Sounds great, I think that is pretty great service. Thanks for the effort to get these out quickly.
I am very interested in the rear pillow mount. Let me know when you have them available, and put me down for one set.

 

Megan,

Depends upon how you feel about your product. The pillow ball mount feels like a genuine running design improvement, typical of everything we've experienced automotive - new and improved. If you feel it should have been part of the original design however... I'm in either way.

 

Ditto for em ont he pillowball. Do you know did my set of coilovers ship? Sold from Bonehead Performance, shipping to AZ.

Thanks again for working these issues and really supporting your product!!

 

I know that we haulted shippments of Mini Dampers until today which I sent out one. I can't recall the name on the label though. I handle ALL Mini Cooper dampers now that go out. I open the box, change out the perches, trim the plastic shipping piece and send it out.

I did one today.. so I guess it was probably yours? I'll check on Monday for you if you'd like.. but who knows, you'd probably get them by then anyway.

 

I hope so. I am really looking forward to getting them!! Kinda like a kid ina candy store!!

 

I would say to add the pillow ball mount to the kit. If it makes the kit better than people will realize how much its worth and how much better it makes the kit.

Are you guys thinking about moving the rear damper adjustment at all? This kit would be the end all MINI Coilover (well opinions aside) if it was adjustable from below so you don't have to drill holes in the chassis.

 

So has anybody figured whats the maximum Camber adjustment with these coilovers??

Anybody Autocross them yet?

 

Yeah, that was my initial plan. Produce them and include them with the kit (ship them out to the people who have already bought it.) And then also sell them on the side for others who utilize other people's suspension. There's no reason not to let others have them, I figure.

I'm just glad I'm workin out all the bugs early.

I'm racking my brain on how to make a damper kit that would adjust from the bottom. Cause there are upsides and downsides.

Upside is, no drilling the chassis.

Downside is you gotta crawl under there or remove the wheel to adjust the damper setting.

I'm in the works of making extended adjustment ***** with a flexible line so that you can poke them through the interior and bolt them on to your interior and have the line going down to the top of the damper. That way all you'd see would be these two ***** comin outta the back.

What else would you guys like to see in a damper kit?

What other suspension components would you like to see for the Mini?

Lemme know, I'm here to listen.

 

A new way to adjust the rear dampers like the way you were describing would make these coilovers perfect.

 

Aren't there other coilovers on the market that offer rear adjustment from the bottom of the damper? Either the Spax or the PSS9's have a **** at the bottom of the damper which you could reach through certain wheels and adjust? Though a better flexible system is also nice.

This might be a stretch but it would only take Pilo or someone a day at an alignment shop to index the camber positions marked on the camber plates and then you can ship them like that. Would be great to have 0,-1,-1.5,-2.-2.5 marked on the slots of the camber plate.

That would be greatly worth it to alot of people so they can save money on going to an alignment shop to figure where 0 deg is or how far they will go negative.

Also it would be nice to have some sort of markings on the thread body for height(of course relative to a stock vehicle, lighter or heavier vehicles will vary). But again, someone like Pilo or a tester could spend the time marking shock bodies for different height measurements that can be marked onto the bodies from the factory.

These are small things that will REALLY put these coilovers ahead of the rest. Hell already having the built in camber plates is a HUGE bonus.

Thanx Megan for listening! Appreciate your input, these are the next purchase for my MINI when i get the $$$.

 

I'd like to have the damper adjusted at the bottom but still retain the individual adjustments. Meaning that if you adjust the ride height that you will not adjust the spring pre-load or suspension travel.

As for the camber marks, camber changes depending upon how low or high you have your car set. If you have your car lower than other people, then you will automatically have more negative camber to start out with on the same marked position. (Did that make sense?)

The ride height issue is similar as well. Tire diameter, tire inflation, temperature and everything effect ride height. It's minimal, but still it will never be accurate.

