Hey all,

I'm looking to lower my car a little bit (just to remove some of the fender gap). I drive pretty aggressively but I don't have the need or $$ for a real nice spring/shock setup.

Could I just get some H&R Sport Springs and maybe some spacers to change the look of the car a bit and keep the stock shocks? Anything else I should change?

Open to any and all feedback here. Thanks

 

That'll work but, depending on your mileage, consider doing shocks at the same time. In any event, you'll need adjustable rear lower control arms and probably front and rear adjustable drop links. Suggest you also consider either fixed or adjustable camber plates up front. This is what we refer to as "The Slippery Slope". One thing leads to another and another and another...

 

IMO if you are looking at springs you need to budget for shocks in the near future.

I put my H&R springs on at about 55k and 1k later one of my struts completely blew. I put on some koni yellows and its a great combo. With the drop the H&Rs provide I wouldn't worry about purchasing any other suspension components to get rid of the camber as its very minimal. Just get an alignment and you should be good. But if you plan on going any lower, thats a different story.

 

agree about alignment mine is good enough where i dont have much worries.

 

Thanks for all of the awesome feedback so far! If I'm just trying to make it look a little better, would some wheel spacers perhaps do the trick without getting into some other issues or is there a whole separate set of potential problems there? I have 17" webspokes and 205 45 R17's.

 

My last 2 MINI's have had NM Springs, Koni Yellows, Hotchkins Rear Lower Control Arms, H-Sport Sway Bar. The best street combination that I have found. Yes, replace the struts/shocks with Koni Yellows while you're in there. You'll be glad you did.

 

Save up your cash and do it right. You can do this the right way once, or the wrong way a few times; They both cost about the same.

 

I had MachV lowering springs on my '08 MCS with stock struts....after one week I had endured all of the jarring I could take and put the stock springs back on. They were actually marginally acceptable if I was in the car by myself, but add the weight of even one passenger and the ride quality was horrendous. Had I replaced the struts at the same time, I'm sure it would have been a different story. Lesson learned. You can't skimp on suspension IMO. I do like the look of the car lowered and the handling does improve when it is lowered, but ride quality is easily degraded unless you do it right.

If you are coming up due for new tires, you might consider upsizing a bit? My '08 had the stock size 17" wheels. Moving up to 215/45-17 is a very minor change but does make a difference. The wheel/fender gap is slightly less and the tires are wider. Very subtle improvement and would cost virtually nothing if you are getting new tires anyway. Moving to that size opens up all sort of tire options over stock size anyway. My car was an R56....so you'd want to make sure there's no rubbing issues with that size on the R53 first....I just don't know.

Good luck!

 

...and tell us, oh professor of the all known, what is the RIGHT way?

 

Ohhh, that's sweet !

Not putting lowering springs on worn-out, factory shocks; that's the correct way. How many "OMGZ I think I blew a shock" threads do we need to see when someone puts lowering springs on their car, perpetually over-compressing the factory shock?

Let's go ahead and not ignore the experience of others which we can draw from. While you were busy being cute, you totally skipped over a first hand account of what one of your fellow MINI Brothers experienced after installing only lowering springs. Either run coilovers, or matched springs & aftermarket shocks. Sure, install just springs, but expect nothing more than a lower appearing car. Don't expect markedly better handling, or anything more than a bouncy, low ride.

 

I've got a set of swift springs for sale for $300, if you're interested. They're designed to work with the stock shocks.