Mmmmm, beer... And good beer, too. You won't find Rahr beers outside of the D/FW metroplex, Austin and Houston, though. They limit distribution on purpose.

 

One more question - The spring installation .pdf for the R53 states that the sheetmetal surrounding the shock tower may need to be pounded in a bit to provide clearance for the springs, especially when moving the shock tops inboard for negative camber (if I'm reading things correctly). Is this also the case for the R56 springs?

 

Not that I know of, the issue is on limited R53's and due to the Wine Barrel style of the R53 front springs. The R56 TSW springs do not have that fat look.

 

I have a question for the vendors (txwerks and AutoXCooper.com). I autoX my R56 and plan to get Konis next year. Koni has Sports (yellows) listed for R56, but it's not out for sale yet. I hear that people just use R53 Koni Sports for R56 with use of the washer for rear shocks.

Is there any other modification required besides the rear washers? What about front shocks, and do R53 Koni Sports match well with R56 stock springs?

I apologize for digressing... the drop with TSW springs looks great! Subtle drop but big improvement in handling and ride is great!

 

Nopers, as Dustin said. You can pull the alignment pin out of the OEM upper strut mount and slam them inboard. Oh, and we'll remove this requirement for the R53 with our gen 3 springs here in awhile (being tested now).

Now, once you have camber plates (design is nearing completion, should have them in time for holiday shopping!), you may have to do some work - but you should be able to get around -2.5 without doing so, we hope. We'll know more soon!

 

I've heard that some people are running R53 yellows on the R56, too. The OEM R56 front struts are a whole lot longer than the R53's and have a longer stroke, so I dunno how this would work. But, if it works, it works... The rears are very similar, save the need for the spacer.

The Yellows are a great match for our R53 springs and should work killer with the R56 springs, too...

 

Any more progress pictures? I'm back from my trip, so now I will try to get my springs installed on my MINI.

Pictures after a few hundred miles I hope.

 

This isn't the final settled height. I measured again today and the front has settled another 3/8" or so. More pictures to come.

Plus it's driving better every day also.

 

Just hit 200 miles today

Rolling on 18's with 35 series tires, and it's looking good....I will Post pics tomorrow!

 

That looks very good, SK8BRD. Thanks for posting. How much total drop have you measured so far?

 

It's settled right at the advertised 3/4" rear and 1" front, as of yesterday. It's looking really good even with the 16" runflats, I am looking around for some 17" wheels.

 

Hey all,
well I just hit like 220 mi... Ride is continually improving, and so is the stance based on what I have read I will probably see an aditional 1/4-3/8 settling in the front, which I think will be just about perfect... The drop on the H&R's I was running was considerably more aggressive, and looked great, but I think with the improvement in ride...the Compromised drop is well worth the trade
Here you go as promissed Rolling on Tenzo Type M's 18x8 with 225 35 yokohama S drives...

 

Nice pictures, shows the drop well. Thank you both.

LA, were you on the sport suspension prior to these springs?

 

Thanks... Nope standard from the factory as my original intention was to go with Coilovers or just a spring and strut combo... then once I got the car I found out two things... 1. there were not any shocks available for the R56, and 2. after wheels, exhaust and other knick knacks, I didn't really want to fork over the coin for the coilovers especially since spirted canyon and street driving is the closest I will probably come to a track! So I went for some H&Rs, which had an awesome drop, but the ride left quite a bit of room for improvement... Which led me to the the TSW's and I did throw on a 19mm rear bar on the middle setting... and I would say for a budget setup it rides pretty darn good even with standard shocks... it is firm but not unbearable or annoying, still absorbs the speedbumps and such, the stance is not my dream stance, but pretty darn close especially when you factor in the ride improvement over H&R's, and feels great in the turns!
All in All .... Definetely a great Bang for the Buck upgrade!

 

Looks very nice...Love the wheels

 

Thanks for the update, I think we are in the same place on what to do with the R56, if coilovers are not in the suspension plan.

I'm thinking the 09 JCW brakes with this setup of springs will make a nice combo for our spirited 5280 mountain rides and an occasional track day.

I will have to see what power my R56 is making before I take on a Stage 1 kit or a ECU remap, if something real becomes available.

Thanks again for some great pictures, the 18s look good I suspect my 17s will fit well.
Don

 

Thanks, and yes 17's would look good too, same rolling radius, just a slightly higher sidewall, which will probably make daily driving even more comfortable... Couldn't agree more, I think this is a perfect compromise setup for spirted, and daily driving and blue moon tracking!

 

LAcooperS:

Your MINI looks great! I'm excited to hear more about the handling/ride as they settle some more. I'm really looking for something more compliant than the Mach V's I have, the ride is horrible. I just wish the TSW's had the same drop as them though .

