Eibach, H&R).

My concern with springs is that they may cause problems the stock damper in the long run. Should I hold off and wait for more coilovers to come out or just go with some springs?

 

Wait for coilovers, or see if Koni Yellows and your spring of choice are available for the Countryman.

Doing suspension work "on the cheap" on a $30,000 car is nuts. Lowering springs will beat up your stock shocks. If you just want to "look low" and stiffen it up a bit at the expense of shock longevity, you can get away with it, but the consensus is that coilovers (OR matched springs with shocks, like Koni Yellows.) is the way to go.

 

So many people have gone down the springs route with stock shocks, it's all too tempting!

 

Well, it's certainly an option... your car won't explode or anything. For best handling and longevity of components though, I vote for doing it right the first time.

 

Countryman's are $60k over here in Australia...

 

Do have have the factory sport suspension? If so, the uprated shocks will be fine w/ the lowering springs.

KW V3 are about the very best street coilover you can buy IMO. These are very adjustable & geared towards track usage.

The lowering on these is not drastic.
What are your plans w/ the car? track days, autocross, etc?

springs & sport suspension is fine for street use. still comfortable enough & a slightly lower CoG.

There will be other options on th emarket soon, but its a rather new car, so give the manufacturers some time for market & R&D.

 

dont. I got NMs, stock shocks and 17" with conti RFTs and it's painful to drive.

Fun and handles AWESOME, but painful!

 

Just want the look that's all, so I guess the KW V3 is an overkill for what I want to achieve. The V2 has just been released, what's that like?

Good to hear that there are different views with the NM springs.

I think I will wait and see if they bring out the KW V1s

 

Where did you see that they released a KW v2 for the R60? Did they specify AWD vs. FWD?

 

http://shop.kw-suspensions.eu/index....&pg=160&page=1

Not sure AWD or FWD

 

Hmmm. That appears to be a non US site. When I was on KW's American site last week they only had the v3 listed and it was only for 2011 AWD R60s.

 

well it's out there

 

The part number doesn't even register in the b2b site. There is a possibility there could be some differences between EUR and US models.