Hi everyone!!

I own a 2006 astro black Mini Cooper S, and as the summer gets closer I'm thinking of lowering my Mini with a decent set of coilovers.
But I read in a lot of german forums, that I will get vibrations when lowering the Mini! It's because the axles are getting in a bad angle and that will cause them to vibrate. Now there's some guy in germany who made a "shim" to put beneath the outer joint and the bearing, to make the axle "longer" again, and stop the vibration.
But it seems that this won't work on all Minis, especially when the car is very low!

Now, do you guys here have a solution for this? Do you all have these vibrations? Maybe the UK/US axles are different to the german ones?

I have no clue what to do, and I'm a bit afraid of buying a set of coilovers for 1000euros just to get those vibrations...

 

Hi,

they guy making these parts was me

The axles of your Minis are the same one like the european ones.

When lowering it can cause vibrations, but not on every Mini because of production tolerances. If you lower very much, about more than 3cm, the problem with vibrations will become more and more noticable.

I sold many sets of the spacers and most Minis got cured about vibrations. But the problem is, if you get to low, the spacers are to thin to work and making the spacers thicker is not possible because you have cannot secure your driving-shaft to your outer-joint.

What helps too is getting more camber at the front-axle. This will decrease the angle and therefore decrease vibrations

 

Haha, yeah, I remember your name!!

But you mean, my german axles are the same than the US/UK axles?
I saw so many extremely lowered Minis around here, and no one claimed about any vibrations at all!! It seems to be on the germans forum only, but I don't know why...

I also read something that it's not the outer joint, but the inner one!!

And I saw a guy completely re-building his engine about 8mm higher to solve the problem...but isn't it possible just to lengthen the axles a litte bit, so the vibrations all go away?

I had a 1993 Honda Civic before I got my Mini, and it was VERY low, and it never had any problems with vibrating, is that because the axle was the same, only "up" not "down", and on the Mini it's "flat" before, and "up" after the lowering?

I would really love to lower my Mini like 2" / 50mm on the front and rear, but I'm afraid of getting those vibrations etc...

And I see, with a more negative camber on the front, the joint will get a little bit more like on "stock" position...

Thank you so far for your help...

 

It depends on many things. One thing for example is if you lower the front more than the back. This will also increase vibrations, not because of the joints more because of caster. Also, when lowering very deep, camber increases more and more...

In fact both joints are the problem, but the inner joint gives not really a possibility to work on it. So I focused on the outer joint.

Lifting the engine is one possibility, but it is very difficult and you will get many other problems with it. The length of the axle is not realy the problem, it is the angle of the joints. By lengthening the axles you can improve the play in the joints, so it does not vibrate that much. Much butter would be to change the joints so no large angle appears when lowering.

As far as I understand you, you are absolutly correct. Even when not lowered the axles are already not even out to your wheel. They go up a little bit.

Buy yourself some coilovers. Then lower your Mini and see what happens. If it vibrates very heavy put it up until it does not vibrate any more. Then you can increase camber with camber plates (but please no more than 2° because of your tires), and go down again till you feel vibrations.

 

I think the problem when you lower the front more than the rear is, that the car comes even more lower on the front, and more "weight" is put onto the front => bad for the axles

I have no clue how the axle and both joints look like, but there MUST be a solution for this... as you said, changing the joints can be a possible solution, but are there any aftermarket axles for the Mini? I know a lot of people with Hondas etc. have "stronger" axles in there etc., I bet they use better joints, and maybe "longer" axles to, as you said, improve the "room" they have for moving...

What I'm afraid of is, that it maybe does not vibrate, but then the axles/joints will still wear out a lot quicker, and I'll have to replace them, which is quite pricey...

Coilovers will be a MUST, because one can change the height both on the front and rear and "test" around where the vibrating starts etc...camber plates is a must, too I think for a lowered car, and -2° is a good number, I had like 3,2° on my Civic, because I had nothing to adjust it, but my tyres lastet 20.000km, so it was quite OK...

Raising the whole engine won't do that much when using coilovers I think, becaue if you're very low, you will gain 10mm maximum, but having a lot of trouble with all the other stuff!!

So, for me there are 2 solutions only:
1st: get coilovers, lower it as much as I want to, check for vibrations, if they appear, raise it a bit, check again, etc., etc., until all vibrations are gone
2nd: search for a company building "better" axles with different joints maybe, so even with a very low all the vibrations are gone...

I hope for the 2nd one to happen...

But I'm really wondering why no one here ever complained about it...

 

Since I am working with Minis, and that is since 5 years now, I have not found any replacement for these parts with other joints or longer ones.

I think there are just not enough people like with BMW E30, Honda Civic, VW Golf, etc....

So we will have to help ourself with little gadgets like these...

 

Maybe there are companies which can "change" (lengthen) the axles a little bit? Or maybe there will be some manufacturers making completely new axles one day? Oh well, we will have to see...

I'm just way too afraid of my axles braking one day...

 

I searched around here on NAM a little bit, and there seems to be some manufacturers building custom axles and stuff:

http://www.cvaxles.com/automotive.htm

http://www.nitrodriveline.com/