18 replies to this topic

[teodor1994]

Hello everyone,

 

 

I just bought a classic mini mk 3 1976, and I have a question, what do I need to lower my mini, I've bought 13x7 with sportpack arches 175/50 wheels, the car already have new shocks strandard monroe.

What do you guys preffer, Coil springs (red) GAZ shocks or both?.

 

 

Thank you very much.

 

 

[Aridgerunner]

I think the general consesus is to avoid the coil springs. Use the Adjusta Ride set up from Mini Sport. Their part number SUSKIT5.

[nicklouse]

to lower your car all you need is some adjustable suspension cones.  some are better than others. in quality and use.

 

I would not use coils.

[Dusky]

Adjustable trumpets actually. Minispares sells a kit of hi los cones and kyb gas a justs. It will change the car.

[Orange-Phantom]

Again avoid the coils.

 

I've got coils on mine and I'm putting mine bacl to rubber suspension as it is far better.  I've just got the Red Dot cones from Minispares, I just need to fit them!

 

Also don't go too low otherwise you'll end up bouncing off the bump stops, much better to have a standard ride height and be able to enjoy the car properly.

 

Also worth a read 

 

http://www.calverst....-consideration/

[teodor1994]

Thank you for all the awesome info !

[Cooperman]

Avoid the coil springs, at the very best they might be almost as good as the rubber cone springs, but are likely to be far from ideal. The Mini has such a short suspension travel that coil springs are not ideal. They can work well on race cars which just run on very smooth tracks. Used on a road car the ride height needs to be raised and 10" or, maybe 12", wheels fitted if they are to have any chance of working well.

[AeroNotix]

While a lowered mini looks marginally better they drive like absolute crap. I've "accidentally" driven a lowered mini through knackered suspension cones and related items and, while the "proper" set up may be better I can't imagine having any less than an inch to two inches of travel to the bump stops could be seen as desirable.

 

The stock ride height looks fine, drives better and is arguably safer. You'll wear out components much quicker being lowered, too.

[greenmini1275]

I've got springs fitted. My suspension is at standard height, just the way I like it. It's comfortable, sits on the road nicely and avoids ripping my exhaust off on speed bumps. I'll never go back to rubber.

[tiger99]

Maybe so. Now try 4 heavy people plus luggage in the car. Even if nothing breaks, you will soon see why, despite what you choose to believe in the face of massive evidence to the contrary, coil springs can not and do not work on a road-going Mini.

[Cooperman]

Maybe so. Now try 4 heavy people plus luggage in the car. Even if nothing breaks, you will soon see why, despite what you choose to believe in the face of massive evidence to the contrary, coil springs can not and do not work on a road-going Mini.

 

Which is exactly why Alec Issigonis rejected coil springs in favour of the superb rubber cone springs in the first place.

 

With coil springs on a road Mini the very best you could hope for is a suspension almost as good as with rubber cone springs, although it is unlikely to happen.

 

On a race car it is a different matter. It will only ever be driven with one person in it and a very high initial spring rate, whilst being very stiff, will improve initial turn-in on corners on totally smooth race tracks.

 

Of course, the very low sidewalls of the 13" tyres will simply make it worse still.

 

But then, there are those who want to make a profit from selling coil spring conversions, so they will argue to the contrary, but without any engineering logic.

[Keeef]

Fast Road Suspension Set Up:

Front:
With negative camber lower arms fitted, set the ride height to standard. Track it straight ahead with no toe-out or toe-in. With the adjustable front tie bars set 3 deg of castor, plus or minus 0.5 deg to allow for tolerances in the sub-frame to ensure that the wheels are in the same geometrical position with respect to the centres of the rears. Don't set too high a damper stiffness. The reason I say standard ride height is that the Mini has little enough suspension travel as it is and the sump is very low if you lower the car. For track use it's a different matter.

Rear:
Set camber at 0 to 0.5 deg negative. There must be NO positive camber on the rear.
Set the rear track, very important in overall handling terms for a road car, to between 1/8"and 3/16" toe-in. If the camber adjust brackets won't allow this to be set, then you either put shims behind the trailing arm brackets, or grind a bit off the bracket faces to achieve less or more toe-in respectively.
Again set standard ride height, although the rear can go down by about 1/2" from standard. Don't set the dampers too stiff in order that the suspension can work properly.


Enjoy...

[Keeef]

Standatd Set Up for reference:
Front:
Toe = 1.58mm toe-out
Castor = 3° (+/-1°) Positive
Camber = 2° (+/-1°) Positive
Swivel hub inclination = 9° 30"
Trim Height = 343mm (+/- 9.5mm)
Trumpet Length = 3.750" to spring platform

Rear:
Toe = 3.17mm toe-in
Camber = 0.5° to 2.5° Positive
Trumpet length = 12.375" to spring platform

[greenmini1275]

Maybe so. Now try 4 heavy people plus luggage in the car. Even if nothing breaks, you will soon see why, despite what you choose to believe in the face of massive evidence to the contrary, coil springs can not and do not work on a road-going Mini.

Yup done that. Barnsley-London2Brighton. Me, my wife, our son, our lugage for the weekend, all my sons things, travel cot, pushchair, plus emergency kit and Spares. Still very happy. Drive it through the Peak District regularly, never a problem. I find the ride quality to be the same as rubber cones, but with the added advantage that they won't collapse like rubbers.

Personal view from personal experience.

[Cooperman]

If you fit rubber cone springs of the right quality and specification they will last a very long time. The problem is the cheap rubbish springs that some vendors sell. The OE spec from Mini Spares are fine.

A coil spring will never and can never perform dynamically as a rubber cone spring, however well made it is. It might approach a rubber cone spring, if the ride height is raised a bit, but it will never be better.

the problem is that owners replace worn and very old rubber cone springs with new coils and notice an improvement. But they would notice an even better improvement if they replaced old coil springs with new O.E. quality rubber cone springs.