I'm expecting our suspension shippment in tomorrow. The springs should be included. I'll let you guys know tomorrow.

 

Thanks for the update Steve!

 

That's great Steve...have you already compiled a list of people (and their info) who are waiting (including me)?

 

Word...i dont want to sound pushy (I'm in no rush whatsoever, and thank you for taking such care to fix this)...but i wouldnt mind getting on the list

 

ARIGHT!!

This is what I need each of you to do.. and PLEASE do it only once or else my head will explode.

I need you to email me at...

steve@meganracing.com

With that.. give me..

Name (First and Last)
Shipping Address
Phone Number

IN THE SUBJECT...

"Mini Cooper Replacement - (Your Name)"

I will compile a list and ship them out ASAP...

Once that is done, I will make a list and post of all the names I shipped to, if at that time your name isn't on the list I put up, then maybe there's an issue.

Contact me then.

LETS MAKE THIS GO SMOOOTH!!!! I'm sorry it took so long.

 

Hey no worries man...this is a mighty big task to undertake. You are doing well

Just so i can keep things as organized as possible for you. Do you want the subject of the email to have our real name or our NAM name?

 

email on it's way Steve

 

Either or.. it's fine. I prefer real name.

 

So far today I shipped out 8 sets of springs with bumpstops.

1) Scott N.
2) Elmer B.
3) Everardo V.
4) Ken S.
5) Steve W.
6) Cliff C
7) Ray I.
8) Sid C.

If you emailed me and are not on this list.... please try again as I did not recieve your emails. THANKS GUYS!! This went smooth.

I also emailed all your tracking numbers. Some of the more local dudes should be getting your springs in tomorrow.

How I went about it...

1) Secure the front of your car upon Jackstands.
2) Remove your front wheels.
3) Remove the top adjusting ***** by unscrewing the silver portion of the ****.
4) Use a floorjack and apply a light amount of pressure to the suspension from the bottom under the control arm.
5) Use a 17mm Socket to remove the Centernut up at top. Do not loosen the three 12mm nuts on the plate.
6) Relieve pressure from the suspension, but keep it supported.
7) Using a 16mm socket and a 17mm Open-End wrench, unbolt the sway bar link on the Shock end.
8) Using an 18mm socket remove the bolt that secures the knuckle onto the shock body.
9) Lower the suspension and remove the Damper. You may want to loosen up the lock rings first though.
10) Remove the dustboot and replace the old bumpstop with the shorter one that I included in your packages.
11) Adjust the spring preload ring so that the very top of the ring is 15mm from the very top of the shock piston.
12) Lock the spring preload into place and then place the dustboot over the shock piston and bumpstop. (I always forget that.)
13) This would be a good time to lower the height of each of the dampers to compensate for the height it will be higher than before. I honestly have mine all the way down and I think I'm only lowered by .5" on my stock 16's.
14) Once the damper is assembled in the correct order. Make sure that the Pillowball bushings are in the correct order with the thicker bushing on the bottom.
15) Place the damper back into position in the knuckle and start to screw the 18mm bolt back in.
16) With the floorjack under the suspension, raise the suspension till the piston goes smoothly through the pillowball bushings. This can get tricky with the bushings, I kept the top bushing in and once the piston went all the way through the top bushing I put the 17mm nut on. The bushing would get caught and come out, but once I relieved pressure it fell back into place in the pillowball. Then I raised it back up and tightened the nut down till it was snug and in position.
17) With the suspension compressed, tighten the 18mm bolt that secures the damper into the knuckle.
18) Tighten the 17mm top nut, you should see at LEAST 2 threads pertrude from the top.
19) Lower the jack from under the suspension; there should be no gap between the knuckle and the thicker portion of the lower bracket.
20) Using a 16mm socket and open end 17mm wrench, Reconnect the sway bar to the Damper body.

Repeat for the other side.

If I forgot anything... or if I'm making a huge mistake somewhere.. please let me know. I tried to be as thorough as possible without being too complicated. If there's any questions, feel free.

 

with these news spring are we not going to be able to lower the car as much. you said u have them all the way down and can only lower .5". ?

 

You'll be sitting at a little below .5" I know, that's not that impressive at all.

I'll take pictures of the front with my OEM 16's.

 

yikes....max drop from stock is a little more than .5 inches? Thats higher than the springs i took off to install the megans

 

email sent steve.

 

Hey dude...just wondering if you sent the email in regards to the springs? Do you plan to install the springs despite wanting the slammed look? Just curious because i have been debating it too.

 

Steve, I received the springs yesterday and installed them today. I went on my first test drive with them on and I only have one word to describe them...WOW, what a difference.

I did my usual horrible freeway route with plenty of bumps, potholes and uneveness and it rode absolutely superb. There is a particular spot where I always bottom out and it feels like my mini is going to fall apart so I avoid it at all costs. Well, I drove through it with no issues. The new springs absorb and control the bumps and uneveness much better. IMO, The 5kg spring is too soft and is unable to absorb the bounce and thus feels too spongie even at full hard on the dampers.

The new set up drop the mini 1 1/8" more than my previous 5kg set up and I believe I was around .5" drop from stock. So, I'm estimating a total drop of 1.5" achievable. Now, keep in mind that I'm carrying about 175lbs more (and I don't mean on my as*) due to the added weight of the convertible. This will definitely have an impact on the amount of drop. But I must say, I love the way it looks right now at full drop and wouldn't want to go any lower, not that I can anyway . In addition, I think the added weight of the convertible might help smooth out the heavier coils.

