Suspension Springs, struts, coilovers, sway-bars, camber plates, and all other modifications to suspension components for Cooper (R50), Cabrio (R52), and Cooper S (R53) MINIs.

Suspension Any info on spring rates and free lengths of OEM and aftermarket R53 coil springs??..

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Old Dec 20, 2018 | 06:19 PM
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Any info on spring rates and free lengths of OEM and aftermarket R53 coil springs??..

Hope someone can help out... So much good info on the forums here... but search came up nill for me on this topic.

Looking for SPRING RATE numbers for F&R on the stock/OEM front and rear coil springs.

Many of the coilovers are running 7Kg/mm front 5K rear, some run 5k/5k (My current Stance).... 6.12kg/mm/5.1 (Ohlins R&T's), GodSpeed 6K/6K,

For me.... seems it should be a lower spring rate in the rear (like on the Ohlins)

Seems no-one is giving travel, free-length or coil-bind measurements... and I've yet to see a graph of the progressive spring rate curves.

On the uprated/lowered stock replacement springs (non coilover) ... Super strange to me... Swift Spec-R springs for the R53... are 5.0Kg/mm front, 5.5 Rear... I'm SUPER surprised by the rear rate being higher even though It is much lighter in the back.... and you'd have to have no legs or be a child to ride in the back seat... Maybe they are trying to cover bases with the Cabrio cars??

Other uprated/lowered stock replacement springs AST.... 4.6Kg/mm front, 4.1 Rear ... Megan 2.73kg/mm front 3.74 rear (WTH??)

These rates are all over the place... hmmm.

Many don't provide ANY info other than very loose "range" of drop.... without rate etc info... some have same springs for Cabrio and Hardtops.... which I find disappointing.

The amount of 'drop' in the ride height really has little to tell me about the ride 'character' and handling improvements I could expect in buying these products.

Hmm ... Leaves me pondering.






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Last edited by mountainhorse; Dec 20, 2018 at 06:40 PM.
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Old Dec 20, 2018 | 06:27 PM
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Funny... Search came up with nothing... but the "Related topics" at the bottom here came up with some info AFTER I posted this thread??



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Old Dec 20, 2018 | 06:30 PM
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Seems the rates on the R53 are 165lb/in... OR 2.9 kg/mm.
Originally Posted by minimarks
OK, did a little search for ya. From TSW (who you can believe) the MCS spring rate is 165 front and rear.
TSW....
155-165 lb/in => 2.8 kg/mm - 2.95 kg/mm
Originally Posted by txwerks
FWIW, every R50/R52/R53 OEM spring (JCW, Sport, non-sport, S and Cooper alike) we've seen tested has fallen into the 160ish range (from 155 - 165) on a calibrated machine... Shrug. Not to say there might not be any differences between machines as there are with dynos...
*200 lb/in => 2.58 kg/mm
Originally Posted by txwerks
200 lb/in front and rear, linear rates... We're not working on a lower drop version, but we ARE working on our V3 springs right now that will allow you to get more negative camber without modifying the insides of your strut towers...
And then this good article from TXW.
https://www.motoringalliance.com/art...gs-review.102/
Has them spec'ing out 4 kg/mm front 4.81 rear...but for an R56
MORE on the rear
I wonder if the rear is higher rate to run with stock REAR 17mm swaybar or NO swaybar at all??
 

Last edited by mountainhorse; Dec 21, 2018 at 12:49 AM.
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Old Dec 20, 2018 | 11:46 PM
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Is the TSW spring the ONLY linear rate STOCK REPLACEMENT (non coilover) spring kit on the market? (I know it lowers the car a bit)









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Last edited by mountainhorse; Dec 20, 2018 at 11:52 PM.
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Old Dec 30, 2018 | 03:55 PM
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AFAIK, the swift spec-r springs are linear. I’m pretty sure the tightly wound coils at the tops of the springs are just a helper section since they’re fully compressed when the car is on the ground.
 
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Old Dec 30, 2018 | 08:08 PM
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you want higher in the rear anyway, that's why everyone puts a big stiff rear bar in.

