Sorry, this is going to be long. Cliffs notes at bottom.

Parts
Koni Yellows
Tein H-tech springs (0.6/0.5 inch drop, 207/229 lbs/ in spring rates. mostly linear)
Eibach 19mm rear sway
IE fixed front camber plates
IE rear control arms
IE front trapezoid brace
Powerflex front control arm bushing
16 inch wheels with hankook performance all-seasons.


I'm a suspension guy and have a little bit of working experience in the field, mostly with Subarus and Mitsubishi EVOs. I quickly realized that the Mini is a great platform handicapped by poor quality dampers and a crappy alignment in stock form. Dropping a car low is not my thing at all, I spend most of my time inside the car so how it feels to drive was the most important thing. It still looks great IMO anyway.

Goal
The goal was fun and comfortable. I hated having to apologize to passengers about the awful OEM ride quality, but I could feel that the chassis still had a lot of untapped potential. And reaching that handling potential isn't fun if the car rides like crap.

It's a daily driver on crappy Maryland roads, sometimes heading into DC or Baltimore where it's even worse. I do not track or auto-x my car, though I do plan to hit the occasional auto-x in the future just for fun. Just looking for that good ride quality and handling mix that is not found on the stock MINI in my opinion.

I started with an R53 on the 17 inch S-lites with non-runflats and stock suspension. Awful ride quality, decent handling (for an OEM car) up to about 6 or 7/10ths, then boring, slow understeer. Lighter 16 inch wheels made a nice difference, but not enough.

Koni Yellows
I really like the Koni Yellows. I'm a Bilstein guy, but these are good and cheaper than Bilstein Sports. Miles better than stock for both handling and ride quality. A much better damper than you'd find on one of the cheapo chinese/korean/indian coilovers around $1k. Adjusting the rear damping is a pain in the ***. I've settled on a 1/4 turn front and rear from full soft, though I may bump the fronts up a tad. The car doesn't lose grip so easily over mid-corner bumps, a common problem with poor quality dampers/coilovers.

Get these dampers. Dampers are the core/foundation for the car and make such a positive difference when they're good. These will make a crappy spring feel good and a good spring feel great. They'll do well with stock too. If you just want to improve ride quality and aren't worried about performance and will use stock springs, get the Koni FSDs.

Tein H-tech springs
I hate Tein, but I like these springs. I think their coilovers aren't very good, and their springs for Subaru and Mitsubishi are total crap. Somehow though they got it right with these springs (their s-techs are junk still). I considered these, stock, JCW, and the TSW springs on the basis of a mild drop being priority #1 to maintain the limited bump travel these cars have. I did not choose the JCW springs because I could not find the spring rates (and I won't buy springs without knowing the rates) and the TSW's were close but the spring rates were too soft for me.

These are a great mild spring upgrade, which IMO is the only type of spring upgrade to do for these cars. Not super dramatic, but give good control of the car, the car is pretty flat, and they match the Konis well. Still have some usable travel. I had the chance to ride on these with Konis in the front and OEM rears (rear Koni bushing/washer was missing and we didn't notice til halfway through the install) and 55k mile OEM rears were OKAY with them, but putting the Konis on was a massive difference.

If you need anything more, meaning more drop or more grip, get coilovers. Rear bumpstops were trimmed slightly. I did not cut the front bumpstops. I wanted to cut just a little off the firmer side....but I forgot. Damn. I would do it next time, but it feels great as is thanks to the mild drop.

The ride quality is definitely better than stock, even in Baltimore City. More than one of my non-car guy friends has commented on the improvement. A lot of this is the Konis though. Handling is also improved, though again, some of that is the Konis.

IE front trapezoid brace
It's okay. Makes a small difference but I can feel it. I would do it again. The TSW/WMW x-brace is better but more money. My IE brace did not come with hardware but I got some from Mason Engineering who makes the bar. You don't want the hardware, throw it in the trash immediately. See this thread for more on this bar and the hardware:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ce-review.html

Powerflex front control arm bushing
More of a maintenance item at the time, but there is obviously a performance benefit to replacing the crappy rubber there. It was installed at the same time as the Konis and springs. I can attribute certain characteristics to it specifically though. On it's own I think there is a slight increase in harshness over sharp bumps and much better feel and control over what the front end is doing. Again, overall with the Konis and springs ride quality is improved.

Looking back I might have done the MiniMadness bushing which is supposedly a softer durometer poly, but I don't know for sure if that is true. Either way, this bushing is good and I am not worried about the articulation issues.

