Thinking of lowering my mini

[stoney]

Ok as it says I am thinking of lowering my mini (r53) I have the sport + shocks in with satandard springs am I best savin up and geting springs and shocks or just get springs ?

If just springs what am I best geting 30mm or 40mm drop

And if springs and shocks what is good but not to expencive

[Big Gordy]

Stoney I've lowered the last 4 cars I've owned:thumbs up: All have been via the springs route. XR2 was Spax, Mondeo, MG ZR and mini all Eibach. IMO the Eibachs are by far the best progresively wound springs available for the money:yes nod: They actually smoothed out the ride on all the cars they were fitted to and that was with standard shocks. There quality and paint finish is second to none and their on road performance really sharpened the whole suspension up:clap: The one issue you may have is that they normally only drop a car from between 25 - 35mm in my experience:Whistle: The Spax ones seemed OK but I had Koni adjustable shock on that were wound up far too hard if I'm honest so it was like a race car:frown: Used to shake things off the dash it was that hard:shut up: Think Eibachs are used on the Cooper racing minis:thumbs up:

[stoney]

Don't mind if only gos 25mm down that would be prob about right I had my megan coupe lowered it had the bars at the back no spring and that was very hash don't want to go back to that will look in to ebach prob get them for my Xmas or birthday

[Forbes]

Coilies are the way to go. If you can the Wietecs are around £500 or KW V1's for £760.

Ryan's old One imo was dropped like 5mm at the front on Eibachs, the back had a good drop to it though. Again if you look at Ryan's S or Alan's S the drop on Coilies is alot easier to get it how you want it

[Big Gordy]

You will notice a marked difference in the ride Rob:Whistle: It feels a lot less 'crashy' over most road surfaces IMO:yes nod:

[Big Gordy]

I'm soooooooooooooooo going to sound like an old fart when I say this:rolleyes: but.......coilovers are totally over the top IMO for road use:frown: I agree, Eibach will only give you a smallish reduction in ride height but coilovers, again IMO, have more -ves than +ves:eek: They totally screw up your steering/suspension if you set them for the 'slammed' look:cool: Which in turn means you go through tyres at an alarming rate if you don't spend even more money correcting all the geometry you've screwed up:thud:
All this is just my 2p worth and by no means should be read as me slagging off someone who has gone down the coilover route:moonie: Each to there own:lol:

[antihero3000]

I'd say coils if you're doing this to improve handling as well as looks mate. Most brands are almost infinately adjustable so they'll only be as firm as you want them to be.

I lowered mine on springs at first and the car sat too high at the front. Also, lowering the car on springs without upgrading the shocks is a big mistake. Better off spending a little more, getting springs and shocks that are designed to work together then once you've sorted your perfect ride height, get a proper setup done somewhere like Dreadnought or Andrew Gallacher.

I've got KW V1's as my mini will never be on track and they're phenomenal for road use. Ride quality, looks and handling have all been improved drastically :thumbs up:

[Big Gordy]

Also, lowering the car on springs without upgrading the shocks is a big mistake

And how do you work that out Einstien:ragin:

[doogz__]

Because the shocks on the car were developed to produce a certain amount of bump and rebound damping at a certain static height. By you lowering the height of the car, you are pre-compressing the dampers, resulting in excess wear, and disproportionate handling characteristics. Spring rates should always be matched to damping rates.

I fitted coilovers to my old Subaru, as the standard suspension was shot, and instead of replacing it all with new standard subaru stuff, i figured i'd be just as well with a half decent set of coilovers. Not only could i alter the ride height as it was too low at the back, i could alter my damping rates very quickly, from road settings, to something more hardcore when i was out on a track, and i also had it all set up at "The Garage" where Denis and Marc spent a good while setting up the alignment, and adding a suitable amount of camber, which completely changed the way the car handled.

