I have the Texas Speedwerks KW V2 coilovers on my track car.

The details I got from Texas Speedwerks:
Front Springs: 60mm ID, 200mm length (8"), 6kgf/mm (336 lb/in) spring rate
Rear Springs: 60mm ID, 140mm length(6"), 6kgf/mm (336 lb/in) spring rate

Using onasled's spring dyno, the rates measure rates were pretty close to that.

I've only had them out on the track once so far, so there's still a fair amount of dialing in to be done. And a whole lot of excuses for my performance. But, I was about 1/2 a second off my personal best for the track I was at - which I know very well.

I could tell there was plenty of time left. I'd bet I can drop 2 seconds off my time easily.

The previous setup I had was the JCW suspension - which I still believe is a very good setup.

There isn't much in the way of track events up here this month, but I have a bunch next month. I'll post some more thoughts on the coilovers once I have some more track time on them.

Here they are at the initial stab at ride height with 205/50R15 RA1 tires on 15x7.5" Rota Slipstreams:



3.2° of front camber, and 15mm spacers up front to get the tires away from the springs


The back tires took a bunch of plastic off the inner part of the arch while at the track, but no damage was done to the tires

 

Snid, how did you measure ride height (what did you use as your point of reference), and how much lower were you than on the JCW suspsension?

For the MCS, Jeff recommended not going too much lower than an inch from stock height, as the MINI gets squirrelly at higher speeds.

I have the KW V2's coming this week, have to get them on the car ASAP, and start playing around.

 

I've got a whole lot of smart-*** answers...

We used the jack points as our reference point. Unfortunately, pretty much every handy measuring point is very variable. The arch trim can move around a bunch. Jack points can fall off. Measuring from the ground up to anything will be affected by wheel and tire size.

I wasn't smart enough to measure the ride height of the JCW suspension before we took it off.

Yeah, but this is a Cooper. No such thing as "higher speeds". It may be a bit too low. I do plan on rechecking the ride height before my next track event and making sure everything is level. I will do that by raising everything to be at the height of whatever corner is currently the highest. Currently, the heights range from around 3.75" to around 4.25" from the ground to the jack points when on the stock 16" wheels with 205/50R16 tires. Those measurements are from memory, and may not actually be correct.

I wasn't expecting to need spacers up front. Thankfully, onasled (who did the installation) had a set laying around that I bought from him. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to drive it home. So, make sure you have some spacers handy, and longer studs or lug bolts to go with them.

 

thanks for the reply

any insight into why the switch happened?

i just finished reading a bunch of great reviews about ast shocks and swift springs to find that they aren't for sale in the tsw setup anymore...

 

Snid - thanks for all the info! Keep us updated...

mb

 

I drove over to the nearby parking garage yesterday which has the flattest surface I'm likely to find around here and measure the ride heights...

measure from the ground to the bottom of the jack points with the stock 16" wheels and 205/50R16 tires

left front: 4"
right front: 3-7/8"
left rear: 4-1/2"
right rear: 4-3/8"

The wheel arch design of the MINI makes the rear look lower than the front, when it is actually higher in the rear.

 

I'd also like to know if the spring rate has been raised over stock V1s. KW V1s are one of the products I've been considering to eventually replace my TSW/Koni FSD setup on my R53 cabrio. I would love a little more drop but don't want a punishing ride.

I recall a positive R56 post on KW V1s in terms of stance, handling and ride. These were progressive springs. Has TSW changed out the springs for something linear?

 

Why isn't TSW offering the Swift/AST combo anymore?

 

The reason I was given was that the lead time for shipping on AST from the Netherlands was too long.

AST coilovers for the MINI are still available here: http://www.vorshlag.com/index.php?cPath=45_131_189

 

I was also told there were some failures on the AST's as well.

Snid, thanks for the measurements. I'll have spacers available, but you run quite a bit more negative camber up front than I do. I'll be at -2.5, already have longer studs, and the BDM acts as a spacer, so hopefully no rubbing. I won't be going as low as you either. Those measurements will be a nice reference, appreciate it!

As for measuring, I think Jeff said they measure from the bottom of the tailights in the back, and from the bottom of one of the other lights up front.
I'm going to try and get in touch with Mike for some initial settings, he runs the same tires that I do...

 

Just to note. Any camber and most ride height changes have nothing to do with front clearance.
These KW springs sit rather low on the strut in the front hence causing the wheel space issue.

Best place to measure ride hight is where Jason does it, at the jack pads. If no jackpads left then at the jackpad location. Measuring of any body part is assuming that that body part is perfectly in line with he other.
Just make a wood wedge and do like the picture.

 

Thanks Onasled!

Ok, next question then is do wheel offsets make a difference with the rubbing? I would think they would by that line of reasoning--if so, which wheels are you running Snid?

 

Yes, wheel width and offset will affect the need for spacers.

I needed the spacers for the stock MINI 16" 5-star Cooper wheels. I forget the specs for those.

I also needed the spacers for my 15"x7.5" +40 Rota Slipstreams.

 

I sent Mike from TSW a pm, he has the same wheels/tires I do, he's also going to check settings and his heights, so looks like I'll have a good place to start. I THINK with the BDM and the wheels I'm running I SHOULD be ok without spacers; should be able to find out for sure from Mike.

Thanks for the heads up on that Snid, that would have been a total PITA to install everything only to find out the wheels won't fit....

 

cct1, pleas post the ride heights you get from Mike as a recommendation. I'm interested to see how those compare to what I'm using.

 

Ok, got the info from Mike (He's on the same wheels/tires combo I am, TD's with 225/45/15 Nitto-01's):

Measuring from the ground to the highest point of the arc of the plastic fender that faces the tires (the "inside"):
Front: 22.6 inches
Rear: 23.5 inches

Day to day driving on the dampers he recommended 9 clicks from full hard on the fronts, 10 from full hard on the rears.

For the track, 7 clicks from full hard on the fronts, 9 on the rears.

Hope I run into Mike and the TSW guys someday, a few beers on me would be in order, takes a significant amount of guesswork out of it for me to get started with the coilovers....

 

Really? Let me know how those measurements look on your car once you get the suspension installed. The number for the front seems low to me.

 

Yep, you're right--I did some more number crunching--the diameter of the Nitto's is 22.9 inches, that's should put the front tire above the bottom edge of the front trim--have to see how that compares to your measurements. Wonder if Mike did some arch trimming...