IE fixed camber plates
Great upgrade. The Mini comes with a weak amount of camber up front. With these plates I now have -1.7 degrees of camber front. Tire wear has remained even thanks to 0 toe. This upgrade is also much beefier than stock and eliminates mushrooming, so IMO this is a must do upgrade on any Mini. Solid performance benefit....the camber really does help quite a bit.

IE rear control arms
Getting the alignment right all around is a big deal to me, so I needed to take out some rear camber. I'm not convinced the IE arms are the best choice, but I went for them. It is a decent design overall and I like the plain finish. They do have difficult to lube poly bushings but this is not a problem unless you're a *******, which I'll get to next. I set my rear camber to -1.3 degrees. Stock is a little too much IMO...I think it's best to keep it under -1.5 for most applications though it can depend on your set-up. I have a hair of toe-in, barely any though.

My problem with this part stems from a shitty install the shop did before the alignment. They did not lube the bushings at all, which obviously is a problem on poly so they squeaked and binded. Lubing them after the fact was difficult, but luckily or unluckily they also didn't torque the jam nuts so my alignment was **** within a day. Another install and alignment and they were quiet, though I wasn't confident they were properly lubed by the new shop too. Either way, I was promptly rear ended in a small fender bender a day or two after all of the above items were finally on together and the car aligned correctly. I then needed a new rear bumper and another alignment. The car developed a clunk/groan which I believe is the rear control arms still lacking lubrication and being just enough off to cause some noise. I am thinking about replacing them with h-sport arms, but I will probably do things myself one last time with the IE rears.

A quick note on installations
Getting all of these parts on the car took months due to incompetent shops and missing parts from sellers. And then that fender bender days after everything was finally on....*****. I installed the camber plates, springs and shocks (which were missing the Koni rear bushing/washer), the swaybar (fine), and the front trapezoid brace (awful rusty hardware). The front control arm bushing was installed correctly by a shop, but I've had trouble with just about everything else when taking the car to a shop. Short shifter install, rear control arms, alignments, drive belt, tensioner strap, etc.. Having a good Mini shop do these things is worth whatever it costs you.

Buy things from reputable shops, have qualified non-******* technicians work on your car, and don't sweat paying a little extra to avoid idiots. Your time is valuable, so saving a little cash up front is not worth taking time off work to deal with other's incompetence.

I always recommend Waymotorworks, so get what you can from his shop. Always gets it done right. I work part time for a suspension shop for Subarus so I know when to recognize when a shop does things the way they should.


Eibach 19mm rear sway
This upgrade came last as I wasn't sure it was 100% necessary. With my other upgrades, the car still felt really good and was easy to drive fast. Still understeered at the now much higher limit, but was not bad. I decided to go for it, partially to motivate me to take apart the rear suspension to help diagnose that damn clunk/groan.

I'm very happy with the result. The 19mm is conservative to some, but it gives the car just the perfect amount of edge and I feel that overall grip is improved. Definitely more fun. With the camber plates, I can't see a 22mm bar being useful beyond auto-x. Too much bar IMO. The better alignment + 19mm bar should be much better for street and track days than a 22mm. I am not an oversteer junky though.

This bar really does "complete" my set-up. It only has 2 adjustment holes, which at first is disappointing but I set on stiff at first thinking I would back it down later, but it's perfect. No squeaks...a properly lubed and installed bar should not squeak. The h-sport bar might be worth the extra money if you want 3 adjustment holes and the zerk fittings on the bushings.



Overall I'm extremely happy with the package I put together for this car. I was going through a lot of options in my head (building Koni coilovers, revalving and respringing H&R street coilovers, respringing KW V1's, etc.) but this really has exceeded my expectations. Excellent ride quality (better than stock), a slight drop, excellent handling and balance that's easily attainable. It's just a lot of fun all the time. It is a lot better than the cheap coilovers I have been on. The main issue with those is the dampers....yeah the coilovers have a lot of "features" but the most important part is the quality of the damper, and that's where the low-budget items skimp. The german lower priced stuff is fine, but all of those coilovers will drop the car low and use progressive springs, which are fine but not for me.

Total cost....I don't know. I have it written down but some of the parts were used and some others were gifts. Probably around 1500 if all purchased new? You can count the front control arm bushing as maintenance, the camber plates as preventive maintenance, skip the lower brace, etc. Get creative when justifying it! It comes down to enjoying your car.

Cliff notes - I really like this package. There are a few things I need to take care of or might change if I did it over again, but overall this is IMO the best way to go short of a quality custom coilover.


