The springs are out for delivery so Santa and his big brown truck should be here soon! I'll have tons of pics and I'll make sure we get some using a measuring tape to give everyone an idea of the dimensions. I'll be documenting everything. Hopefully I'll be posting pics tomorrow evening.

BTW, since I had planned to be doing this mod yesterday but sans springs that fell through I ended up at my nephews shop anyway and took this:



and did this:



I didn't do the welding. Nephew did that! It would have looked like crap if I'd done it, lol! Sound is great with no drone. Tons of pops and burbles with some sound increase. Not too loud not too quiet. I was worried getting rid of the resonator would kill the great JCW exhaust sound since the resonator on that thing is HUGE. Only difference in tone is it's a bit deeper. Better in my opinion. Anyway, a cheap and easy mod. It only cost as much as about two feet of SS pipe. Of course I kept the resonator in case I change my mind down the road!

 

Wow...nice! Any chance of getting a sound recording of it? Looks like your nephew knows what he is doing. Thanks for the confirmation on the rear sway bar Also, can you please get a measurement of your stock ride height(ground to bottom of the arch), before you install the new springs? Thanks in advance!!!

-Steven

 

TerminalV, I have a random tire question, unrelated to lowering your Coupe. What are your thoughts on the run flats on your JCW? I keep reading about how much better the new generation of tires are. Which tire did your Coupe ship with? Sorry to hijack

-Steven

 

Most definitely yes to both questions. Might take me a bit longer to get a video/sound recording up but I'll get one for sure.

Yep my nephew is a keeper! I thanks my sister all the time for having him, lol! If I don't know how to do it HE DOES! He spent about 5-6 years out in CA, etc. working on F2 cars and did some racing himself.

 

Great and thank you What an asset your nephew is. Did you see my second post(hijack) about run flats?

 

Installed H&R springs today:





Overall, not bad. Looks better than with the stock springs and the ride has improved.

 

^ Nice, do you have any profile before and after shots of you Mini? How much drop did you see? Thanks

-Steven

 

Looks good, let's have a few more pics of the whole car.

 

GeekGuy, Looks great!

Bluetoy, sorry for the delay. As for runflats, my Coupe shipped with Dunlop sp sports. This is my first experience with runflats so I don't have much to go by but I can say they aren't bad. I know they get a bad rap and of course I haven't driven the Coupe with anything but runflats. When the time comes I won't be getting the same thing and I plan on going with a conventional tire just to see the difference if nothing else!

In other news my nephew called and let me know his wife is set to have their baby any second now so it looks like the Coupe mod is setback a few days. I suppose I could try and tackle it myself but I'd like a second hand (and opinion) when needed so it looks like the beginning of the week before I get it all wound up now. A bummer but I can't complain!

 

Thanks for getting back to me. Your Nephew is off the hook on this one...in fact, he may need/deserve a few days Looking forward to it when it does happen. All good

-Steven

 

No, sorry. Too tired that morning and wasn't thinking.

The drop is about 1.25in so far. There is some settling yet, so expect another .25in thereabouts.

 

I'll take some today at lunch and post later.

 

Great thanks!

 

Getting started Gents! I hope to have pics and info up by this evening!

 

Terminal, you still wrenching? Looking forward to your results

 

Well the job went well. We started about 9:30 and had it all wrapped up just before noon. We honestly could have had it done sooner if we had actually worked the whole time. Coffee breaks, etc. played a role. Granted we had everything a mechanic could hope for at the shop to make the job easy.

Here are a few pics of the aftermarket parts in comparison to the OEM parts.

NM springs-MINI sport suspension springs


Hsport 19mm rear bar-MINI sport suspension 18mm rear bar


installed


I chose to install the bar on the middle setting to see if I needed to adjust from there. even though the Hsport bar is only 1mm thicker and the middle setting (when looking at the pic) is approximately lined up the same, the Hsport bar is a slightly different shape and looks like it would flex less under stress. I'm going to give the car a few weeks drive time before I decide if I need to change to a stiffer setting or not. Right now it feels perfect and quite a difference from stock.

