got some spare money, want to lower the mini
what is the pros and cons.
i have did a search, but i really want to see some pictures.
anyone got pictures of different springs?>
thanks ahead

 

H-Sport springs (which ride softer than stock, yet handle the best): between 0.5" and 1.0" drop, depending on how heavy your MINI is (read: sunroof!)


KW springs (which handle like crap, but ride awesome (squishy): Tons-O-drop, I scrape the air dam everywhere!


H&R's are OK, they ride stiffer that stock (yikes!) and don't get rid of the understeer like H-Sport's.

HTH!
Ryan

 

I'm sure I saw you answer this elsewhere Rye, but did you find that you needed adjustable control arms with the H-sports to keep camber at OEM spec?

Thx, Rye.

 

H-sports, factory rear control arms.

 

That works, Kenchan! Thank ya much!

 

Haven't tried the H-sports, but I've got absolutely no complaints about the H&R's I'm running.

 

Is H-Sport a manufucturer? I thought that was a class in SCCA.
So, you're saying that there's a spring out there that will give you a better ride around town, but allow the car to handle better on a track day? COOL!

Also, is this in conjunction with coil-overs or can you do this without?

 

Yes there is the H-class but there is also a company called H-Sport that makes springs, and you add shocks, whereas coil-overs are the spring and shock combined in one package. As heard in this thread, the H-Sport springs are considered by many to be the best handling and ride combo. They have a progressive rate spring. Some like the H&R Springs which will lower the car a little more, but I don't think they are progressive so will be firmer riding. However, from a pure performance stand point, the coil-overs are made so the spring and shock are matched and work well together. The coil-overs do provide flexibility that regular springs do not provide, and that is being able to adjust the height.:smile:

 

H-Sport is a daughter company of Hotchkis, which has been a suspension tuning expert for many many years.

H&R's springs are progressive rate just like the other aftermarket sets, however the rates start off firmer than stock front and rear versus just rear like the H-Sports.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

personally i would go with a coil over setup, or maybe a spring/strut kit, springs to me are a waste of time, dont lower enough and they dont ride great. all the spring install i have done and the upset after putting springs on cars, everyone wants to go coilover or a set cup kit after. coil overs are ride hieght adjustable and h&r coilovers have a self dampering system no matter which one you get. kw is stiff but you can get adjustable struts. just some options.

 

if you want to get good prices on h&r stuff call up www.tuningzubehor.com and talk to matt. he gives great prices. or go straight to www.hrsprings.com. matt carry tons of european parts.

make you tell him chris bates told you to call him

 

No one mentioned Eibach... they have a coilover set and a spring set for the MINI... Aren't they considered to be [one of] the very best?

 

I have H-Sport springs with H-Sport Competition rear sway bar and 205/45-17 Yoko AVS 100's. Mine rides considerably rougher than it did stock with the 17 runflats. This seems to be different than most others experiences but that's the way mine is. Still working on the handling. Considerable understeer. I'd post pics but I don't know how. ,

 

Will installation of lowering springs make an appreciable change in the toe adjustment?

Thanks,

 

So, does this mean that the bottom line is

With the correct () coil over set up, you can get at least as "soft" a ride as the stock set up but still have a better handling car for the canyons?

Does that adequately sum it up?

Oh the ---- is in light of the fact that the hard part is defining what the correct coil over set up is. right?

HunterBoss

 

You have the competition rear sway bar and still have considerable understeer? What's the deal? Are your tire air pressures in check? Are you throwing it into the corners awkwardly?

 

Tried several air pressure changes Currently for AutoX 50 rear/46 front. God knows I could be doing everything awkwardly including throwing it into corners! Maybe what I'm experincing is not technically understeer. The front breaks loose ( too much throttle? ) and then it just pushes.

 

I can't imagine a modern tire that really wants 50 psi ... I'd see if you can run less pressure.

Since it sounds like you're already autocrossing in STS or STX, I'd get some camber plates if you don't already have them. I think the lack of camber up front is one of the Mini's weaker points in regards to autocross.

I don't know how experienced you are at autocross, but if you're something of a newbie, I'd recommend changing your driving style a little bit. I've instructed at novice schools in the past, and I find that most noobs just refuse to slow the car down enough to get through the corner w/o pushing. You have to slow it WAY down - and do it before you enter the corner. For autocross, it's normally better to enter the corner too slow than too hot. As a general rule of thumb, if you are understeering, you entered too hot- so slow it down at that corner on the next run.