 

I agree with Megan, all that is needed are the reference marks on the camber plates that already exist. Everyone's car will be a little different based on their ride height, so you can't do an index of actual degrees. Same with ride height. That should be set by measurements and corner weighting, not by marks on the shock.

I have found it not difficult to adjust the rear shocks on the car as it is now; with the holes drilled for access. Once you spend a few moments feeling around with the adjuster, and see how it fits, it becomes very easy to locate the top of the shock, and feel the clicks making it a very easy adjustment. If you cut out a little bit of the insulation in that storage area, it makes it even easier to move your hand around. I would worry with a long flexible adjuster that the clicks, or detents might be more difficult to decern. I think it is pretty easy now, and certainly a better solution than lying on your back trying to reach up under a lowered car, or having to remove wheels to access an adjuster. The hole that is drilled is very small, and of absolutely no consequence, yet makes the adjustment simple. I don't know if Pilo or Megan figured it out, but my compliments to whomever did, as it is a simple and effective method, that I think is better than other possible solutions. Remember: KISS

 

What other suspension components would you like to see for the Mini?

...since you asked, but it's a bit off topic...hard rubber bushings. But, with the emphasis on keeping the working geometry sacred.

 

I'm more familiar with 911 suspension, but a classic trick with 911's particularly in the rear is to mount the shock upside down. I have no idea if this is possible given the MINI's mounting layout and your shock design, but it has the added advantage of reducing unsprung weight as the heavy shock body is attached to the frame. Could this solve the problem?

 

We're actually working with a company that does Hard-Rubber bushings. Which bushings in particular would you like to see for the Mini Cooper? Let me know so I can get started on those right off the bat.

And as for quality...

 

The "Inverted Shock" design starts to complicate things in where stress is applied on a suspension system. That's gonna be a pretty big concern as the geometry of this suspension is PRECISE.

Apart of being on the forum is taking in ALL advice that might come my way, so I will definitely look into it though; I won't just cross that idea out.

 

Megan,

How open are you to offering custom ( customer supplies basic rates based on desired frequencies with your input) spring and valving rates...and perhaps custom damper body lengths?

This application would be a purely racing one.

 

Wasn't offering a definite solution, just something to mull over. Certainly I can see where if there is the least bit of torque applied throughout the course of the travel, you'd certainly prefer it on the shock body rather than the piston rod. A pretty common sight on older 911s, but obviously its a completely different suspension. In any case, let me compliment you on your responsiveness as well as you're A1 attitude!

 

We will be coming out with springs that you can purchase individually in the near future. The dampers remain in tune with spring rates that are 2kg +/-.

As for custom valving, we probably will not be going down that route due to liability and complications. We'll see though.

 

Megan,

I'm not well versed in kg/mm to in/lb conversions, but 2kg reads extremely light...111-112in/lbs The rear spring rate on the kit being discussed in this thread is fairly close to 6kg/mm...a hair over 5.7kg/mm in fact or 320in/lbs...if my math is correct.

Did you mean to write 12kg? This number makes more sense...

 

I thought he meant 2kg increments up or down from the supplied springs? Just my interpretation.

 

Yes. Hence forth (+/-). So with the Mini Cooper setup... you can range from 3-7Kg in the front. and 4-8Kg in the rear. However the lowest spring rating we will have is going to be a 4kg though.

 

We have Track Series for three of our cars so far. The S2K, S13, and S14. The track series is basically the same suspension system except with higher spring rates and more aggressive valving of the dampers.

We've been debating whether or not to have this for the Mini Cooper because it is a heavily tracked car. Do you guys think it would be a good idea to sell this? Lemme know.

 

YES, it will definitely boost your image even more, especially if it doesn't cost much more than the current kit. You have lots of MINI track junkies on here.


Ohh and earlier i don't know what i was thinking with the adjustment markings, guess i just didn't think it out.

 

$50.00 more for the Track Series so far on all other cars. I wouldn't mark you guys up just cause the Mini is made by BMW.