I measured from the top lip of the wheel rim to give a feel for how the car lowered. It was hard to get clear pics so I decided on this as the best way to illustrate it.

before:


After:


and now the Coupe before and after!

front end before:


Front end after:


Side shot before:

side shot after:


I'm holding off on any alignment job for a week or so, maybe longer, to see how the springs, etc. settle in. The car drives incredible and I can't recommend these mods enough. The Coupe feels great as is from the factory but these changes have made it drive like the car I've always wanted. I forgot to mention I also installed a NM torque arm insert which has eliminated any felt torque steer. The clutch and throttle are more responsive and the slight feel from the engine transferring through the steering column is a nice bonus. It's just enough to help you tell what the engine/car is doing

I'd say the MINI is lowered just right. Too much more and it would be a pain driving around town, over speed bumps, into driveways, etc. The springs don't make the ride more harsh as you would expect. In fact it felt smoother at all speeds and there isn't that shutter and bounce you get when hitting rough ground or a pothole. Felt understeer isn't there either. The car just feels so much more planted the way a sports car should feel. It's late and I know I've forgotten a bunch of stuff so please feel free to ask if you have any questions. As I think of more I'll add it to the thread.

One more thing. These pics do not do the drop justice. In person it looks wicked and what wheel gap you can see here is not there in the flesh. At the moment I'd say there is about an inch or a hair more between the tire tread and the outside visible bottom of the fenders. Keep in mind these springs will settle perhaps another 1/4 inch in the next few weeks.





Thanks for looking!

 

Looks really good I am planning on doing the same set up on my coupe, thanks for the post.

 

Thanks for the pics/update, can't tell you how helpful that is. I think the drop looks perfect and I will be doing this to my Roadster.

Keep posting your thoughts on ride/comfort/performance as you live with it. Do the stock dampers/shocks feel like a good match with the springs? Did you notice any difference in turn-in with the new sway bar? Any need to shorten the bump stops ? Thanks again

 

Coupes looking great

How do the NM springs compare against stock springs?

 

ClubsterUK, in my opinion the stock springs are good but in comparison there is none! The ride, even with the stock shocks (which I thought would be rough) is instantly noticeable. It might be just about perfect! I think many times there is a placebo effect when we do mods and we will the car to be better, faster, etc. but this is one case I can say for sure the car is just THAT MUCH better. This combo is what the sport suspension should have been.

Bluetoy, the stock shocks are actually a good match with these springs. I'm sure there are far better aftermarket shocks out there but IMO there is no reason to rush out and buy some. I plan on waiting till these wear out or I get some extra money that I just have to blow on the car somewhere. There are plenty of other mods I'd be tackling before switching the stock shocks. The ride is far less jarring than you'd expect and much less so than the factory sport suspension. I don't know if any of you guys have noticed when your going around a spirited turn and you happen to hit bad road or a pothole and it feels like the Coupe literally jumps to the outside? Ya, it doesn't do that anymore. The NM springs coupled with the other mods absorb just about everything and the car continues to track where your pointing it. Don't get me wrong, it's a sporty suspension and it is stiff, but it won't jar your teeth loose and I'm sure you'd be surprised how smooth it feels.

After doing a lot more driving today and after taking my favorite "scenic" route home from work which includes a lot of winding road I think I'm happy with the 19mm bar. Understeer is gone altogether or at least not noticeable with the driving I have been doing. The hind end feels like it's following like it should and you don't get that light feeling in the front end around turns. I may set it to the firmest setting just to see how it compares but unless you track the car a lot I see absolutely no reason to go with a thicker bar. In fact it may be overkill. As for the bump stops. YES you definitely need to cut them down and there is an instruction sheet that comes with the springs that says to do just that. It shows you how and where. I can't imagine the ride if you didn't.

In some ways I wish I had done each mod individually instead of all three at once but it just made more sense timewise and financially. I say this because the car feels SO much better it's difficult to tell what each mod feels like alone. I can say though that combined they work great together. Of all the mods, for $60 (give or take) the NM torque arm insert is one mod I didn't put to much value in but it makes a big difference in how the car feels. It is worth it and at that price it may be the biggest bang for the buck of all the mods you choose to do.

All and all I couldn't be happier. This was money WELL spent!

 

Thanks for the update. I had it in my head that these would be my first mods, and your confirmation cements that for me. Good to hear the "sport suspension" shocks are working well with the springs, as that is how my Roadster is coming equipped Swap them out after about 30k miles or so. Maybe then, try some Koni Yellows. Thanks again

-Steven

 

Terminal, thanks for the write-up, impressions and of course the pictures! Happy Motoring!

Jim

 

Update: I measured the gap between the top of the wheel rim and fender again today to see if there was any additional drop since the install (about 5 days ago). The springs have settled a little over a 1/4 inch further. This was expected and it wouldn't surprise me if I get a slight bit more drop before the month is out. The Coupe is driving like a champ and I couldn't be happier with the mods!

 

Nice, so the drop right now is sitting at 1.25" lower, if I read your tape measure correctly. That's good, just as advertised

 

TerminalVel, now that it's been a month what are your thoughts with the changes?