Okay I have searched and searched for coilovers, but unfortunetly all that seems to pop up are threads with people bickering back and forth about which one is the best, blah, blah, blah.

I want to see almost all of the options on the table. What are their features? How low can you lower them? What is the ride like? If they have been tracked how did they perform?

Im really only interested in the facts here. If it becomes a *****-slinging fest like some of the other threads I will have it closed.

My main thought throughout, is to try and have a collective center where people can access thoughts and facts about certain coilover setups before purchasing. Myself, I am looking for a system under $1600, that can give a big drop, but still has some performance to them. I am looking to AutoX maybe 5 times a year, at Tire Rack.

Thanks!

Mikey

 

A couple of us here in central California are using the Megans, and we really like them. I should have SRTech post here for you as he does all our installs. You can raise or lower your car 2-1/2". They have built in camber plates. They are selling now for $1024.00 I think. Pilo has them. You will also nee one set of rear control arms and two sets of drop links, one for the front and one for the back. We also installed the rear sway bar at the same time.
You can also adjust the ride, hard or soft.
Now I need new tires to keep up.
We are doing an autocross next weekend, and will test them out completely.

 

Why the need for different drop links?? Is this only true with Megans?

 

If your looking to spend under $1600 then I would say the Megans as well. The have the camber plates built on which saves a few bucks. Plus with the extra scratch you can get a set of control arms and a rear sway bar and have a great "all around" suspension setup plus the ability for a great alignment.

Personally I have the KW Variant 2's. I was nervous to try the Megans as they were so new. So far no one seems to have any serious problems so if I were you I'd give them a try. I believe they come with a 280/320 f/r spring rating but PM megan or Meb for more info.

Another thing to look at with suspension ir tires. If you ride stiff and have 18's be prepared. My setup is pretty stiff and I'm rolling on 215/35/18 rubber. For the most part it doesn't bother me...but there are times when I wish I was factory again.

Here's my setup for interest sake. As i said I am quite happy with it and you can most deffinately feel a positive difference over stock as well as a nice physical drop for the sake of Pimping

215/35/18 on 18x7.5 - Can't remember offset but this setup sucks! I cannot go any lower withough rubber hitting spring's
KW Variant 2's - set almost fully stiff and dropped roughly 1.5"
H Sport upper and lower control arms
Helix camber plates
H Sport competition rear bar (Had sport barely noticed a difference so I switched)

 

I have 17s on mine with non-RFs so i don't think it will be too bad.

 

Megan

. Integrated camber adjustment up front
. Pillow ball mount up front
. Spring height and ride height are two seperate adjustments
. Once holes are drilled above the rear dampers, damping adjustments are a
snap

...remove the nuts on top of the perches and you'll never have a mushrooming problem again. This is not a Megan approved modification, however.

 

Megans, without hesitation.
No other system offers as many features or as wide a range of adjustability, allowing the system to perform very well on both the track and street. Build quality is excellent.

 

How is the ride quality of the megans? Do I have to alter anything to put them in like i heard earlier buyers were having to do?

Thanks

Mikey

 

They ride just as well as stock or bone-jarring hard depending on how you set the dampers. The only mod needed is to drill holes for the rear adjusters if you want to have easy adjustments.

Steve

 

Can someone list the pros/cons of Megan vs. PSS9 in a a/b comparision (besides the price)? Adjustability, quality, etc...

 

I can tell you what I think the pros and cons are...I've never driven a car with the PSS9s installed.

Everyone who I've talked with absolutely loves the PSS9s.

Pro - progressive spring rates, damper adjustability, adjustable ride height,
R&D and history

Con - Progressive spring rate


Megans

Pro - Linear spring rates, damper adjustability, spring height adjustability,
ride height adjustability, integrated camber adjustment, pillow ball
mount up front. Other spring rates available too

Con - Linear rate spring, R&D history not as 'big' as bilstein, but plenty with
Japanese makes.

Features, cost and application - track or road - is what seperate these two...as usuall.

 

Hmmmm....what's your opinion regarding progressive and linear springs?

Sounds like the main differences are:

1-spring type
2-Megan has pillow ball and camber adjustment
3-cost
4-Bilstein rear adjustment have easier access

Am I missing anything?

 

Again, those Megans look like a good deal for sure.
Meb, just what is max -camber you can get out of their camber plates?

 

How about you Greg? How do you feel about linear vs progressive springs?

