Hi "cyn..." glad I could help ... ?

 

I do thank you for all your advice and wisdom. But in the end, someone PMed me who is close. He gave me a smokin' deal on the coilovers and Swift springs. He did the install which was basically free, if I were to compare the prices for parts and install from other people. Plus he sold me on the Swift springs and Im glad he did. We're going to do a Hotchkis Comp rear bar next.

 

i have 17x8 +42 wheels. will i need to run spaces to clear these coilovers?

 

Gonna yes, because of the 8" wheels. I'm 15x7 and 40 ET with 205s and I needed a spacer. I think I used a 2.5mm spacer.

 

damn that means im going to need a 17-18 mm spacer

 

spacers yes. Take for instance, to run the stock s-lites (17x7 et48) you need a 5mm spacer up front to clear the coils, that gives you a final et of 43 up front (which you'd want to run in the rear as well since no one likes the reverse stagger look). So now with a 17x8 you're already tightening up the inner clearance, the lower offset helps but when you factor in the needed 5mm spacer from the 7" wheel you're not much different.

Using the wheel offset calculator http://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Wheel...ulator#Results

it shows a 12mm difference (when the 7" wheel is input with the offset to include the 5mm spacer), so you'd want to run a 12mm spacer to make everything clear nicely.

I factored in the 5mm spacer that I used for my s-lites, you may very well be able to get the needed clearance with a 2.5mm spacer which would then mean you could get away with just 10mm spacers but I'm not positive. I do know from experience that 17x8 et30 is a perfect fit (That's what I'm running), also that the stock 204/45 will work with them but you're better off with a 205/40 for added clearance from running (once my 205/45's wear out I'll be changing it up to 205/40's).

 

Is that on a r53 or r56? From my understanding there are clearance differences between the two models. Honestly I'm trying to run as small of a spacer as possible because with what I calculated a with an 18mm my final et would be 17x8 et24 which is too much poke for my taste. I may just go the route of buying new wheels.

Is there a clearance issue with all coilovers?

 

R53, wouldn't know about R56's since I've never messed with them, if that's what you have maybe look in the 2nd gen forum? As for the coilovers, I think it's the same with most of them since it's pretty tight and narrow up in there.

18mm spacers are huge (considering the wheel width/offset) and definitely would be overkill for what you need, not sure how you came up with that measurement. et30 on a 17x8, which you'd get with a 12mm spacer is definitely more than enough clearance, I have a feeling even 10mm spacers (et32) would do the trick.

 

i have a r53. but i was going off of what CynMini posted.

"I'm 15x7 and 40 ET with 205s and I needed a spacer. I think I used a 2.5mm spacer.
"
i used the offset calculator and i have 15mm less clearance than him.

 

hmm that's odd, maybe he has fatty tires? The stock s-lites which are 17x7 et48 only need a 5mm spacer for clearance, which makes them et43, so the only reason I can see a 15x7 et40 needing a spacer might be due to a fat tire. Either way, 17x8 will be fine with a final offset of 30 and should be fine even with an offset of 32.

 

Thank you. I really didn't want to put coilovers on and then not be able to drive it due to my wheels not fitting haha

 

I just put some bc's in my car the other day and im trying to go as low as i can without mad neg camber or losing much handling performance. i had to get i believe a 5mm wheel spacer for the front due to my offset rims touching the lock rings to the strut. in the end im rubbing hard on my plastic trim fenders. i cut the wheel well fenders about an inch and a half and sheved the inside of the trim as much as i could, i also am almost maxed on my front camber. still rubbing. and i dont really want to raise it.

anyone else having a hard time going low without rubbing?

 

Looks good, but unless this isn't your daily driver, where are you going where you aren't scrapping?

Anyway, per your question, if you are maxed on camber in the front and it is rubbing then you are just going to have to raise or get different wheels. I really don't see a solution to your issue w/o running a different set of wheels or tires.. I mean you could run a smaller tread width and stretch your tires to see if that will stop the rubbing on the lower lock.

 

I hate you guys:-(, I want coilovers so bad! These threads break my heart haha. Damn Michigan and terribly potholes and cracked roads!

 

(A) Move out of state or
(B) drive around/over top of the potholes.

Option (B) seems to be the easiest.

 

Yeah I would love to move out of state but work and school is keeping me here. I blame our state not being able to "fix" the roads. All they do is put patches down that make if worse haha. Come drive in Detroit sometime!

 

Yea not being able to fix the roads are everywhere. MD gets around on their own time to repair the roads, it is quite frustrating-- you wonder where the gas tax is going if you don't see any roads being repaired.

Also no desire to go to Detroit. I will stick to the country-- city life is not for me. lol

 

Those tires look very meaty, that's probably your biggest issue right there since it sounds like it is your tire doing all of the rubbing. As Speedracer said, try a narrower tread width or maybe a lower profile.

I know plenty of people in the Detroit area driving slammed cars on a daily basis so your argument is invalid roads suck everywhere, it's part of the challenge (you should see the Belt parkway in Brooklyn, yea pretty sure it would make your roads look pretty good ). You can go low without being slammed, also you can add a skid plate if you're nervous (the Mini's don't have too much that hangs low but it makes for good piece of mind), and if anything it will make you a much better driver since you'll have to be more attentive

 

thank you very much for the replies. Follow up question. If i were to go with a lower profile tire... what would you recommend that is low profile but still grips well?

 

Unfortunately this is my daily driver. in the future i would like to purchase a rabbit or something similar as my dd and track my mini but for now i have to settle. as for the rubbing, i only rub on u-turns or breaking while turning aggressively. i really would like to get into tracking my car so all the feedback is helpful. thank you

 

Since were on the topic of lowering. Anyone have a pic with bc coils all the way down? I still haven't decided on which coils I want. Leaning towards STs since I heard they will go stupid low.

 

Yeah but my view is if I go with coils I want to be slammed all the way. But I don't feel like paying money to get my coils fixed. You should come out here if you think driving your car slammed is fun;-). I'm going with Koni's/H&R springs, better for daily driving in my area. If I lived in SF, I would slam my MINI ASAP, roads there are amazing compared to here.

 

ST's were one of my choices if I went the coilover route. But they go I believe 2.2-2.4" around there lowered. They also are great quality and warrantied for five years.

 

seems that some of these pictures have lost, and with the text on the picture, it becomes rather important. Anyone have a saved copy? Maybe as a PDF?

-JM

 

I agree with Schreiber117, I'm about to do this MOD in a few months and it would be very helpful if anyone had the missing pictures