Car is a 05 R53 and will basically be dedicated to HPDE, pulley/injector/tune/brakes/suspension.

any thoughts on these 3 choices I'm a beginner at tracks and can probably swap out suspension in a year or two once I get more track time

1. at 900$ megans race they come with camber plates, these have 7k front and 6k rear

2. at 1200$ swift-spec-r + koni yellow + ireland camber plates, these have a .75/.5" drop and I think 5k & 5.5k rates?

3. at 1800$ BC custom setup from collin?

all 3 of these get good reviews, are there any pro's/cons to coilovers vs springs/strut/camberplate?

now the wrench in the decision, if I'm not happy with the koni setup I could put those shocks in my JCW autocross car, they are d-street legal.

I will be sleeping on this a couple days then making an order

 

A couple of questions - you said you were concerned with lowering the car. Is that still a factor? Is this going to be a street car that you take to the track or a track car that you can drive on the street?

Here is another option for you....get a set of the MINI springs from the optional sports suspension and pair those with a set of Bilstein B8 sport shocks, IE fixed camber plates and a 19mm rear sway bar. The springs and camber plates you can likely get used on the NAM market place. This would be a great setup for a novice. The sport suspension springs firmer than what you have but won't lower the car. I am currently running those springs and the B8s in my car. The 19 mm will dial out a little of the understeer without crazy off throttle oversteer.

 

track car that I could drive on the street to get to the track, no trailer yet, I have another mini for street

I have r53 sport plus springs on the car right now

I think the blistein b8's cost about the same as the koni yellow dont they? I run the big hotchkis hollow bar on the JCW

the JCW has jcw springs, koni fsd, and a big **** hotchkis bar, I get lots of tail movement

 

Just an observation from my experience, I did not like the FSDs on the track and the really big sway bar, while good for autocross, can be a bit of a hand full for a novice on the track; too much oversteer in high speed turns. All that tail movement isn't good on the track.

You might be right about the price of the B8s. Since you already have the sports springs, why not pair those withe the Koni yellows then? And then pair those with a stiffer set of springs after you get a feel for what the car needs. I think the biggest and best change you can make now is the shocks. This would set you up well for taking the car out a few time to learn the differences from doing autocross and how the car may need to be setup different from your autocross car.

I actually have a set of TSW springs I bought used from a friend but decided not to use as my setup is stiff enough and I have plenty of roll stiffness with the sway bars I have. I'd sell them for what I paid. Would need to check if they fit the R53.

Oh another thing to consider is a set of Power Flex poly bushings for the front lower control arms.

 

have bushings ready to go in

 

What kind of tires you run?

I take corners like they belong to me with my set up. My problem was staying in the seat. I have zero over or under steer so far. So this means the car has more to give. My tires tracked flat as. I was checking after ever session to see if i need to drop or rise the pressure and i was running 38psi all around and if I'm not mistaken that is the stock pressure. I have the Hotschkis Competition rear bar and i was using it in the middle settings. While i was at the track i had the CO set to F&R to full hard. If you ask me i would go for the Coilovers.

OO for the coilovers i left them as they came put them on and had to adjust the rears because it was rubbing raised it about 1" or 1/2".

I would also recommend doing incremental changes Not like me that i purchase everything and installed everything all at one time. I'm hoping that this seat upgrade I'm doing will help me go faster. when i go back to the same track was going to go on the 24th, but it not looking good weather wise.

 

Another option are ST XTA coilovers. They are a subsidiary of KW and the coilovers are basically KW V2's with linear springs and adjustable camber mounts like the KW Clubsports. What's different is the body of the shocks are galvanized, not stainless like the KW's. Being a track car, that shouldn't make too much of a difference.

Not sure what the current price is now, but I bought mine on sale 2 years ago for $1200 shipped.

 

the track wheels are 15x8 with 205/50/15 RE71R right now, yes the speedo is way off! I've done like 6 autocross events in the 2005 already, locked in 1st place for novice and we are getting 20+ in the class I am shocked I did that well.

 

at 1200 for coilovers it's probably worth bumping to the custom BC/swift setup they are rebuildable too for only 1800 and I can adjust them without removing the rears

 

what do you mean you can adjust them without removing the rears?

 

I've read a lot of good things over on MA about Colin's CO's so if the extra $600 isn't a deal breaker, they seem like a solid choice.

 

you can get remote adjusters and drill a pass through hole into the rear of the car so you can adjust

there's a few shocks that can do it, and they allow it in scca street classes now too

 

Yah i will be doing this when i put in my roll cage. I have just been waiting. I thought does CO you refer too had some kind of adjuster valve at the bottom or something.

 

I thought I read there was a brand that had that option, not sure which

at some point I would probably go separate rebound/compression adjustment, coming from dirtbikes it's kinda odd they dont have that already the handling difference when dialing in is substantial on a bike

 

Bilstein PSS9's and 10's have bottom adjusters on the rear struts.

 

I found some KW V3's used, installed this weekend!

 

Good fine. How does it feel? Are does coilovers or shocks

 

coilovers, running at 5 on both comp/rebound and it feels a lot better than the stock blown shocks.

It is low though, I drag rocks the whole mile to my house from the pavement, I'm not sure if "lower" is better for performance but I and considering spacers between the shocks and the body, TONS Of bolt room to do it

 

Moot point but I will let you know how Koni Yellows, Swift Spec R springs and Ireland engineering fixed camber plates are.

Swifts are 4.5K F 5.5K R. I have the shocks and springs on the car (for a while now) but when I got SPC front camber plates it seemed as though the adjuster would be blocked by the plate and get in the way.

My brother's Mini has Megan Race coilovers with the adjustable plates all around. Damping is less comfortable and it likes to rotate less. (spring rates) Though with the camber, initial understeer is lessened. (autocross).

 

I've got the SPC plates, I could get a tiny bit more camber but I wont be able to adjust the compression on the shocks and it would make tightening the Allen bolts a challenge

 

I forgot those don't come with plates. I believe Vorshlag will fit but they're pricey.

 

just finished alignment, the coilovers at about as high as the book says I can go gave me +3/8 total toe front and back

it's reset to zero both ends now, I hate doing the back end of these, luckly the dust lines make it easy to see how far I went

I dunno how vorshlag will help, I would have to cut into the shocktower to get the adjustment allen wrench in if I add any more camber