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 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 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 The one issue you may have is that they normally only drop a car from between 25 - 35mm in my experience 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 Used to shake things off the dash it was that hard Think Eibachs are used on the Cooper racing minis

[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 It feels a lot less 'crashy' over most road surfaces IMO

[Big Gordy]

I'm soooooooooooooooo going to sound like an old fart when I say this but.......coilovers are totally over the top IMO for road use I agree, Eibach will only give you a smallish reduction in ride height but coilovers, again IMO, have more -ves than +ves They totally screw up your steering/suspension if you set them for the 'slammed' look 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
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 Each to there own

[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

[Big Gordy]

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

And how do you work that out Einstien

[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 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 In fact it would be a lot worse as coilovers have a wider variation of height to deal with..!!