I had these fitted along with the Pro exhaust before i collected the car. i drove a stock jcw and you could really man handle it. with these installed, there is a bit of the go kart feeling, but predominately understeer is cornering under power. its even worse in the wet. I have asked the dealer if i can take it to a local mini dealer to have them adjusted under warranty as they haven't been installed properly. you can see the back looks too low.

i had an extensively modified r53 jcw before with KW V1, eibach ARB, poly bushes all around, r56 rear trail arms etc and you could keep it pinned everywhere. these pirelli RFT are also crap so will be moving over to PS4 at some point.

here are some pics. i am planning to raise it to make the car only 10mm lower than the stock FJCW set up all around. as stock they tend to be nose down. i find leaving lots of travel in the suspension, despite not having the slammed look, makes the car far more planted as it can actually absorb bumps. you also benefit from longer life in the suspension as it isn't bottoming all the time.

here are some installed pics. i think the front height is okay but back defo too low.





pic before coils installed.

 

Hate to bring back a thread from almost three years ago but I wanted to get some opinions now that time has gone on with y'all that have installed the JCW Pro Coilovers on you cars and how the ride quality has been. I'm looking at replacing the suspension on my '15 F55S but seeing as how my car is a daily driver car and commuter car to multiple cities on trips I'm looking for something that's not too soft but not too firm of a ride and wanted to see how y'all rate the ride quality of the Pro Coilovers as time has gone on. Currently I'm running JCW sport shocks and springs with 18x8 Enkei TS-10's wrapped in 225/40/18 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3+'s and am looking at also replacing those with NM wheels down the road (torn between the RSe05's and RSe12's) but like I said, I wanted to get everyone who's installed the Pro Coilovers opinion on ride quality thus far.

TIA,

Cody

 

I've had mine for about a year and am happy with them. I liked the fact that these are a factory fit and have the least amount of drop out there. Ride height was important to me as I drive in New England and don't track the car.
To me these should've came stock with a JCW, they're very drivable.

 

So the ride isn't harsh going over bumps or random spots in the road? I'm looking for something a little bit lower but I'm not looking to "slam" the car. I'm just trying to find something that balances comfort and performance. I'm torn between the JCW Pro Coilovers and doing a set of Koni Yellow shocks with H&R lowering Springs

TIA,

Banner

 

At the time I was in the same boat as you, just looking to make it sportier, less roll and dive. It's not as "soft" as the sport suspension and it's a bit tougher over frost heaves but not by much. I never had luck with lowering springs so I opted for these. It's never a guarantee when you mix manufacturers, unless someone here has experimented with both.

 

My twins, well sort of 2016 Mini S and a 04 Golf R32.

 

Comparing full-stroke coilovers to lowering springs isn't appropriate. The JCW coilovers have the same stroke as stock and similar spring rates, meaning they will absorb the same large bumps as stock. Lowering springs remove all free compression travel and rest the car on the bumpstops, eliminating any ability to absorb large bumps.

Please read post #7 in this thread, it answers your question with data.

 

Just got my JCW back from the dealer who I had install the JCW Pro suspension. I had them set it for 20mm lower than the base suspension height. First impressions... I like it. It brings a crispness to the ride and handling that was missing with the base JCW suspension. Someone above said that this is suspension that the car should have come with... I agree. It seems to play well with the run flats tires that are still on the car. It is a noticeably firmer ride than the base suspension, which is noticeable over the pot hole repair roads in the city I live in. But, the shocks make that livable. On the highway, to about 60-65 mph, the ride quality is what I like, it is more secure and the wandering that the car had seems to have disappeared.

This is a good thread. I’m glad I found it. OP - thanks for starting it...

 

Got it installed on my F55 MCS and I think the best word to described it is Well Damped. The ride is just a bit firmer than stock but not bouncy in any way. The car feels very planted and even the RFT ride quality seems to improve...

 

Thanks for the review. I still remember seeing the first car MINIUSA had this on in the states. The employee driving car cross country stated its great for long trips , makes sense with the reviews.

 

Well, with a little investigation (jacked the car up and pulled the wheels off... ) I found that the dealer mechanic had bottomed out the suspension. The car was slammed. It was actually lower than what MINI says that the shocks will go. Not sure how, but it was. By my measurement they lowered the car by 1.625” in the front...

Now, I can’t blame the dealer in total for this one. The MINI instructions that they have to work too are bogus. It is not physically possible to lower the car as much has they say. And I didn’t have a clear way for them to measure what I wanted. So my bad.

If you read up on MINIs that have been lowered too far, there may be an issue with the CV joints not acting nicely. Well, guess what? I had what I think was that CV joint issue. Under moderately hard acceleration it feels like the front wheels are wobbling. It doesn’t happen to all MINIs, but it has happened enough that people have posted on NAM about it. So, what is the fix? Raise the car up.

So, back to the dealer to have the car raised. I got a copy of the MINI instructions and found that they measure up from the bottom edge of the wheel vertically through the center of the wheel to the wheel well. My wheel is 18.5” in diameter. My current measurement is 22.75” front and rear. This works out to be 13.5” from the wheel center. Overall, these setting are a bit taller than what the OP suggested and it gives a little forward rake to the car. I know, the measurements are the same, but Charley Thompson found that the rear wheel well is slightly lower than the front. I have not yet figured out what the hit is on handling from having a bit of forward rake. I may want to raise the front a bit...

Well, the wheel wobble is gone... Woo Hoo.
And the car rides better. I am thinking something in the suspension was bottomed out before. Now, the ride is much better. Handling remains tight, based on the little I have driven it.

 

Hi,

My rear left JCW Pro Coilover bump stop cracked. Where can I get a replacement bump stop? Can I use the stock bump stop?

Tq

 

Realoem.com doesn’t show a separate part for that.
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=03_0067
Not sure exactly what that means for this exact application, but in other cases it has meant that the base part is used. You could search realoem.com for the base part number, buy it (Dealer, ECS, Waymotors, etc) and see if it looks the same. I know if it doesn’t, then you are returning the part, but it might be worth a shot. Or buy 2 and replace both sides so they are the same and run that way.

Maybe someone has more info...

Any idea how it broke?

 

I reinstalled the original bumpstop and so far so good. The original bumpstop is a lot harder (the JCW Pro bumpstop is soft and quite brittle almost like cushion foam). I’m not sure how the JCW bumpstop cracked, might be the suspension bottomed out when going over speedbumps with 3 people at the back.