13 replies to this topic

[Zeemax Adventure]

Just been looking at minitastics spring set which replaces the rubber cone suspension with a coil spring and their version of a hi-lo. Just wondered if anyone had tried this and what they thought. Im going for fast road so want good handling

[Andrew O]

Link me up

[Zeemax Adventure]

www.minitastic.co.uk

[Pistonbroke]

Just been looking at minitastics spring set which replaces the rubber cone suspension with a coil spring and their version of a hi-lo. Just wondered if anyone had tried this and what they thought. Im going for fast road so want good handling

Hi,

I'm just in the process of installing these on my car. I have the red springs fitted can't say what they are like yet as still rebuildng the front end and new engine build. My son had these fited to his mini and loved them, the mini was lowered slightly just to avoid the problem you hear of springs falling out etc but to be honest the ride was really, really, good. Some people say the springs increase the body roll but to be honest this did not seem to be a problem to him. On the occasions I was in the mini with him he still managed to frighten the C%*p out of me by driving to fast but the road handling seem to be fine.
Let me know how you get on with them when they are fitted I still have late spring in mind before my car is ready.

Pistonbroke

Edited by Pistonbroke, 01 September 2011 - 08:55 PM.

[Andrew O]

They are rather expensive

[bcjames]

They are rather expensive

About the same as what new cones plus HiLos works out to be.

[Zeemax Adventure]

agreed with bcjames. Old rubber cones are pointless. They look ok but over time lose their bounce back, so you end up with saggy suspension and less sharp handling. Your project will be finished before mine i reckon bcjames. Im interested to hear from anyone who has purchased these, and what effect it has to the handling over rubber cones.

[bcjames]

When I replaced my suspension, I read around a lot on here and on the MCR about standard cones, smootharide, and springs. In the end I went for standard cones, and going from my old worn suspension the difference was night and day. I have read some posts recently by, if I remember correctly, Cooperman on here explaining the issues with using springs that are so short, and the way they deal with bumps compared to the progressive nature of the standard type cone. I'll see if I can find the thread and post a link.

[jaydee]

Rubber cones are a great system if you imagine the suspension was desinged in 58-59..
Theres a improved version of the cones on the market, a set of them is quite a bit expensive and require hi-los, but the result is amazing. They are red-dot cones and are available at minispares.

[Zeemax Adventure]

thanks for the red dot info, will check them out now

[Wil_h]

The problem is that the rubber doughnuts do more than you think.

All suspension effectively changes rate as it moves up and down, this is caused by it moving through an arc. On a mini, however, this is very noticable as the spring position is very close to the pivot point. so as the suspension arm moves up, the suspension effectivey gets softer. The rubber doughnt compensates for this by actualy getting progressively stiffer as it is compressed. The minitastic springs do not do this.

As a result you will get a softer ride and more roll. I know someone using them who found the roll excessive, and fitted anti-roll bars to stop it. Having been in the car many times I would say that the ARBs are essential if fitting the coil springs.

Coilovers do not suffer as much as the pick-up point is moved further out on the suspension arms.

[Mad_Rich]

Wheeler dealers on discovery did this to a moke. They got the springs custom made. It looked a pretty decent set up.

[Kam]

I had a factory setup and got some new straight replacement donuts as the factory ones were starting to sag a bit and added some hi-los to them, handling was soooo much better with the new donuts, alot more tighter

Then decided to change the donuts to a coil spring conversion kit (red coil springs from minispares) even though I had read on here about the excessive body roll with coils I still went ahead, lets just say you can notice the difference but not in a good way, I had no rear ARB fitted

Gone back to donuts now (red dot donuts from minispares) and will be using a rear ARB but although I'm still yet to try this out on the road all I know is bar or not I wanted to use donuts again as I wanted the car to feel like before....

[Bean]

Not installed it on my Mini yet - Mostly because I haven't had time and secondly because my mini has now been stolen

But ..

I drove the Minitastic demonstrator, when I went to see them. And it was just incredible. It still felt VERY "Mini", but just removed the harshness of the ride. I wouldn't say it was like a modern car - I would hate for it to be like that - But it was much more manageable as a daily. From my experience, I'd fit it to all of my cars ... And will be fitting it to my project Mini (eventually). This was the Fast Road version of the Minitastic setup.