so what you're telling me i can get an 04/05 civic donut? Finally you are making me buy something Honda, Ken, after months of hot pms back and forth????

 

actually Honda doesn't manufacture those..they out source them so you're still
safe, you Honda hating honkytonk cowboy. check your PM, i sent you
all the specs you need.

PCD 4X100
Offset +40 to +50mm range fitment
Center Bore 56.1mm diameter
Tire circumference... 01-05's use the same tire sizes as our MCS.

 

well, at least i like Infinitys, that would really be a big problem....

 

the new IS300, schweeeet

 

Infiniti, you japanese hating trash talker!


ok Tit, you can have your thread back.

 

I love Japanese, have a big respect for them, just don't like their cars, that is it. I don't like Swedish cars either, I don't like American cars either, uhhmmm, except trucks, anyways.... Tit, i guess we entertained you a lot, as well as giving you a lot of information, again, thank you for the opportunity .

 

I know berky, im just kidding.

btw, one more important note about using the donut. for those
that might consider getting a donut be warned that if you
place the donut inside the cabin the temperatures can get
excessively high during the summer which will also increase
tire pressure. considering there is approx 1psi change
per 10F, the tire pressure can potentially get excessively
higher than the tire's recommended pressure.

I recommend you place it in the boot with the rear seats
upright away from the sun.

 

Don't worry...I was entertained..... I almost bought a GTSt Skyline instead of a mini (I would have saved thousands!!) ...Japanese performance cars are impressive for what they cost....(in Australian terms anyway - locally sold cars are way more $$$ here than in the US)....it's too bad that so many ***** drive them...

Anyway...back on topic, the ride with the tyres at the lower pressure is considerably better. After riding in a car with H&R's with 215/40/17 Yokohamas (at about 36psi), the new level of comfort dosen't seem as bad...

I went for a drive today with a few mates. We noticed that the Alta suspension sits a bit differently compared to the H&R's and Eibachs (what we were comparing to).....The Alta's seem to have a low back-end, and consequently make the front end look high - almost stock....whereas the eibachs and H&R's seem to sit a bit more level - higher at the back and lower at the front...

I also got to drive the car with the eibachs and michelin pilot precedas and I think I believe their claims...the car has a less harsh ride than stock springs with run-flats...

My fears about damaging the rims on spirited drives remain....and I know that that can't be fixed with anything but fatter tyres or by getting new wheels...

I had one passenger on the way out to take the photos I've linked below, and we got rubbing three times - only over the 'deeper, longer' bumps (ie. ones more like a wave than a lump - good explaination eh...)...the offset of 40mm is definitely the culprit here (when mounted on a lowered car)....

Anyway....apart from these being nice pictures, you can see how low my car's backside gets under a small load with nothing in the back...(we were only travelling about 40km/h - <30MPH)....



If you want to see the rest of the pics (other mini's and a MkII Golf GTi) Click Here

 

Tit- i know you mentioned you're a scatter brain, but you're driving on the wrong side of the road!!! get off your phone!!!

looks good. I think the Alta springs were made more for performance
than many of the other springs. We could not find the spring rates for
those springs... check out dominicminicooper's sticky at the top of
the topics in this forum.

If you're going for comfort you want to be in the high 100's to low
200'slbs/in nominal rates.

 

oh my! who was sitting on the 'drivers side' then??

It looks like Alta are sort of evasive about divulging their spring rates.....but there's no doubt...they have a higher rate than stock....

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...2&postcount=63
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...3&postcount=54
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...5&postcount=50

 

Tit:
Your ride looks so good!! I love it. Very nice.

 

Cheers...you can see why I would like try make these wheels work...

 

those same wheels in the light gray color is on sale at TireRack at
a great deal!

 

They may look nice, but they are effing heavy. Go light, my son. You won't go back.

