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Also keep in mind that ultimately the spring rate will decide some of the feeling no matter how much rebound you adjust. These do have significantly stiffer spring rates. They are linear springs which are more setup for track predictability than comfort. This is why doing supporting suspension mods will be of great benefit.
By the way, I will always recommend DINAN products. I had to warranty a resonator pipe because the support hinge broke and they were very professional.
I have many Dinan parts on this car and I had even more on my last MINI. I'm very much a fan. I'm a fan of these coilovers as well. Just needs some fine tuning
Originally Posted by njaremka
"Firm" and "Stiff" are what you will get from aftermarket suspension. What you don't want is "Harsh", where the car crashes or jumps over bumps and irregularities.
Keep in mind that a setting that works for someone else, might not work for you. Road conditions and driving style play a role in where your damping adjustment will end up. Make a small adjustment, and go for a ride to test. Rinse and repeat until you find what feels and handles good for you.
Thank you for the info. You're absolutely right. I will work on adjusting these until I get them right. I'm confident I'll get them there.
The car did ride harsh until I adjusted the rear preload. Now it's just a nice firm ride. I can handle that, it's a weekend fun car, not my daily.
I have many Dinan parts on this car and I had even more on my last MINI. I'm very much a fan. I'm a fan of these coilovers as well. Just needs some fine tuning
Thank you for the info. You're absolutely right. I will work on adjusting these until I get them right. I'm confident I'll get them there.
The car did ride harsh until I adjusted the rear preload. Now it's just a nice firm ride. I can handle that, it's a weekend fun car, not my daily.
when you say adjusted preload on rear do you mean you removed preload?
when you say adjusted preload on rear do you mean you removed preload?
Yes. The instructions say to set the ride height, which I set at just a small amount more than the recommended .75" in the rear. Nothing crazy. Then they say to put the wheel on and jack the control arm up 2" and set the shock to that length.When I got past lifting it 1.5" the car started to lift off the jack stands. I set it there anyway. That made the car behave like it had no rear suspension travel.
So I tried unbolting the shock and letting the suspension droop. I check the spring at full droop and it does not move. It appears the end links are holding the suspension up just enough to allow some preload. So I set the shock there and that improved the ride quality greatly. It's still firm but it feels like I have suspension travel again.
I am fully willing to admit I did something very wrong setting up the rear. I've attached a picture of the step where they tell you to set the preload
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Last edited by James1980; Jan 29, 2026 at 07:49 PM.
ya the whole preload thing is definitely the hardest part of doing coilovers the first time
it’s confusing at first, but once you understand what to do, it’s not that bad.
I finally got it dialed in. I’m happy to report the ride has improved significantly once I got the preload set the way I wanted. Now it nice and firm but not in any way harsh. I’m very pleased. Now I get to dial in the shocks to taste but that’s the fun part. Thanks for all the tips, I appreciate it
If anyone is curious what I did, I watched many YouTube vids on how to set divorced coilovers. They all said to do it this way…
I disconnected the rear shock and endlinks. Let the suspension go to full droop. Then jack up the suspension until the spring doesn’t move in any way. This was maybe a 1/2 inch if that for me. Set the shock to this length and put everything back together. Superior ride quality achieved