 

On this topic I personally would consult with meb and also some race shops like Turner motorsports. I don't think I have enough experience with comparison to give a good answer, though at this point I would lean to linear for the track. With linear you are dealing with a more known rate to tune around. I will be going with linear on the racecar.

 

Thanks Greg...your track experience is good enough qualifier for me

 

If you already have camber plates does this make the PSS9's a better choice than the Megans?

It was an easier choice before the price increase

 

I think, after looking myself, if you really want the adjustability of the PSS9s or Megans and you already have the camber plates the PSS9s are absolutely the right choice, if you can justify the extra $$. If you don't need the adjustable dampening, and most of us don't really need it, I suggest the H&Rs. The whole "need" of coilovers for a daily driver is laughable in my mind. None of us need it, we just "want" it

I am running them without a single problem. Disregard the website info about max drop too. Even with Helix plates, which in spite of what RDR/Helix may say do raise the front of the car about 1cm. I am at the absolute top of adjustment for height and am still about 2 inches lower than stock. If you want to dump your car on the ground these will do it.

In regards to performance, I love them. Totally flat handling. Not as rough and tumble as spings with stock struts.

I can tell you more if you want to consider them. They run about $1100 shipped from Johnathan at Worldone Performance.

 

Megans right? I don't see this at their site...

Also...what is the real camber adjustment range with the Megan? And do you need to trim the tower to benifit?

 

the (ajustable) end links are for corner balancing without having pre-load on the sway bar. Some other things to keep in mind...

Coil overs come up in the Marketplace every now and then. Price can be a huge differentiator! That's why I have Ledas. They came up at a price that I couldn't say no to!

Ledas have some nice features. They're not to expensive to rebuild. And custom valving isn't a hassle to get.

Tiens are available with in-car remote adjustment (optional add on). that makes setting changes a snap.

Anyway, there are lots and lots of coil overs available. I think the latest European Car (July 06) has an article on coil overs. They list 6 different manufacturers of coil overs for Minis. Add in the Megans and Ledas, and you're up to 8 different sources. I'm sure there are more....

If you lower too much, you'll start to compramise other parts of the steering geometry as well.

I've had progressive and linear springs. Progressives sure can be soft and cozy on the street, but the transition from soft to hard can take a bit to get used to, and as mentioned before, makes tuning the suspension a bit of a pain.

FWIW.... Matt

 

I would have to disagree with this common thought. I know some vendors would claim this, but in time I've learned it just is not true. I am speaking of people who want to increase the handling performance of the car and also maybe lower it a bit. Doing this with just the purchase of aftermarket springs is only a short term answer, and still does not give you the quality ride and performance a good coilover will. Eventually aftermarket springs will destroy your front struts, as I've stated before, I give'm 20K miles at most. Within 10K they will start to decline. No, no studies done on my part, just a collection of personal experience and from others, with the addition on common sense.

So, I think coilovers are something to really consider when looking to improve the handling and the look of your Mini.

I also feel that stating that the PSS9s are better then the Megans is unfair at this time. Lets hear first back from those who are using them.

 

In my case I want to lower the front due to adding the RDR camber plates. I have 40K miles with at least 25K miles on the H-Sport springs and have the earlier version (stiffer) factory struts. I am leaning toward adjustable damping as I don't want to end up with a setup that's too stiff for the street. I doubt I will do a lot of experimenting, rather I will use a street setup and a stiffer track setup. No corner weighting at this time but I will not rule out doing this at a later date.

Do the PSS9's still look like the best option? My current setup looks too high in the front and a little stiff over small sharp bumps. It seems to work just fine on the track but I don't have any thing else to compare to.

 

get the adjustable end-links and corner balance. There is a large chance that without it you'll end up with worse handling than before. Think of it as changing a bunch of suspension members and not getting an alignement.

A real inexpensive way to cure the rake issue is to use the rear strut spaces available from one of the vendors. But overall, that's a bad set of compramises for lots of reasone.

FWIW, I drove for quite a while with the RDR cabmer plates and no coil overs. While the rake of the car looks different, handling was improved overall with the camber plates.

Matt

 

Matt, I agree with adjustable droplinks. But it's more important to remove any swaybar preload with them then it is to corner balance. The mini is pretty good if not corner balanced as long as you have proper ride heights. Most will not really feel the difference if they don't go as far as corner balancing. The Mini already corner balances very nicely on it's own.
Yes, if you are serious about tracking, then a good corner balance will help get you that 10/10ths.

 

H&Rs not Megans.