Honestly, I'm not the greatest driver in the world, but I don't find that my Mini (stock) understeers too terribly, and I haven't even done an alignment or anything on it - I just bolt on some V700's and call it good.

 

The H-sport with stock strut rides well for most street, but when you take
your car to the limit you can tell that the rebound is too fast especially
while turning and hitting a small dip or bump on the road. To me, that is
more discomforting than feeling the bumps on the road on a sport
suspension.

Im wanting to try the KW coilovers on my car sooner or later. I might
do the H-Sports with Koni's but not sure if it's worth it when I can get
the KW's if I saved up a little longer.

 

Actually I'm stuck in SM due to pulley mod.
Marked the tires and went on advice from what seemed knowledgable folks to come up with the 50/46 air pressures. Even with these pressures the AVS 100's seem to roll onto the sidewalls.
I'm so new at AutoX I don't know if I'll ever figure this stuff out.
Obviously slowing down stops the pushing, but I want to go fast!

 

i have my pulley mod too. i got to stuck in SM too.

I play GT on PS2, learn a lot of stuff. never had much issues with how should i drive. (i did not care much too)
I run my runflat at 38 front and 35 back(stock tires). i was running 5th on time in SM time last event(i did not run SM though, i run as Novices).
I agree with satay-ayam, as long as you know how slow you need to go before the corner.
play some racing games,(those good ones) it help you to smooth your driving skills.

 

Ryan - are you running 17's? I'm still trying to decide between 17's and 18's (I prefer the look of larger wheels on almost any car), and I'm trying to get an idea of how they will fill out the wheel wells.
Thanks!

Doug

 

Tomslick,
Did you do an alignment after installing the H-sport springs and rear swaybar? If you don't have adjustable rear control arms then you can't really do much of an alignment but with the control arms you can dial in or out negative camber in the rear that should help your roughness and handling problems. I'd guess that after you added your springs your negative camber with stock control arms went to about -2.4 degrees. A fair target for negative camber depending on other variables would be more in the stock setting range of -1.0 to -1.5 degrees.

While more negative camber in front would also help the camber plates are expensive and you'd need to have one setting for street use and -2.0 to -2.5 degrees for autocross with much more rear negative camber than stock.

The reason why many of us don't go with coil overs (which is a good choice) is that it is easier and cheaper to go with lowering springs. Also many of us don't need the suspension to be as adjustable/tunable which coil overs can provide. Actually the ride isn't that bad at all with springs. If you want a nearly stock ride then H-sport, Eibachs and maybe HR are worth a look. Just find a MINI with them installed and go for a ride on smooth and rough roads and decide for yourself.

 

]
Haven't done an alignment or had it checked since spring install but negative camber front and rear is visible and obvious.
Oh yeah, although I say my MINI's ride suffers some compared to stock, I did rear sway, springs, wheels and tires all at once so although I don't feel it rides as good ( soft and comfy ) as stock, I'm not sure wnat the culprit is, and the improved handling is worth it to me. :smile: It doesn't ride bad, just a little firmer/rougher than stock.

 

Tomslick,

Since you don't have adjustable rear lower control arms you can't really do much with your rear negative camber which if made a little less would help to smooth out your ride. It's your choice. Alignment only is worth it if you can reduce that negative camber to roughly stock range.

If you feel that the ride quality for street driving is good enough then just rotate wheels every 3000-4000 miles and you should be OK (this is to minimize the effects of more neg camber on tire wear in the rear).

I would say that my H-sport springs, madness rear swaybar on stiffest setting, H-sport rear control arms, 17x7 aftermarket rims with Yokohama ES100 215/45-17 tires with -0.75 degrees neg camber in the rear rides smoother than my stock S-lytes with runflats. Performance is much much better with my current set up and 10 pounds lighter for each wheel.

And the MC racing class in SCCA Solo II is called H-stock. The MCS races in G-stock.

chrisfb1,
It's sometimes hard to tell from the pictures how the suspension upgrades really look. To me the pictures look roughly the same since it may depend on perspective, angle of the camera with relationship to the wheel, etc.

See if you can go to a local MINI event and check out the MINIs in person with suspension mods. Most of the springs mentioned with a 1" to 1.5" drop are fine. You do add a little more roughness to the ride on bumpy roads but on smooth roads it's fine. Cornering is much improved especially if you add an adjustable rear swaybar (22mm is fine) which helps to reduce understeer.

Rough cost is about $200-250 for parts and then 2-3 hours of install labor. Some do it themselves. Springs are a stand alone mod. You do not NEED to change anything else but we often do.