I run 8kg/mm in front 9kg/mm in rear, swift springs
 
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Old May 23, 2019 | 01:45 PM
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From: soggy pnw
Originally Posted by MrBlah
you want higher in the rear anyway, that's why everyone puts a big stiff rear bar in.

I run 8kg/mm in front 9kg/mm in rear, swift springs
Very interesting your rear is 12.5% higher than front. Your springs are 60% stiffer than my Swift Sport Springs. Mine are 5kg/mm front and 5.5 kg/mm rear. So similarly the rear is 10% stiffer than the front. I chose them at the time thinking I would be using them mostly street driving and occasional track. But I would discover track is so fun.



At their rates the ride is a bit jaunting compared to the stock S but quite fitting for this car. I thought I way outgrown the Koni Yellow and Swift Sport Springs but so far I am still the limiting factor. I know a set of good coilovers would eventually inevitable.

It seems to be the lower spring rate actually helps to alleviate the camber constraint of the front in my case.
 

Last edited by pnwR53S; May 23, 2019 at 02:04 PM.
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Old Jul 15, 2020 | 07:44 AM
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Old thread I know but just posting as a reference for the rear springs:

R53 S228A SS+ 33536758356 255x10.75x103
Spring Rate (or Spring constant), k : 28.084 N/mm
Loaded Height 176.8526mm

R56S S226A SS 33536772780-1 246x11.25x106
Spring Rate (or Spring constant), k : 31.750 N/mm
Loaded Height 176.8753mm

I've done some rough calculations and from what I can see the R56S uses stiffer rears and softer fronts when compared to the R53. The roll bar on the rear is also increased by +1mm, +1.5mm on GP2/FJCW suspension cars (JCW suspension is now SS+, option S228A). The roll bar up front is thinner but then it's a different shape to the R53 bar so hard to claim wether it is stiffer or softer.
 
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Old Jul 15, 2020 | 08:32 AM
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The main reason you have to use stiffer rear is because it's a trailing arm The spring is mounted on the arm so there's leverage unlike the front that's mounted directly onto the hub, all cars that are set up with the trailing arm and the spring recessed back into the arm have to run a stiffer spring in the back to keep the same final spring rate front to rear.

The terminology they use is motion ratio The trailing arm has a significantly different motion ratio
 
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Old Jul 20, 2020 | 01:19 AM
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Interesting thread as I have little knowledge about this subject
 
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Old Jul 28, 2020 | 02:27 PM
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Hi all, Thinking of putting Swift springs on my Ohlins. Has anyone done that here yet? What spring rates / lengths did you use? Were "helper springs" used??
 
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Old Dec 29, 2020 | 06:15 PM
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Originally Posted by MrBlah
you want higher in the rear anyway, that's why everyone puts a big stiff rear bar in.

I run 8kg/mm in front 9kg/mm in rear, swift springs
Mr Blah, I know you stated this 2 years ago. I'm looking to replace or upgrade my Swift Spec R Bilstein B4 combo. Do you still use/recommend this setup for the track? 8k front and 9k rear? this is on BC BRs right? Is it critical to get their Swift spring upgrade over their standard BCs?
 
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Old Dec 30, 2020 | 05:41 AM
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Originally Posted by r53racer
Mr Blah, I know you stated this 2 years ago. I'm looking to replace or upgrade my Swift Spec R Bilstein B4 combo. Do you still use/recommend this setup for the track? 8k front and 9k rear? this is on BC BRs right? Is it critical to get their Swift spring upgrade over their standard BCs?
I use KW V3. But I would use the same combo on any coilover that has enough damping, can probably go stiffer yet in the rear, there's a reason everyone throws stiff swaybars on the back.

Swift springs are very good, I run them on my e82 and my r53
 
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Old Dec 30, 2020 | 02:37 PM
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Thanks Mr Blah. I'll stick to my Swifts for now. I know you use Koni Yellows with the Swifts. Do you recommend them? Or would I be better with Bilstein B6?
 
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