Hey Folks,

I'm embarking on a little suspension project for my R53 and I wanted to get your opinion on how far I should go.

Here's the scenario: Car is in good shape and feels pretty good out on the country roads. Feels like hell in Brookly, NY, home of the potholes. I took a look at the suspension and found that the rubber on the right front bearing plate was cracked and split. Strut tower was mushroomed a little too.

So at the very least, I'm going to pull the strut assemblies out, hammer down the mushrooms, replace the bearing plates, and probably add in a pair of Indurators, or some other reinforcing plate at the top to prevent re-mushrooming.

But the potholes, right? So while I'm in there I want to improve the comfort and feel of the car. From what I've been reading, Koni FSDs shocks are the way to go if you are, like me, trying to
a) make an improvement over stock comfort
b) not sacrifice handling
c) keep this project reasonably affordable (I don't think I can afford even the cheapest coil-overs)

So the big question I want advice on: should I go ahead and replace the rest while I'm at it? New springs & rubber?

I have no real desire to upgrade, and if the 14 year old springs are probably fine, then fine. But I've replaced the springs on a different car before, and its a job I'd like to do once and do right.

Your thoughts? Should I pony up and buy the least expensive coil-over kit I can buy for all four wheels? Suggestions other than Koni's? Stick to original equipment?

Edit: Car has about 155 k on it. No spring chicken, but in good shape considering.

[Also, just a "hi there everyone" as this is my first post.]

 

You haven't told us how many miles are on the car but, since you're after comfort, don't go with coil-overs. IMHO, just keep your stock springs, buy the KONI FSD's, replace your upper strut mounts and get some plates to reinforce the strut towers.

 

Ya gotta read the whole page, NC, 155K on the clock. Anyway, for those pot holes, consider going to a smaller wheel/taller sidewall combination for city driving along with your upgrade plans. The FSD is very good replacement. I've got over 60K on mine including 12 to 15K on road trips.

 

"Ya gotta read the whole page, NC, 155K on the clock"
Ya gotta read the time stamps, Fly'n Brick. He edited after my post.

 

Koni replaced the FSD w/ Special Active. For suspension refresh? I'd drop the subframe, swap out all the ball joints, bushes, strutmounts, PS fluid, & align. Nothing beats a better than new gen1 drive.

 

touche

 

I did. I did. Just wanted to add the missing info. Sorry to add confusion as well.

 

If the springs are not rusted or cracked and there's no sagging in any corner of the car, I'd just reuse the springs, foam bump stops, and boots.

If I recall, Koni doesn't want you to use anything other than the OEM springs, so don't go after any lowering springs either if you are thinking this is a good time to upgrade the springs.

 

I agree totally with the above statement i did this to my beloved Gary and couldn't be happier. I replaced every bushing I could with powerflex bushings from way motor works. it tightened up the handling and the FSD shocks smoothed it all out.

 

Ya gotta pay attention to too much stuff most of the time. You ever find you car keys next to the butter dish in the fridge?

 

Living here in the NE can be heck on a car, especially a MINI given the poor shocks they put in from the factory. So, yes, definitely, new shocks and I am another vote for the FSDs. I also vote for smaller wheels (e.g.: 16” instead of 17”), which is what I run. Consider 205-55x16 in place of the 195s that come from the factory. With that many miles on the car, the bushings for the front lower control arms are probably shot. The softer PowerFlex are a good choice. Lastly, consider adding a set of the IE fixed camber plates. They provide reinforcement for the strut towers as well as give you much needed front camber. As long as you are replacing shocks, these will fit right into the rebuild.

With these you’ll make the car even more enjoyable to drive and it willl better handle the potholes. Hope it goes well for you.

 

Many thanks to everyone for all the great input!

Looks like the consensus is:
- Yes to Koni Special Actives ($554)
- Keep the existing springs ($0)
- Replace the front bearing plates / mounts

I agree that smaller wheels would help, as well as new bushings for the control arms, but those are not in the budget for now. Gotta save something for the next project, right?

Still, I'm torn on two things:

1) Middle of the road bearing plates + under tower reinforcement versus fixed camber plates. Pricewise, fixed camber plates from Ireland Engineering and only a little bit more than mid-priced bearing plates + ECS reinforcement. However, I've been reading that with the camber plates, you run the risk of wearing out the tires much faster (and that = $$ down the road). So I'm leaning towards the former option instead.

2) How much rubber do I need to replace? OEM spring pads, top / bottom, front / back, are about $66. Seems like that's worth it to me. Some have recommended replacing the bump stops. OEM bumps would run about $100. I'm leaning towards just replacing the rubber and keeping the existing bumps to help keep this closer to my original budget. But maybe I can find non-OEM rubber for less? Thoughts?

Thanks again, A-Team. I love it when a plan comes together!

P.S. For anyone who really wants to dig in, I created a spreadsheet for the parts ordering. You can take a look on Google Sheets, here if you want.

