My 2003 MC has the Sport Suspension and I like it a lot--cornering is fantastic. I'm running it with 16" Yokohama AVS-ES100, cause I was hoping to soften the ride a bit from my runflats. The difference wasn't all that dramatic. Now I'm considering getting some M7 progessive springs.

I'm curious though, what parts of the Sport Supension will I be giving up? Is the Sport Suspension just springs, or is the damper included? Anything else?

Would appreciate any advice!

Thanks

 

You'll just be giving up the springs I believe. If your car came with sport susp., the struts would be upgraded as well.

I'm still very happy with mine. I will adding Konis down the line to stiffin it up a little though.

 

Koni's will stifen it up considerably, I just put Koni's in mine and they are quite stiff, but I dont mind it that way and it actualldoesnt ride bad. The faster you drive the better it rides.

 

I think you mean you have the Sport Suspension Plus (SS+) as all Coopers have the Sport Suspension, but the SS+ is an option. :smile: I have SS+ too and also like it a lot. You may want to consider giving up the run flats, which should improve the ride a lot. I don't know how the M7 springs compare to SS+.

 

Nope, the MC has an option for a regular suspension, a sport suspension, or sport suspension plus. I got the sport suspension which adds a rear sway bar over the regular suspension. As I mentioned in my first post, I got rid of my runflats for my Yokohama's, but was looking for a bit more cushion over the bumps and rough roads here in LA. I heard nothing but raves over the M7 progressive springs, but then Detlman pointed out, that once it's lowered, I will need a way to adjust the camber, and the only way to do that would be to add adjustable rear control arms. So my $180 springs, will need $180 to $250 arms as well, and I'm not prepared to spend $500 at this point for a smoother ride.

Thanks a lot for your comments!! They've been very helpful. I'm going to have to make more money before I do any other mods.

 

Richard from what we have seen so far the springs lower the car about 1.3 inches which does give you a more aggressive negative stance but not so much that tire wear is greatly exagerated. At this point perhaps 2 out of 10 buyers of our springs have gone to adjustable rear control arms. I honestly do not think you will find that adjustable rear control arms will be a necessity. They are helpfull but not necessary with the amount of drop that the M7 springs provide.

Randy

www.m7tuning.com

 

Thanks Randy. That's very helpful. Hmmm, I really want to take advantage of the Christmas special on the springs. I may just buy them and install them later.

If I don't install adjustable control arms, is there any kind of alignment that can still be done?

One last thing, do you know why Moss MINI would be clearing out their chrome adjustable arms? Are there any drawbacks to having them chrome instead os being black??

Richard

 

If you take advantage of the sale price now you would have no problem selling them for the same price at a later date if you decided not to use them. I think Steve's Auto Clinic is installing them for $150 the set and that INCLUDES a 4 wheel alignment as well. With the stock set up you can not do any type of camber adjustment. I presently have my car running lower on the Leda's than your car would be with our springs and have my lower arms set at the stock length . For the most part I have run lower than what you would be running at and I have over 38, 000 miles with no real noticable tire wear on the insides. Remember if it became a problem you could always strip the tires from the wheels and swap sides in most cases. As for the chrome Moss adjustable arms I actually had a set and the chrome was not a problem other than it was something else to clean. I , like you apparently , wanted the black but they were out of stock. Hope this gives you some more food for thought and happy holidays.

Randy
www.m7tuning.com

 

I've not heard of that, but you must know if you paid extra for a rear sway bar. I've heard by others that only the MINI one has the regular suspension and all coopers have sport suspension. How much exra did you pay for just rear sway bars? Perhaps the dealer just added the SS+ sway bars, and it is not an option offered by MINI. Not trying to argue with you, but again, I really doubt that the Cooper has a regular suspension instead of the sport suspension. That's what makes it a cooper versus the one -- that and the extra hp from the ECU chip.

As a matter of reference, I have the 2002 MINI sales brochure which lists both MC and MCS. For the MC it lists the SS+ as an option but nothing about just sway bars. I also have the 2003 brochure, but it does not spell anything out about that. So, I really think the dealer may have installed the sway bars from the SS+, which is not really an official MINI option.

Hope you enjoy your new suspension!

 

Ok I correct myself--I'm not known for a brilliant memory . You are right Jazmini. After doing some research I guess the Sport Suspension is standard. Not sure why my buddy thought his CVT MC didn't have SS then.

 

No problem -- now let's spread the word that the lowly MC is mighty indeed.