The tail did feel slightly loose but not sufficient to be an issue for my type of driving (I don't plan on tracking my car any time soon, strictly street for me and this mini). However, I will do more testing on this area. This was based on a few on and off ramps. But again, not enough to be an issue and it never felt like I was going to loose it.

Steve, Kudos to you and your team. So far, I'm very happy with the new springs you sent out. After many months and l'm sure many angry comments, emails, calls, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel... and please let us know if Megan will continue or not to service the mini community.

Edit: I took some measurements incorrectly and the actual max drop is 1 1/8" not the one listed above.

 

Do you have any pics to perhaps show the drop? I still fear that 1.5 will sit a little high for me.

Glad to hear that it rides better though

 

I'm confused by a couple of comments: The back end feels more loose...if you have the 335# springs in the rear and the new 469# springs up front, the backend should be anything but loose.

The amount of drop is determined by your settings, not the springs; the Megans posses a rideheight adjustment. With heavier springs, all elese equal, one would certainly expect the ride height to increase.

Some clarification required Otherwise, I also found the ride much better, but balance is most definately not loose. On the contrary, I'm fighting with understeer, which a heavier rear spring will fix.

 

I think I know what he's talking about in the sense that the back end is bouncing around a lot more during curves and it kinda gives the feeling of a "loose" back end. Not the kind that's oversteering and losing traction but the kind that just feels unstable.

 

To clarify a few points: I agree with meb that by increasing front spring rate a couple of changes happen 1) front roll resistance increases and 2) it also has the effect of increases understeer or reducing oversteer. As I pointed in my previous posting about my findings, they were very rudimentary and very preliminary and just a "feeling" and no scientific data to prove or disprove, just a bit of driving around taking on and off ramps and NO WHERE near the limits of the suspension... So, please don't take this as a given (not that anyone would anyways... ). My set up might be completely different than most and thus will not perform the same.

Now, I have to differ from Meb's position on ride height. My setting are different than most and thus will have a different outcome. As I have posted previously, I own a cabrio and this puts an additional 175lbs of load on the springs. You can put 175lbs on any given spring for the mini and you will find yourself with more compression on that spring, thus more drop. Now the previous setup with the 5kg spring, I was no where near full drop on ride height adjustment. After installing the new springs, I went full drop. Therefore, the new springs did not fully compensate for the additonal ride height adjustment I had remaining. Two things were working here for me, the heavier car and the fact that I was not at full drop before. Yes, yes, all things being equal you should see an increase in ride height due to the heavier rate springs. I was not talking and general terms. The findings were specific to my application...so I guess a disclaimer is in order here . "All findings are specific to the vehicle in question. Results not typical" Gee, I feel like a diet pill commercial .

Has anyone else installed their springs yet? I would like to hear (read) your findings.

In any case, I'm happy with the new set up so far.

 

Steve, you posted while I was posting. AND, yes, yes, yes...you got it!! That is exactly what I was feeling... So, maybe I didn't conveyed my findings quite well. Thanks.

Here is an additional thought, for those of you that are looking for the "slammed" look. You can use the lower spring perch to adjust ride height as well. Keep in mind, however, that by doing so you will also loose damper travel. But here is my thinking, the new springs provide more damper travel as well as better shock absortion. In theory, you can then adjust the lower perch and loose some travel but still retain the better shock absortion characteristics of the new springs. This would be far better, IMO, than keeping the old spring with very little travel. I suppose this would take some trial and error to find the best possible set up. Thoughts anybody?

 

To much spring, to little damping in both dirrections, especially rebound?? Would not lowering it so much help? I would only like to lower mine about 3/4 of an inch.

 

1) Scott N.
2) Elmer B.
3) Everardo V.
4) Ken S.
5) Steve W.
6) Cliff C
7) Ray I.
8) Sid C.
9) Steve T.
10) Brad H.
11) Ben A.
12) JP L.

That's all that has been shipped out... and unfortunately that's all that I have. This bothers me though because I KNOW for a fact that I had more springs than this in my warehouse which means that someone else has been sourcing from my springs that I have been setting aside for the MC's.

I am ordering out more... but so far those are the ones that have gone out.







This is how the front of my car looks. I have a 2006 MCS w/ Manual Transmission. I am also using taller springs, I am using 160-8Kg springs, so theoretically I am 10mm higher.

 

geez...that's some crazy 4x4 mode. Is that with it ALL the way down?

It seems that if you can't really lower the car, and have to run somewhat unstable springs.....the koni+H&R setup that i uninstalled in trade for megans would be a far better option no?

 

Wow...after rereading all of this, I'm kinda dumbfounded about exactly what the bottoming issue is exactly My setting has my front tires with barely a finger's clearance to the fender lip (much lower than the Steve's photo) yet I've rarely encounter the end of my suspension travel...

I encounter some pretty wide intersections at speed where the crown of the road causes the car to take a pretty big heave up and down while crossing (I could catch air if I tried and the SUVs in front look like they're about to)...Yet, I've haven't hit bottom...Strokes of the piston I imagine is at least an inch or two (can't tell as I'm not outside to see)...it feels solid but compliant...

I'm going to experiment some more before I change to the new springs...I would need an entire alignment and corner balance after the change so it's prudent for me to take my time

 

Those are my stock 16's... I don't know too many people running 16's on a Mini nowdays. I'm hoping to get my 17's in soon... but, yah need money for that.

I'm also 10mm higher which doesn't seem like much, but that's still about 1/3" there.