some thought food:

the front wheel weight for a mini is about 800lbs; that will compress a 390Lb spring 2" and a 250lb spring 2.8". If the shock travel is 4", and you set the shock body so there is 1.5" rebound left (a guess), the remainder is 2.5" left for compression. For the 390 lb spring, that would be 2400 lbs to bottom it out, but for the 250 lb'er only 625 lbs.

 

If the 380/380 is not extremely harsh on the street, that is my first choice. I consider the 2005 MCS suspension a little soft so I could definitely go stiffer.

Steve

 

That does not take into consideration the use of a shock.

 

You're both correct.

If you just walked up and put the imaginary 625lbs weight on the fender, it WOULD compress the suspension all the way eventually.

However, if you just applied a 625lbs transient force, the damper would work to stop it from bottoming out. Whether or not it would bottom out would depend on how long the force was applied and how stiff the damper is.

I'm probably not qualified to say, but I doubt you'd have a problem with 250lbs springs bottoming out on the front for street driving. For potholes, etc, you'd have the damper working for you, and in steady state cornering, you'd have the swaybar working for you.

 

Also,

Remember that we are using a 280, not 250 on the front, Also, The Shock it self is pressurised, so that takes a little weight off of the spring(granted not very much). With this setup, No one should be worried about bottoming out with street driving(you always have to watch for large pot holes).

 

hey Dan i did not see a reply on the question of wether or not these will be re-maned if thats a werd? rebuilt

 

im no scientist or a doc, but i don't feel any concern using 280lbs/in in the front (as far as bottoming out) based on my experience with sus setup.

 

Does anyone know the spring rates on a stock MCS? Say one with no sunroof, HID lights and a manual transmission? I know this might be comparing apples to oranges but I was just curious.

 

These are not re-buildable. I am getting the cost of a replacement if that is ever needed for you.

 

I would like to thank everyone so far that has been contributing to this post. This is the largest post in the suspension forum so far, And I think that we all have done a good job of staying on track. I am still getting some information together for some unanswered questions. I hope to have them answered by this weekend.

 

Thanks Dan. Hope my questions haven’t been to difficult to deal with. I do think you do a great job of bringing specialty MINI parts to the market. I just want to be sure I get the right set up for me.

Going with that I’m still not 100% sure of what spring rate I would like. I’m in the same camp as SRTech when he said “ If the 380/380 is not extremely harsh on the street, that is my first choice. I consider the 2005 MCS suspension a little soft so I could definitely go stiffer.”

So do you think this the 380/380 is a good rate for street and some tracking or is the 280/350 be better?

Example if I had the 380/380 set to the softest this would be a good but firm ride. Then I could turn up the settings to be firmer for the times I want to make the ride more for track use. Or would the 280/350 set on the softest be the way to go for the street and still be able to be firmed up enough for track use?

In other words what spring rate would give the most adjustability for both uses?

 

Here is how the warrenty works.

Free Replacement of the shock that is deffective from the manufacturer for 1 year.

After that year, You will get 60% off the cost of the item's retail cost for shock replacement
(retail is 1095, per unit is 274 so 60% off of that is 110 per shock.)

After 2 years, The discount is 35% off and after 3 years it is 30% off, Where it will Stay for the remainder of it's Life.

 

I think that the 280/320 setup will be the most versatile for a street / track user. The Shocks can really stiffen up the springs, with the 32 adjustments, there is a really broad range of settings.

Also, for those that want the stiffer setup, We will not have the stiffer springs for about 1 -2 months after the initial release. We will provide a swap of the spring for those in the pre-sale that want the stiffer setup, or you can stay with the 280/320

 

Sounds good. So I can try the 280/350 springs and if I wanted the stiffer springs I can get a free swap out when they are available? If so then this would be great.

 

Yes.

 

Great then sign me up as sold.

 

Awesome news! So any update on when these might be shipping? Might get that other 5 into the Group Buy if they know they only have a week to jump in on the discount.

Again, thanx Pilo for all your patience in this and us asking you a million questions. Really appreciate it!

 

It might also help to update your group buy thread (if you haven't already) with all the newer info - warranty, spring rates, whatever you haven't a already copied there. If I were you I'd also consider adding a link to this thread and I'd insert the big photos you posted in this thread into the group buy thread as well.

 

Don't forget to post here https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?p=704321if you are interested in the pre-sale. I got word that these are close to coming in. Once I have word that they are available for shipping, I am going to close the pre-sale.

 

Any news on when these should start shipping Pilo?? I'm itching to install them already!

Quick question which i think might have been answered already but i just want to make sure. For Camber adjustments you just lift the front end and loosen those 4 allen screws on the top and move the shock to your desired camber? Is it just that simple?

Thanx again!

 

Yes and no. If you adjust your camber 1 deg. to to 2 degs.,your toe changes a lot (1/4 to 1/2 inch toe in). "Toe in" in the front is not the way to go, so you need to get an alignment or do it yourself. There are lots of ways to do it yourself. Toe plates and string boxes work well. Sometimes better than the local shop!! If you had a good alignment before the toe change and you did a good job of setting the camber on either side the same, you won't feel the toe change too much in slow street driving, but it is there big time!

 

[QUOTE=pmello] Toe plates and string boxes work well.QUOTE]what is this??

 

[QUOTE=joker] Connect two flat rectangular pieces with strings/whatever, and place one on the outside portion of each the left and right tires [the strings pass underneath, across the vehicle]. IF you cut the strings to the same length, and the pieces fall snug against the tires on either side, you have tires pointed straight- toe = 0. If you want the toe "out" [front of tire points out, away from car- improves turning performance but makes initial turn in feel a little less responsive], you make the string at the front of the tire longer than at the rear and adjust the suspension until each tire points out to an equal degree and the string is once again snug against the plates.

Hope that helps!

 

thx ingsoc......

 

Thanx, greatly appreciate the info, what about caster? Isn't it affected also?

Though that wasn't the real point of my post, i was asking technically how to change the camber not the affects of changing camber. As in, do you have to loosen anything else on the camber plates to adjust camber? Is it as simple as those 4 allen screws on the top of the camber plate.