47 replies to this topic

[Remylebleu]

need new suspension cones and was wondering why minispare is nearly £20 cheaper for a set?

they both look the same in the pics and both say genuine?

[Remylebleu]

i mean minisport is nearly £20 cheaper than minispares?

[Dan]

The Mini Spares type are the original, made on the original production line tooling and recently re-engineered back to original, full specification after years of being downgraded for costs. They are genuine. The Mini Sport version are made on the prototype tooling by a different rubber supplier with no history of making them, but under the direction of the genius who designed them. They are not genuine.
I personally would stick with the Mini Spares type, at £6.00 more than the others per spring the are not that much more. As important to the safety and quality of the spring as the way the rubber is cast and cooled is the design of the metal parts and the way they are bonded to the rubber, it's a patented process and Mini Spares springs are produced to that patent.

Or if you want to go non genuine, the Mini Spares red spot springs are absolutely excellent on a road car and give fantastic results IMHO.

[Remylebleu]

so when minisport says "genuine" they actually a genuine repo? seems abit misleading to me.

i did wonder why there was a price diffrence for apparent "genuine" products

id rather have the more expensive ones if there safer and will last longer.

thanks mate

[Spitz]

I doubt Minisport would say "genuine" if they weren't.
I would call then and see what's up. If they are marked Dunlop and/or Moulton on the rubber.....are they not genuine?

[Dan]

Don't know if they are safer and last longer, but they are genuine. I often find Mini Sport will describe things a bit optimistically. The original springs were designed by Dr Alex Moulton and were only ever intended to be a temporary measure while he got the Hydrolastic system working. They weren't fully engineered. When BL went back to the cone springs to save the costs of Hydrolastic, he would have preferred to re-design them to work properly. He never liked the front springs but BL wouldn't pay for different fronts and rears, and didn't want the development costs. What he would have preferred to be standard are the springs he designed for Mini Sport that are now sold as Smooth-A-Ride. He understands how and why the springs work and how to make them.

What he can't do however, is make the same springs he designed for BMC all those years ago or use the same processes. Because they are patented, when he designed them he did so for BMC and they own the rights, so now BMW own the rights. So the Mini Spares springs are to the genuine design.

Although thinking about it the patent must have expired by now.

[Darkscamp]

I bought some 100% genuine ones from Huddesfield last year, and i'm sure many other traders including Minisport have genuine ones in stock.

Minispares may be producing them from the original tools but there is still alot of genuine stock on traders shelves

[blue blood]

If i were you guys i'd go that extra mile for piece of mind and satisfaction if anything! These mini's are our pride and joys so at least treat them to something nice

Regards Blue

[Dan]

Mini Sport say quite clearly in their description that their springs are made by Avon. I'm sure there is a lot of NOS out there but until Mini Spares went to the current manufacturer and re-taught them how to make springs, the ones they had been producing since the end of production were terrible quality and don't last very long.

[timmo]

I have been told of Genuine "Rover" cones only lasting a few thousand miles, as they were made for a "softer ride" and were so compressed they couldn't get them out of the subframe turrets

[[email protected]]

Don't get me started on the whole "genuine" thing. There are an awful lot of products on the market currently that are marked as genuine, that just simply isn't true. Ours as Dan rightly states are off the original Dunlop tooling.

[Big_Adam]

There a reason they are £20 cheaper.

They never have any in bloody stock.

[Dan]

I have been told of Genuine "Rover" cones only lasting a few thousand miles, as they were made for a "softer ride" and were so compressed they couldn't get them out of the subframe turrets

Yes Rover and BMW successively tried to make the springs softer, but also the quality of the manufacturing process had slipped which is what caused the early settlement and hardening. The rubber wasn't being made right. That's why Mini Spares went back to basics with the manufacturer and reworked their production. I use Mini Spares' own red spot springs rather than standard ones, which are made to a proper rubber casting and cooling method and they are lasting just fine. If they have got their standard ones up to the same quality, they'll last well I'd imagine. Don't know what hardness their standard springs are made to though. Incidentally the standard spring hardness changes continuously over the years, it wasn't just the later cars that had different grades. They never gave any type a different part number though. They were made quite soft towards the end of production largely because of the immense weight of the twin pont, which was over 100kg heavier than early cars. This is what crushes the poorly made springs early too.

[twrminisport]

Quality is a short swift awnser

[Cerberus]

I hope this means I'm not going to have to change my bloody cones again, due to some false advertising.


I thought Avon ones were the ones to get, as they were the only genuine ones, hence why I got the Minisport ones, as they say they are Avon.



Also, saying :

Each batch of cones is tested by Moulton Developments to guarantee the quality and consistency of each cones is to the exact standard and formula finalised in 1959.

Surely they must be genuine, I mean, if they're not, then they're due a massive lawsuit.