Those of you swapping to 8K & 6K springs are you doing it for more street comfort or for actual better track handling?

Sorry I started to read through the thread but got to page 7 and gave up. LOL

 

For standard weight MINI's [~2600-2700 w/driver], 8kg/mm front and 6kg/mm rear spring rates are close to ideal for track and fast street.

For reduced weight MINI's [at least 150 pounds shed, yes really, not just in your head], 7kg/mm front and 5kg/mm rear spring rates are close to ideal.

If you want comfort over performance, you won't be buying BC coilovers anyway, you'd be buying KW Variant 1. If you're "Super sized", then you might want to bump up the spring rates proportionally to how much heavier your setup is from standard. [going to 9kg/mm front and 7kg/mm rear will work for a 3000 pound w/driver MINI using BC/Megan/Cross/other short travel coilovers]

You don't need to cut the towers. Move the allen bolts holding the camber in position to the inboard position, set your camber, and forget it. Yes, you need to loosen the top hats to adjust camber, but once the car is set-up, how often do you adjust camber? Practically never!

 

Has anyone installed the BC's on an R50? Is it "plug and play", or are there modifications that have to be made to the car for these coilovers to fit on an R50?
Thanks.

 

Hi COR BLMY!

Thanks for this really great thread. I have some questions. I have an '05 Cooper S that is my daily driver and I use it for some fast canyon fun. I am running 15" Team Dymanics Pro Race 1's, I think they are 42 offset with 205/55 BFG's. I only want to lower the car 1". I would like to run conservative camber, like -1 all around, maybe -1.5 up front. I think I should be ok with the stiffer springs they come with because of the 15" tires. I plan on using the stock bars for now, but may go to the rear H-sport comp bar in the future, But lower H-sport rear arms right away for camber adjustment. Let me know if any of my choices are off base.

Do you think 15" tires will rub in the front?

Do you think I can get away without cutting the front towers for the camber adjustment?

Are there any negative side effects to cutting the holes in the rear? Any weakness problems? Or has anyone had anything bend or break back there?

Can the rears be done with just taking off the access doors without taking all the interior pannels apart.

Can the rear adjusters be left in those compatments without sticking them through the interior pannels?

Better yet, is it possible to leave the cables off and make the adjustments with my fingers.

And lastly, Do you do installations?

Thanks for you help!
Shawn

 

I'm not Cor Blmy but can weigh in on some of this based on personal experience.

I'm running 15-inch Konig Rewinds with 205/50/15 Nitto Neo Gens and BCs with -1.8 and -1.2 camber front and back and lowered 1 inch. My offset is 40. No rubbing here.

On the stiffer springs I think you'll be surprised that the 15-inch tires will not help much. The ride is very stiff with the stock springs even with the dampers at full soft. I ended up getting Swift springs to compensate for this.

Some have said they needed to cut the strut tower holes. Others required not cutting. I didn't want to cut so I carefully bent the edge of the hole upward a bit all the way around and that worked for me.

 

trying to help...

1. no idea
2. yes, you can opt NOT to cut the front towers for adjustment. just set the camber first, tighten the allen bolts that are closer to the fender (easier to access) then take the strut down carefully to tighten the allen bolts closer to the engine (should've tried this)
3. don't think that drilling the holes in the rear will affect structural integrity of the Mini
4. yes, just take out the 2 compartment covers in the rear
5. yes (i'm doing the same thing)
6. you'll need a pretty big hole and long fingers to get to the top adjustment **** on the rear. tried this when the my coilovers were being installed and it was next to impossible to adjust them without the extenders (for me)
7. i believe COR BLMY is the only one that can answer this

 

I have had these coilovers on for over almost a year and a half now and I love them No problems to date.

 

Random question ... those of you with a R56 ... can you tell me what the max neg camber is your getting out of the front camber plates?

 

hole plugs? what are these? i'm tired of the engine bay getting yucky!

 

Hi folks ...

Thanks for using the info ...

The BCs with 8 F 6 R are stiff ...there is no other way to say it.
But the spring change make them a VERY comfortable street set up.
Remembering that does move them ayay from all the pros when at the track or really spirited driving.

The R56 does have an option of 7 f and 5 R ... NOT the R50 / R56
(other than changing springs)

I am going to tease you all a bit ...BC is testing and looking at partnering with SWIFT so that you can custom order the units with Swift springs !!!

Do you think 15" tires will rub in the front?
OEM MINI wheels with "normal " sized tires are close but the ones I have sold did not rub.

Do you think I can get away without cutting the front towers for the camber adjustment?
YES it can be done ... bending the lip, changing to allen bolts, and set /forget camber this is fine.
I was street, auto-x, track and also just playing a LOT (& like the agressive look) so the larger hole was not an issue. you always can cut the hole later , if you find it needed

Are there any negative side effects to cutting the holes in the rear? Any weakness problems? Or has anyone had anything bend or break back there?
Not that I know of. any weekness caused by the holes would still be stronger than the weekest link (proably the rear sub frame or ir attaching point)
This is a commonaly acccepted install method in MANY vehicles. MINIs arnt the first or only.

Can the rears be done with just taking off the access doors without taking all the interior pannels apart.
To install ... usually best to remove the pannels ...or partial removay) I did get a comment that one customer drilled and did all installation from the bottom.
It can be done...but I like to move wires out of the way and ...always prefer to drill from the top with a nice clear view of everything.

Can the rear adjusters be left in those compatments without sticking them through the interior pannels?
To adjust YES... I have put short teathers on the adjustors and it is very easy to do by removing the cubbie doors.

Better yet, is it possible to leave the cables off and make the adjustments with my fingers.
Unless you have weird fingers and a contorn artist ...I dont think so.
It only take 20 min to unbolt the 2 top screws and reach in and adjust ...