[Big Gordy]

Now does that work with coilovers then:confused: The manufacturer has no idea what height your going to set it at and therefor you could be doing exactly the same thing ie pre-loading the shocker by reducing its stroke depending on how high/low you set the coilovers:Whistle: In fact it would be a lot worse as coilovers have a wider variation of height to deal with..!!

[doogz__]

That's correct, however, the shock absorber is designed to work within a range, as the manufacturer has designed the kit to be used at various ride heights. Standard shocks off a standard car, were designed as cheaply as possible, to do the job they were designed for.

My dumbass mate has lowered his Mk2 golf on standard shocks, by almost 100mm, and it's easily the worst handling car i've driven in some time.

[Big Gordy]

Standard shocks off a standard car, were designed as cheaply as possible, to do the job they were designed for.

That being the case they might actually cope with a bigger variation as they've possibly been designed for many different cars:Whistle:But I take your point:D I don't see fitting Eibachs on 'as a big mistake' that's all:smilewinkgrin:


My dumbass mate has lowered his Mk2 golf on standard shocks, by almost 100mm, and it's easily the worst handling car i've driven in some time.

Don't think a standard shock has 100mm of travel to give:eek: He'd be as well taking them out and puting steel rods in:rolleyes:

[doogz__]

Na, a shock for say, a mk3 golf gti, is a shock for a mk3 gti. The vr6 has different ones, as the effective damping rates depend on the weight of the car. Mini's are actually a bit of an exception to the rule i suppose, as you can get varying degree's of stiffness as standard from MINI.

And yeah, Steph's car is more or less sitting on the bumpstops. He can't get up my road without scraping along the floor. Well, he can't get up my road at all, as the car's lying in my driveway with a knackered head gasket that i haven't fixed yet

[Gismo]

Having had both i'd opt for coil overs every time, i'd steer clear of the Spax and go for Bilstein.
That's just my opinion ;)

[doogz__]

Yeah i agree with that. I had Bilstein Group N Tarmacs on my old spaxo, and i have a set on the 106 now, and not only were they perfect for the job, they lasted a long long time, and stood up to a lot of abuse.

[Gismo]

Even a well known racer could not properly set my old R53 S up with the Spax on them, however, GTT did a great job with the Bilsteins

[Forbes]

Are Bilsteins not gone up in price recently due to the exchange rate though. I think they are north of a £1k now

[doogz__]

Anyone used Leda's on their MINI before?

[Gismo]

Anyone used Leda's on their MINI before?I think the race cars are using Leda :confused:

[doogz__]

If they are, the spring rates aren't really comparable to what you'd go for on a road car, although i'm aware a couple of them drive them on the roads for fun.

Mr Knox.

Who is yet to give me a drive of his. :idea:

[Scottie]

Anyone used Leda's on their MINI before?

Yes we did.

On one Mini to raise it up a bit:eek: the ugly Zeemax one


and the other our Cabrio to drop it a tad.

Why.??

[doogz__]

Because they are generally very very good, but also very expensive. Just wondered if anyone had used them, and what they thought of them.

[Big Gordy]

Bilsteins are not getting very good press at the moment with the RB320 Scooby owners:frown: The rears are failing, at low mileage, on a regular basis it would seem:eek:
I remember, back in the day, they were the weapon of choice for Mk1 + 2 Escorts:cool:

[doogz__]

If i owned a RB320, i'd be p*ssed off. Not because of that, but because they spent a fortune, on what is essentially a UK turbo!

But that's interesting, i've never really heard of anyone having any problems with Bilsteins, which is why i was swaying towards them more than my PTS dampers for the 106.

[Ally S]

Stoney, I had a Megane Coupe and got it lowered - it wasn't that good. It was very twitchy at the back. I actually got it lowered on shocks but they couldnt seem to find the matching fronts so I was driving about half lowered for a while. I ended getting it just lowered on springs and the ride was much much nicer than it was with the shocks on the back.

The lowered Astra I had previously was much better.