TSW's New Coilovers - on the way!
 

An update on our new coilovers...

Our first couple sets of test coilovers are on their way from Holland, land of suspension engineers with no equal... We've hooked up with our local buds, both national-level SCCA autocrossers, to bring you this new offering... If they were impressed, we're impressed. In fact, they ran them at Nationals this year and scored impressive finishes. They've been testing their setups since mid-2006...

True to our word, we'll be installing a few sets and testing the crap out of them before we offer them to anyone else... However, I did want to share a bit more information.

Features:
Monotube, high-pressure, coilover shock absorbers. Damping force on rebound and compression is adjustable in 12 positions (fixed ratios for now). They can be rebuilt and revalved to any spec you'd want. The initial sets are supposed to guarantee a comfortable ride and yet perform like nobody's business... McPherson type with 22 mm shaft (aka Koni-style). TUV approved.

To date, this supplier is the ONLY company I know of that has a coilover made specifically for the MINI Cabrio!!!

Pricing should come in around $1400 for the initial model - a great street/autocross/track setup for the daily driver.

In the future, we'll be working with our local partners to take the off-the-shelf offering to a whole... 'nother... level. We'll work on the shock dyno and convert the base offering into several variants - dual adjustable and triple adjustable (with a remote reservoir). :thumbsup:

Why is this price less than your "softcore" setup? Is this a Leda product as well? Thanks!

mb

Because it costs less to make and import... :thumbsup: Eventually, it may replace our Softcore suspension, but won't right away. In fact, it may replace our Hardcore suspension in the 3-way format, too.

Leda's in the UK, not Holland. :) These are being made by one of the world's foremost suspension gurus...

I am sure you have plenty of locals from CooperSpeed wanting to help test, but if you need another local, my MCS JCW would look lovely with a set. :grin:


-Rick

I'm pumped to hear/see more about this option. I love how you guys are so dedicated to suspensions and take the time to beat the hell out of your parts on the track.

Don't know if this is the best option for me, but I'm still going to listen...

mb

I've said it a million times - on the MINI, assuming the driver can drive, suspension = fast! :nod: :grin:

what is the lowering range? are these steel or aluminum?

thanks

Scott
Do you know when the more track oriented version to replace your hardcore will be available. Estimated time and price if you have any idea.
Thanks

Lowering range should be 1-2.25"... Current model's body is steel with anodized aluminum perches... Future offerings may feature lightweight, aircraft aluminum bodies - but those would be a LOT more expensive...

Hopefully by 2Q of this year, looking at it realistically. I have no idea what the pricing is going to look like on those, yet.

We have to get the first sets in and run the piss out of them, first... We should have those in and installed in the next couple weeks. We'll run the initial kits through their paces - we expect them to be a good all around setup for the daily driver and weekend racer. These should be released by mid-1Q. They should prove to be very competitive, with say, the Bilstein PSS9's - call these Stage 1.

During eval, we'll write down what we'd like to change for upgraded versions and take notes. Then, we'll order a couple more sets to play with and modify, etc. We'll put those on the shock dyno, change the spring rates, match the valving - we'll make one a Stage II set (dual-adjustable) and one a Stage III set (triple-adjustable + remote reservoirs)...

The fun part is that WE will be doing all the work on the struts and shocks on the shock dyno. We'll be tweaking and testing ourselves. It's likely to take a few test-and-tune days at the track, autocross pad, etc.

The long-term goal is to offer Stages - Stage 1 being the current version, Stage II offering dual adjustability, and Stage III being a 3-way. Stages II and III will be offered with our specs or you'll be able to custom order them to your liking. Stage II and III kits would be upgraded and hand-tested by us and our partners... And, a Stage I kit could always be upgraded to a Stage II or Stage III kit - again - right here, by us, to our specs or yours...

Thanks for the info.

Another interesting option. :)

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: i'm a little leery of the long term durability of all aluminum designs given how the end links attach to the bodies. steel bodies will be fine with me. that range is what i'm looking for. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

A suspension system designed specifically for the Cabrio???

I'm all ears!!! Do share....

Yup! When we ordered the initial sets, we couldn't find a local with a Cabrio that wanted to test them for us... They have slightly higher spring rates to compensate for the additional weight, and the valving is slightly different to compensate...

If the initial testing goes well (and it should), we'd be interested in finding a Cabrio owner who'd like to test the Cabrio coilovers for us when we order a second round - we'd offer a discount off MSRP for the guinea pig.

True - the all aluminum designs are meant for full race applications. They're significantly lighter than the steel units, but even stronger - so there's no worries about longevity there in our eyes...

One thing's for sure - before we'd release all aluminum units, we'd have to pound on them for a period of time before putting them in anyone else's hands. Product testing is sooooo much fun, too! Ah, track time... :thumbsup:

So, who's making them? In Holland, there's Koni, JRZ, Moton, and probably some others. At this price, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Koni, but who knows...?

Also, where is the adjustment knob on the rear dampers?

And who are the autocrossers you're referring to?

As far as the manufacturer goes - I'll share that in due time... The big dog there has designed for F1, CART, and all sorts of touring car series, as well as all sorts of motorcycle series. Suffice it to say, he's one of the most respected in the business and has helped a lot of teams win a lot of races (and championships)... We will be the exclusive dealer for these in the US, via partnership with our local partners... It's not Koni. Again, keep in mind that these are the base coilovers at this price point...

As soon as we get them in, I'll take pics so you can see for yourself... :)

As far as the autocrossers go - let's just say that they are talented people with a killer M3 that finished in the top 3 at the SCCA Nationals...

Pardon the cryptive response - I'd love to give you the full skinny on the manufacturer, our partners, and the setup, but I'd be giving away competitive advantage... :nod: I promise that as soon as we get the coilovers, and install and test them that I'll share all the info...

Will the Cabrio COs be fully adjustable, via separate spring pe-load as well as separate ride height adjustable? Or is this part of the Stage II?

The Cabrio coilovers are ride height adjustable and have a 12-way adjustment for dampening/rebound that maintains a fixed ratio (3:2, which IMHO, is the best for a road suspension).

I'm a bit confused...sorry. Is that a single adjustment for ride height as well as spring pre-load?

I'm wondering because one of the biggest issues we're finding in the cabrio set ups is that the additional weight of the car tends to have a more dramatic drop on any system. This leaves us with less damper travel. In some systems outhere, i.e. PSS9, a way to compensate for this is to adjust the ride/pre-load nut upwards to compensate for lost travel, but this in turn increases ride height.

The MR (megan racing) COs I'm currently running do offer this separate adjustment, but we've found some issues with them.

No - you adjust ride height with the spring perches... And adjust dampening/rebound independently, a la the PSS9's.

These coilovers were designed specifically for the Cabrio. I'll see if I can get more information...

Stages 1-2-3
 

Update?:)

They shipped... we're just waiting to get our grubby little hands on them. :grin: We should have them in 3 weeks or so, and will immediately install 3 sets of the street/track version for evaluation.

GP test platform available.:)