 

I have thes IE camberplates on my MINI and run the factory alignment (toe-in in particular) and have seen no increase tire wear. The reasulting camber will be -1,5 deg, which is about the same as the factory settings for the rear of the car. This is also the same camber that the Gen II GPs come with. Adjustable camberplates that allow for more camber than the IE plates may cause (or will cause, depending on how high you go) more tire wear when you are above -2 degs. I say this based on what other MINI friends of mine have said who have run these higher camber settings.

I recommend these because of the great improvement in the handling and feel of the car and I have come up with no down side (no increase tire wear, no increase in noise or vibration, they protect the strut towers, they are made from BMW parts for the bearings that are stronger than the stock MINI bears which means they will last). These are well worth it just for the way they make the car feel when you drive it.

 

Oh, one other thing about the IE plates is that they go on the underside of the strut tower which is the strongest place for that added support to prevent the mushrooming. Plates that go on the top rely on the strut bolts for their strength.

 

Maybe you aware, but the link you posted for the strut tower reinforcements is for the R56 (Gen II) version. Just want to make sure you order the ones for the R53 (Gen I) if you go that route as the two are not interchangeable.

 

If you are doing the work yourself, changing the shocks and strut tower reinforcements is the best idea, but if those items are as bad as you say, NOT replacing the LCA bushings and inner ball joints is while replacing your struts is doing your car a dis-service. If I was trying to save money, those other items would be taken off and these put on. Poly LCA's $75, Inner Ball Joints $60, don't skimp on those.
Since you're in my home town, NYC, here's more advice When changing out those struts, make sure you spray the heck out of those pinch bolts several times before you try to remove them. If they break, you'll need to get a whole other knuckle, some people will say the bolt can be drilled out, sure it can in about 5 hours, 100 drills bits and tons of swearing, then maybe you'll get it out.... I digress. If you're going to change out the struts, do the LCA's and inner ball joints as well. Good luck with whatever you decide to do....

 

I went through all of this on my mini.

Get the IE camber plates - they will give you better handling with basically no sacrifice anywhere else, and they plates are thick so they act as tower reinforcements as well - this is how you rationalize the increased cost over stock replacements.

I have FSD "Special active" and they are good over potholes. The car is a lot more composed over rough stuff. These are an excellent choice for a daily driver. They definitely feel more modern and sophisticated than my old blown out struts ( ) but still not as sophisticated as a more modern sporty car (ie 335i or something). The only thing I dont love about the SA struts is they have some corner entry lean, not a lot, and definitely much less than stock, but its there.

Do not buy coilovers. They will be far too harsh.

Koni yellow would be a step up towards performance (less initial turn in lean) and offer some adjustability and car lowering capability, but ride more harsh.

Bilstein also sells a cheaper than FSD stock replacement which is supposed to be good, but I havent researched them.

Your stock springs are probably ok.. but not too sure on that one. I'd probably just run with them on the FSD.

 

Opted for Craven's STD over UTI as I dint want the front raised. They've held the towers flat since.

 

so just to throw a monkey wrench in here for you. the bushings and ball joint are out of the budget for now. heres some food for thought a bad bushing and ball joint can shorten the life of your brand new strut and strut cushion. they will also shorten the the life of wheel bearings. if it where me and I where on a budget i would replace everything around the strut and shocks then replace those on the next project. mostly because a bad strut or shock really only makes the car ride rough. just food for thought from an old mechanic.

 

^This & I really don't wanna go back in there digging when the next part expires. Refresh everything once & enjoy the new car joy all over again....longer. Saves some labor cost, too.

 

I defer all R53 suspension suggestions to Way Motor Works. I'm surprised he hasn't chimed in here, but he's only a phone call away.

 

For what you want I'd just go with the Koni FSDs as they ride great and are direct replacements.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/koni-fsd-shocks.html

Then also inspect if you need the mounts or anything as I would only replace as necessary. But we do often just install the powerflex rear upper shock mounts as they are cheap and easy to do
https://www.waymotorworks.com/powerf...-bushings.html

And control arm bushings with powerflex if they haven't been done
https://www.waymotorworks.com/powerf...shing-kit.html

 

Hey folks. So it's been a while but (most of) the parts finally arrived*. I'm still waiting on bumps for the front assembly, which should arrive tomorrow, but I didn't see any reason not to get started on the rear shocks today.

I thought I'd post a little gallery of the work I did on the rear as a thank you to everyone's help and input. Photo Gallery I'll post for the front as well once I get in there.

Also, I'll go ahead and say it before someone else does. I made a big error in not replacing the rear upper shock bushings. I totally misunderstood everyone's advice there, thinking that the bushings were not part of the strut assembly. Oops. Well, now I'm practiced at getting the shock assembly on and off so it will be easier to fix next time.

Also, just wanted to point out that this is the first major repair I've done on my own on the MINI so far, so be gentle!

* Live and learn: Just because a vendor says they have the part on their website, doesn't mean they really actually do. So it might take an extra week or so just for the vendor to get the parts in the mail!