 

I had HR with stock shocks, 18" SSR comps and 215/35 Paradas, while the wheel tire combo was not any harsher than the stock 17s and runflats, the suspension felt unbalanced and choppy. I changed out the shocks to Koni adjustables, set to 2/3 firm, and the ride is much more controlled, no harsh bounce or jarring, yet still great on the street and track. Now the shocks, springs, wheels and tires all work in concert to make a great package. This setup is a huge improvement in both ride quality and handling over stock. I am a firm believer that the stock shocks do not match well to aftermarket springs. The problem you are having is not the 18" diameter wheels, it is from a suspension composed of components not designed to balance each other.

 

DK23 is correct, and would wonder if he has Ohlins on his 748?

 

ScuderiaMini, yes, full Ohlins forks, shock, damper. Quite an improvement over stock Showa.

 

agreed, i had a track ready 748s (gray w/orange rims), than replaced it with a 998S and than a 999, now not riding

 

you only tried the H&R's and you think that for ALL available springs even
though they have different drop amount and spring rates? hehehe.

kinda premature to make such claim imho, but hell, most of the people
here seems to just buy springs for the drop amount and price and not
consider spring rates. they buy mis-matched springs for the stock
dampers and claim it's the damper's fault. who do you think is at
fault?

 

Ken, who is wrong?

 

i can almost see you start complaining about your stock 05' dampers
regardless of my comment that the 03's are using stiffer damp rates
than the 05's prior to your H-Sports purchase. hehehe. jk berk.

 

I am totally happy with my set up so far, I will use the **** out of these and than install my susp. kit. everything is planned.

 

nice!

 

Kenchan,
Ok, I should have been more specific in my post. I am not condeming the stock shocks, as they are very good units that offer a reasonable compromise in ride and performance. I am only stating that the stock shocks do not match H&R springs well at all. This is not news, I think most people agree with that. I have heard of similar mismatches with Eibach. WHile I understand H sports work fairly well with the stock shocks, I suggest adjustable shocks like the Konis can be tuned to match any aftermarket spring better than the stock shocks. One can go to a firmer, more controlled, and higher performing setup and still have an improved ride over stock with a balanced spring and shock set up.

 

So...I'm going to try a few things out before I start throwing money at the problem....here's my first 'experiment' - the results weren't surprising....

Tonight I swapped my wheels with a mate here - and put his enkei RPF1 17x7 wheels on my car. The tyres are are 205/45/ZR17's and are on their last legs, but are *just* still road-worthy...good enough for this experiement anyway.

I took the 18's off my car and weighed them - 20kg with the tyres on - that's 44 lbs...

The enkeis, with tyres, weighed in at 15 kg - 33 lbs.

So....at least it was a reasonable difference...

Well....the first thing I noticed that the 'pick-up' intially was quicker - ie. how quickly the car responded to me mashing my right foot down - it was noticably better.

We took the car down a straight strech of road and tried some 0-100km/h times (close enough to 60mph-ish).

NOTE: Believe it or not, I have never tried this with any car I have owned. So, understandably my launch 'skills' leave a bit to be desired....and therefore my times are pretty slow...

18's:

8.7 sec
8.7 sec
7.9 sec
8.4 sec

avg: 8.425

17's

8.3 sec
7.5 sec
7.9 sec
7.6 sec

avg: 7.825

now...I know this isn't very accurate...but they did *feel* like they accellerated quicker...

Also....I understand that the real benefit of taking 11lb of unsprung weight off each corner is felt more in the handling than the accelleration...

More importantly, in the context of this thread - the ride quality was vastly improved! Bumps in the road still registered when I went over them, but I didn't feel like stuff down there was at risk of bending or breaking! Accelleration out of corners is markedly better....

Like I said, none of this is surprising. I love the look of the wheels so much that I'm prepared to make some compromises. But if I'm comparing this new setup, to the one I just had - I like the driving experience of this one more....

Anyway...in a week I'm putting the 18's on a car with eibachs to see if there is any ride difference there....

oh yeah...see how the top three coils of the alta suspension are sitting against each other....I hear that is different to some of the other spring set-ups.....also....check out the tar-ox brakes...on the other car... (he's also running H&R springs)