- andrew

 

pics will go here.

 

Nice write up. Having a good set up on these cars really transforms them into something much more enjoyable to drive.

 

Nice write up. Cant wait to see the pics. I wish I would have known about about the H-Techs before I got the TSW springs. Would have been nice to have a slightly stiffer spring rate.

Also, I'm curious as to why you are running the Konis with so little rebound. It seems to me that a little more would help with both performance and comfort. I run mine at about half way in the rear and slightly beyond halfway in the front.

 

I started a little higher in the rear, 3/4 turns, and backing them down did improve ride quality quite a bit.

If my roads were smoother I would probably keep them around there. It's still very controlled and not bouncy where it is now. Full soft on the front did feel a little sloppy, but it's not bouncy. I do like a softer damper and I think there at a good compromise now for me.

Pics tonight.

 

Great write-up but where are the pics

 

andyroo, where are the pics?

This is an interesting thread since I've hit 80K and my ride has gone bye bye

I'm trying to decide on what dampers to get, but, so far, from what I've read here and there, the Koni Yellows probably would be OK. My current suspension setup is in my signature. I'm not sure whether to keep the current springs or not, they do lower a bit more than I wanted. I like to maintain a comfortable ride with just a mild improvement in the looks/stance dept..

 

my car is filthy....i'm getting it washed, windows tinted, and stripes put on this weekend. i'll post up a couple pics now and update them later when the car isn't disgusting.

the car doesn't look as high in person as it does in these pics. it's just barely lower than stock visually.

these are awful pics with bad lighting, i'm sorry....pretty ones will come this weekend.

 

Andyroo, I just put my fixed plates on and will be getting an alignment soon (I have been told to wait about 1 tank of fuel - what do you think?)
In addition, I thought that I would also seek your advice on alignment

I have stock everything with the new ie fixed plates what would you reccomended for rear camber settings as well as toe in rear (will be setting the front to zero toe)
since I do not know what my front camber is yet - is there a magic delta number (I noticed that you run about .4 deg less rear camber than front.)

Thanks

e

 

I'd say -1.4 or -1.5 in the rear for stock springs. It's less of a delta thing as it is working with what springs and tires you have. More roll (i.e. soft springs and/or sticky tires with lots of grip) requires more negative camber. Less roll (stiff springs and regular tires) means you need less camber.

I'd recommend as close to 0 toe as possible...a tiny bit of toe in is okay. But very close to 0.

You shouldn't need to wait much at all...springs will settle a little bit but either way I wouldn't wait more than a couple days.

Enjoy!

- Andrew

 

6 months later and I'm still really happy with my set-up. Looking back the only thing I would change is trimming the front bumpstops slightly.

It's a great set-up with very good ride and handling. Looks great IMO (but not low enough for some I'm sure). It does understeer a little easier than I like in the wet, but it's still very good. I think trimming the front bumpstops would help this (and slightly improve the already very good ride quality). And my tires do kinda suck. It does well in the snow. In the dry it's a beast, and with stickier tires it would be even better.

I'm moving into the city soon and I am not worried about ride quality at all on the crappy streets of Baltimore.



- Andrew

 

Thanks a bunch, I am sure I will be picking your brain when I go down the spring/strut road (I think that I may have a line on some h-techs for a good price even through they are discontinued.

But that will be at least a few months, maybe a year - we will see if my current set up meets my needs or not.

PS.. after the install there is a low speed groan when turning the wheel, and settling down after speed bumps - could this be the new rubber of the upper mounts, the tires complaining because of excessive toe, or am I in bushing territory? - (thing is it did not do it before I put in the new mounts)

Thanks

E

 

Hmmm....I would make sure your springs are all lined up correctly on the front struts. It should not be making any new noises.

- andrew

 

Found it!! A bit of sound deadener that formed a glob on one of those convex channels in the tower was making the spring sing. There is now about 2mm clearance with the spring compressed most of the way to the bump stop so I think it should be okay (I hope)

Thanks

 

Nice work.

 

Still happy with them, even after I've moved into Baltimore city. Still wish I trimmed the front bumpstops. Also would like a lighter wheel with a better tire.

I would be interested in a spring with similar ride height but slightly firmer spring rates. The Swifts seem nice but are a little too firm for my uses. Something between these Teins and the Swifts would be perfect. If Way is redesigning the TSW springs I've got a whole heck of a lot of suggestions!

- Andrew

 

Epic. Thanks for this write up. I am doing this exact setup but I'm leaning towards a 22mm bar. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.