And lastly, Do you do installations?
YES I can do installs ...Please note I do not have a "storefront" and do this out of my home

 

As the most experienced on this coilover suspension and your cooperation with BC could you please suggest us what would it be the best to do for those of us that the 8k/6k setup is not affordable?
In my situation for example, that I live in Greece and the roads are not of the quality that 8k/6k setup is the best to have, I would prefer to change the springs and make the whole set up more comfortable. But what would it be the best option? Is there any option from BC to trade the old springs for a new set 7k/5k and pay a compensation amount for this? Do we have to just get a new set 7k/5k from BC and through away the old ones? Or it might be better to get a new set of swift springs where in this situation we definitely through away the old ones. Is there going be any other option soon from BC for changing to swift springs?
Sorry, for asking so much, but I am the first with the BC setup in Greece and I am looking for the best setup in order to be able to suggest it also to all my colleagues from the Greek forums.

Thank you for all your help.

 

"coopergti" ...and others ...

The SWIFT spring option is not yet an option .
Not next week not for a while ... but hopefully eventually.

If you have the R56 and have purchased 8 /6 please send me a PM and I will get you info.
When I sell Coilovers I ALWAYS comunicate RE the avaliable spring rate and help to make a good decision. "Coopergti" the person you got the BCs from should have helped.

BC does not have option rates for the R50 / R53 ... (yet)

 

Thank's a lot for your help.

 

ryan was feakin' clairvoyant on post 47!!

just wish i had made the switch sooner....really does make these so much better

 

Question ... is it normal for the BCs to come with 7k F and 6K rear? as thats how mine came.





Also note my rear spring looks a lot different the the skinnier ones that are shown on everyone else (mine seems to be the bulb type in the rear too):



Also switching to a swift spring ... will it improve ride quality? or be just as stiff? reason I ask is it seems like some of you got 8K front and 6k rears and then are switching to swifts in the same rates, and Im trying to figure out why?

 

Can you explain on how to adjust for that (whats in bold)? Im guessing if zero preload is 1/2 droop and 1/2 then getting to 2/3rd droop and 1/3rd compression would be achieved by adding pre-load? correct?

 

ryan might be too smart to do this clearly

don't worry about it. set your springs with zero preload (where you can turn them with little effort), then adjust rebound and compression using the damping adjustment.

spring rates are determined by car weight. i went 8f, 7r because i have a cabrio.

ride improvement is dramatic in my (and others) opinion.

hope that helps!

 

Your photos are of the newest spring set up in the OPTION rate for a R56.

A spring rate is just that the actual spring rate ..
Changing to a different Mfg spring in the same fixed rate should be exactly the same.
That being said the QC on some springs are better than others.
The Mfg knows that a peice of wire "x" long wrapped "just so" tests at # rate ...well not necessarly ... I have tested springs on a "calibrator" and found BIG differences. The swifts (and some others) are known for consistancy. A 50 lb variance make a big difference.

My biggest note is to please keep in mind that ALL suspension is a compromise. Even with being able to adjust comp and rebound the springs are still the same
Take a look at any well equiped race pit ... even those with adjustable shocks (comp, rebound, height, preload,)... STILL have different springs.
The comp rebound does NOT change the spring rate only how it acts.

 

That makes sense it just seemed that some said the ride quality when switching to swifts improved, thats why I was asking.

As for Ryans description ... I was interested as it seemed he was adding droop to the car which i was having a hard time figuring out how he was doing it because if you add preload to push the arm down, but then adjust the shock body for the newly added height it would move the control arm back up and there for cancel out the droop...... or am I missing something?

 

On the install there are just easy steps to follow.

I suggest to set the preload ...OFF the vehicle ...before install

Back the spring lock nut off (the spring will eventuall have verticle movement up and down ...it will be loose.
Tighten the nut that is closest to the bottom of the spring till it just touches it ..no vert movement, but no spring compression ( it will still be able to spin).
Tighten 1 more turn and lock it in place with the lowest nut.
You will not have to ever mess with preload again. well about 99 % of the time. If you corner ballance and weigh each corner you can adjust preload to compensate then.
DO NOT use preload to set ride height ...that is always done by turning the entire unit up or down in the lowewr mount.
If you adjust ride height with preload you will eventually "top" or 'bottom" out the piston.
Adding preload woud raise the vehicle, and lorering or neg preload will drop it more.
I highly suggest NOT to preload or use neg preload. ZERO or my 1 turn is usually perfect.

Now ..I have preloaded the softer springs on a R56 after the customer thought they were to soft.
But that still was only about 60lbs of preload.

 

I agree with what your saying as that what I was always told as well. I just was curious if Ryan was getting extra travel out of the coilovers some way.

 

I got 7k/5k here in the UK for mine at no extra cost

 

BC does NOT have option springs fpor the R50 /56 .
If you have different spring rates they either are not BS springs, mis labled, or the wrong length !

The application chart is on my website for all units and springs.

The spring type, length the rate must be matched.
There is a Front 6 and Rear 5

 

I don't have the box anymore but if memory serves it was on the box. I have also checked the springs themselves and they are labeled (printed on the spring itself) 7kg and 5kg I'll see if I can find the photos as on the iPhone at mo

 

Not a great pic of the text on the rear spring but here you go...

Front


Rear


Comparing them to your photos...

Front
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...edium/4-10.jpg
Rear
http://a382.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...f57346db95.jpg

Numbers are same for front (160L 7kg vs 160L 8kg), need to look at them on the car for the rears. But they also look identical to the ones in the first picture.

NB. These were bought in a Group buy in the UK. The supplier at the time was the only UK supplier of BC Racing coilovers and they advised they could supply different spring rates. All 4 of us in the group buy opted for the 7k/5k spring rates.