Also, how do you like your S-Drives?

 

Thanks!, yeah I will keep all posted over the next few hundered miles as I am sure both the stance and performance will settle in more... agreed just a bit more drop would be ideal, but as mentioned earlier, the ride quality to drop ratio, is I think about as good as it gets with out Coilovers... I had H&R's and the drop looked absolutely perfect, but much like your situation, the ride left much to be desired... I think these will settle in a bit more, resulting in a pretty nice drop and stance all things considered, but still with a pretty good daily driveable ride... for $230 bucks, I just don't think you can beat the bang for the buck... yeah another half an inch with the wheels tucked looks amazing, but for a mere 1500 bucks, just not worth it ... to me at least.... for now;-) I think by the time they settle in they should be pretty close to the Mach V's in drop... and although I have not ridden in them, based on your statement, I think you will be thoroughly happy with the ride

as for the S Drives... great! Super sticky in the turns, real stable at speed, and not searching all over for those variances in the roads, reasonably quiet... haven't had any rain experience yet, or had em long enough to evaluate treadwear, but all in all seem to be a great tire

 

We have had a few people report a mysterious "squeak" in the front after installing the production springs. We thought that the spring squeak was an isolated incident related to mis-installation, but we've had further confirmation and have determined that we have an issue.

The last winding that meets up with the upper spring perch (on the front) on those with issues is a bit too tight. Under articulation of the suspension, this is causing interference between the top coil and the spring perch directly across from the end that gets cut when it leaves the winder. It appears that end has "sprung back" as it is cut on the out-of-spec springs and is causing the issue.

The four users with the issue are getting a "squeak" AFTER the springs settle in - going over a bump (like a speed bump) causes the spring to rub the upper spring perch and you get an audible "squeak". This is happening on one side, but not the other. Other users are not having any issues, which means their springs must be in spec.

This is most definitely not acceptible!

Today, we're in the process of measuring each and every one of the front springs for compliance (which our supplier is supposed to do as part of their QC process and obviously did not). If they all measure incorrectly, we're going to have to take them back to the supplier for rework (should be less than a week turnaround). We sincerely hope that they do not have to re-wind our entire order of front springs, but that is a possibility - if this is the case, we're going to hammer on them to get them done ASAP.

We may end up with some front sets that are in spec, and if we do, we will ship those out - first to those that have already received their springs, and then make any other sets available. We'll know more as soon as we finish measuring all sets in stock.

For now, we have suspended shipments until we know what we have in hand and how it's going to work out... IF YOU HAVE A SET IN HAND that you have not installed, please call us and we'll tell you how to measure your set. If they are out of compliance, we will send you replacements as quickly as possible.

We sincerely apologize for this and will most definitely make it right... We have only had one other supplier issue like this before and it really drives us crazy! Unfortunately, the "black art" of making springs bit us in the butt. Well, I guess our supplier bit us in the butt. Whatever. Anyway, it still sucks eggs!

 

We sent a set of fronts back to our supplier to have then re-work the cut end - pulling it out a mere 1/8" should solve the problem. If that works, we'll drive all the sets back over to them and have them all re-worked in the same manner. This should take no longer than a week...

BTW, one of the squeakers had their squeak disappear...

 

Wow, did not get the chance to read this thread on Friday. Thank you for posting, it saved a lot of time.

We were just taking my MCS apart this morning, when I read this. Only had the right rear assembly off, stopped, put it back on until we hear from you.

So, no springs installed, it can wait a couple of more weeks until this is resolved.

Don

 

Though we are not happy that we are having to go back to our supplier with an issue, we are VERY happy that our supplier is a few cities away, and not halfway around the world. This will allow us to work efficiently with the spring supplier to get the problem solved, and to minimize the inconveniences to our customers. We'll get this problem behind us very soon, in the most responsible way we know.

 

Our supplier will get the set of springs we shipped back to them today, and they are going to put it on their machine to tweak the end. This should net enough tolerance to clear the spring perch while keeping a nice, snug fit. If this works, we'll take them all out for rework and try and get replacements shipped out by Friday.

In the meantime, a lot of people are just taking a file to their spring perch and making the clearance themselves, directly opposite the end of the spring. This also works, but is obviously NOT what we intended. Hah!

 

Good news... Our supplier CAN fix the springs without having to rewind them all. Jeff's leaving tomorrow at 5:30AM to drive all the front springs out to our supplier, and they're going to fix ~15 sets while he waits.

These fixed front sets will immediately be shipped out to those who already ordered tomorrow afternoon... We'll need to get the "bad" front springs back, so we'll email you instructions on how to do that.

Any sets leftover will be available on the website. The rest of the initial run will be fixed next week and be available the first week in December.

Thanks for your patience!