After a LONG wait, we're finally ready to show some pics of our new coilover offering... The initial sets will be street oriented (yet track friendly), and we'll be developing these into dual and triple adjustable track MONSTERS over the next several months.

Initial spring rates are 250 lb/in front and 200 lb/in rear, linear. Front has a tender spring. Top adjustable, a la Koni style struts. Monotube design, and killer, KILLER performance at an affordable price. Anyone up for ~$1400 a set? Made in Holland...

These are made by AST Suspension - do a bit of research and you'll find out why we went with AST. Piet Kreeft, the company owner, is a very well reknowned suspenion guru - from Indy and IRL, to F1, motorbikes, and endless touring cars, Piet knows his stuff! We've hooked up with our local pals here to be the exclusive dealer of AST's MINI offerings in the USA.

The first three sets will be installed very shortly for testing...

 

So the big question is; how much shorter are the shock bodies than stock? Will these allow us monster-truck R56'ers slam the car and still have suspension travel?

 

Man...1400 is about the same amount I spent on Ground Control with camber plate kit for my M3 ZCP.

I will hold out for track setup and 1500 is probably all I can spend on single adjustable for track and 1800 for double adjustable setup.
400/400 fr/rear with double adjustable would be nice.


Keep us post...

 

We shall see in the not too distant future!

 

Nice looking shocks!

On the R56 can you get to the top of the rear shock to make adjustments? You can't get to it on the R53. That's why I went with a shock that had the adjuster on the bottom. (but now they are out of business)

 

I had a set of Koni Yellow's on my R53, which had the adjusters on the top of the shock just like these AST's. It was a bit of a pain to keep unbolting the shock and tweak them, but once they were set for that spring rate, they were good to go. I'd hope that TSW did a bit of homework and had some canned shock positions for the average enthusiast to get a solid starting point.

These pieces look very nice, and the price is fair too. I look forward to hearing more about them, especially regarding the ride height and shock travel situation versus stock.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

SAY! Those look really nice! In fact, I've been talking to your local buddies quite a bit lately for the Subaru side of things for AST goodies.

 

How do you adjust the rears?

What would be the basic difference with
dual and triple adjustable track versions?

Would the track versions be still street friendly as usuable for daily driving duties?

What about warranty?

 

From HELIX13mini:I like them nice looking set...would the above be true with this set as well?

 

--->txwerks: Have you had a chance to measure the AST shock bodies versus stock? Also, is it possible to get a stiffer rear spring? 200lb/in for the rear is too soft IMO for performance driving.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

looks like a solid piece.
def. looking forward to hearing more on how low they can go, and how stiff a spring we can get.

 

OK suspension experts, educate me: do these "coilovers" combine the standalone springs that are in a thread here (H&R) that cost about $325 for a set, with shocks? And it sounds as if you can adjust something (shocks?) if you get under the car. What can you adjust? Does this set lower the car a set amount, and can you adjust the lowering amount yourself easily? Do you need to adjust the camber with these too? Lot of questions I know, but I want to learn this suspension mod stuff. Thanks.

 

Coilovers are comprised of new springs, dampers and spring perches. They match the spring rates to the damper rebound curve, and use a compression curve that should match the vehicle sprung and unsprung weight. I'm not sure how these AST's are adjustable, I'll wait to hear from TSW for that answer as I'm curious too. Typical adjustability is the damper rebound setting, which is used to match the damper rebound curve to the spring rate used. This adjustment, if applicable to the AST's, would imply the AST's may support higher or lower spring rates to cater to both comfortable street and aggressive track use. Coilovers typically have threaded spring perches that allow you to set the ride height exactly as you want [within reason] and also to "corner weight" the suspension to balance the weight across the chassis so the car corners equally well right and left...or at least predictably. Some coilovers include top mounts that allow for camber and/or caster adjustment, but this is product feature driven. These AST's appear to use the stock mounting pieces.

I hope that answers your questions well!
Cheers,
Ryan

 

Thanks for that explanation. Aside from coilovers and roll bars, what other suspension mods are commonly done?

 

A stiffer rear sway bar seems to be a popular mod, as are adjustable camber plates. Lighter rims and grippier tires are still the most effective suspension mod, IMO.

 

Here's our experience with ASTs from the Subaru world - This applies to the one way sportline line of products - adjuster is on the top, and it's a rebound adjustment with fixed valving. Typical coilover setup valving allows to go +/- 2K (roughly 112 lbs) on the spring rate before you need a revalve. In my experience 2K is the outter edge of what you want, and it's better to stick to 1K. If you deviate much from that then you need to look at different valving rates.

Now, the part Txwerks should be able to answer is the adjuster on these as I have not physically had a set for the mini in my hands yet: Front top adjuster would be no problem, but I haven't had a chance to check out the rear tops to see what would be involved. They should be able to answer that.

They should also be able to answer the spring rates they will have setups for. I know the US souce for these, and Txwerks isn't far from them so getting a custom valving setup should be no problem for these guys.

Edit - I'm a big dummy. They answer the rate, and adjuster questions in the first post.

 

Speaking of...

We have a custom valved, SA set that just arrived with our last shipment, which is more track oriented than the Sportline setup. Beefier rates up front and in back.... This set has single front springs, as opposed to the helper/main spring setup on the production Sportline sets. This set is going on a true track junkie's car...

We have a few sets of Sportline coilovers in stock now... We can provide any rate you want with the correct valving (hurray! shock dynos!). The price, with adjusters, is $1440, with custom sets running $175 more. The standard Sportline sets have the helper spring to keep the fronts quiet on the street.

I'll be swapping my Ledas out for these very soon, and they'll get plenty more rinsing out on the track... Personally, I cannot wait to get a set on my car and do some more fine tuning. The Sportline setup, right out of the box, has already been proven at tracks throughout Texas, abroad, and at Road Atlanta... The SA's are a fine choice for motorsports enthusiasts...

We're still working with AST on the DA's, which will be overkill for the majority of drivers out there.