Ok, I just picked up a set of KW V1's off the market place here. I've done some searching through the forums and have ideas on what to do with the coilovers. But I wanted to also check on other mounts and things needed to do a full seasonal swap each year.

I'm still trying to decide what I want to do for camber plates. And I think I am going to go with the Helix rear control arms so I can adjust rear camber appropriately. But I wanted to find out what other mounts and plates I need to make this a full swap over come winter time when I go back to stock shocks. Do I need the spring plates or pads? Do I need the protection tube?

Basically I just want to remove the bolts and be able to swap to stock without taking the coilovers apart and I just need to get the required parts.

Also, I've seen come conflicting information on adjustable swaybar links. Do I need them? I've seen some people say they dont need them at all, others say they couldn't install the coilovers at all without them. I'm assuming it depends on the coilover, but I wanted to check with everyone.

 

Congrats, I do the same: KWv3's for the summer/autoX season, OEM suspension for the winter.

You basically need four sets of fully assembled coil-over suspensions to bolt in-out. That means extra set of camber plates for the front (adjustable are a good idea, Hotchkis and Vorshlag works great, and are rebuildable). Also an extra set of upper shock mounts for the rears (I went OEM).

I bought a set of adjustable rear control arms, but never installed them. Ran the whole last season at the highest front / matching rear KWv3 setting, and got even tire wear front and back (-2.2 degrees camber up front) after ~10 autoX events (~10 runs each) and daily driving.

I stayed with OEM sway bar links, and got close to binding on control arms up front. If I lowered any further, I would have needed shorter front sway bar links. Plenty of room in the back to stay with OEM.

Don't forget to do an alignment !

Good luck,

a

 

Sounds exactly like what I plan on doing!


Ok, so about what I figured. I couldn't find any Hotchkis camber plates for the R56 though. I see IE has adjustables, but they're out of stock right now.


Very good information to know! So if I understand correctly, you have your front coils lock rings set all the way up? If so how did you set the rears? Did you level the car or keep the rake?



I'm not going for low, I'm going for a better handling car so that sounds like good news to me. I've heard people getting links to alter swaybar preload, is this something to worry about in AutoX? I don't track, and hit maybe 5 or 6 AutoX events in a season.

Yes sir! I see above you're running -2.2 camber up front so that sounds good. I assume without adjustable rear arms, the rear alignment can't be adjusted?

Thanks!

 

If you are installing an adjustable height suspension (coil overs), you technically should have at least one adjustable swaybar drop link per axle to prevent pre-loading the swaybar. Be sure to choose a drop link that has a high quality bearing in it and that it's booted (covered with a rubber boot). There are a couple of brands that have cheapy, sloppy heim joints which make your suspension clatter mercilessly.

 

Anyone know if I need to run wheel spacers with these? I run 215/45R17's on NM wheels.

 

Mid day bump for any info on spacers needed with KW V1's with 215's?

 

Yes, front coils are as high as adjustment ring would let me go. I almost considered getting spacer to put on the inside of the strut towers, as I was rubbing the under-bumper rubber chin spoiler on all driveway and a few intersection dips.
Rears were set accordingly, to keep the car as close to level as possible.

In theory, yes, you need to corner weight the car (with full tank and your *** in the driver's seat) and use adjustable sway bar links to avoid pre-loading either corner of the suspension.
In practice, unless you are competing for money, it's irrelevant. If you ever drive with passengers or less than full tank of fuel, your pre-loading is out the window.

IIRC, rear toe can be adjusted, but not camber nor caster. Technically, you need 2 adjustable rear arms per side to control camber and caster.

I literally didn't touch a thing in the rear.
I had bought lifetime alignment (useful for seasonal swaps), and was planning to go back to for the rears once I learned how far off they were. After adjusting the fronts (did all 3: camber, caster, and toe), the rear toe was good, negative camber was high, but I never went back to do anything about it and the tire wear worked out perfectly for me.

YMMV,
a

 

I never needed them (although recommended for the fronts per instructions) with my R112 JCW wheels (probably same offset as NMs) and bilsteins pss10s.

 

Depending on how low you go, you may need spacers in the front. The stock wheels will rub against the spring perch if you go low.

 

Spacers it is then! Looks like ECS has some 8mm spacers with lug nuts, I'll probably go that route.

 

Gen 2 ECS MINI 4x100 Spacers are here: 3-20mm with the bolts ( black ) . So you can get the right wheel / brake / suspension fitment for your needs.

http://www.ecstuning.com/News/MINI_R...013_2014_2015/



Thanks

 

lolol i planned to do this for my evo a while back - spring/struts for winter, coilovers for summer. got lazy and bought a daily so i wouldn't have to.

just be careful with that rear control arm bolt holding the bottom of the strut - tends to strip

 

Oh, it will strip. No doubt about that
The stupid bolt is of self-tapping variety, threaded into aluminium trailing arm. The arm's threads have enough life for 3-6 re-tightening cycles to 100+ ft.lbs, then they strip.

For replacement, I bought 3" (or was 3.5", I forgot, search archived posts) 10.9 grade bolts, nuts, and washers from:
https://www.boltdepot.com/Metric_hex...0.9_steel.aspx


a

 

Please forgive me afadeev, do you mean you replaced the bolts after they stripped out the trailing arm? Or do you mean you bought replacements before they could do damage to the trailing arm?

 

I wasn't that foresightful - I stripped my rear bolts first, then looked for a remedy.

If I was swapping out rear suspension on a friend's MINI, I would (personally) have a replacement set ready to go, just in case.

Search the archives, and you will find my pics, story, and specs (length, etc) for the replacement bolts and washers. I had also looked into helicoils and other ways to repair the existing threads in the aluminum trailing arm, but then realized that bolt+nut approach would be far easier. I've had those 10.9 grade bolts on the car for the last year+, swapped rear c/o's with them at least 3 times, no issues to report.

YMMV,
a