11 replies to this topic

[Jacks]

If i lower my mini thats on standard height monroe shocks with hi lo kit and on 12 inch wheels will i have to put lowered shocks on to stop it from bottoming out

[HarrysMini]

I believe you can lower a Mini on non lowered dampers up to 30mm, by which point you will have completely ruined the Minis handling anyway. 

[Midas Mk1]

lol, you quite clearly haven't driven a lowered mini or (minis) , on the road? have you...

To answer the op, yes lowered shocks would be good only a lowered car, I ran mine with std shocks and they bottomed out quite a lot, before I switched to the lowered type.

 

Edited by Midas Mk1, 17 March 2014 - 10:14 PM.

[Jacks]

Yes but how low did u go plus what wheels was you on

Edited by Jacks, 17 March 2014 - 10:17 PM.

[Cooperman]

The lowered Minis I have driven on the road have been poor compared to those at standard ride height in terms of ride, road-holding and handling. It's the other way around on a smooth race-track however.

For slight lowering, such as about 1 to 2 cm standard dampers are fine.

[tiger99]

Roadholding and handling can be deceptive, and it may "seem" to be better when lowered, when properly instrumented tests would show that the lateral "g" capability, the true measure of cornering ability has in fact decreased.

 

Issigonis knew EXACTLY what he was doing when he set the roll centre height to zero at the rear and 2.5 inches at the front. Mess with the ride height and the front roll centre height does just what? You would need a scale drawing or CAD model to see exactly what, but it will not be favourable.

 

Then there are wheels which change the scrub radius, fitted by those who often don't know what scrub radius is, and again deceive themselves into thinking that torque steer means that there is more lateral grip. The two are not connected.

 

Then there are those, and with due respect to certain highly competent people who frequent this forum, they mainly come from across the pond, believe that a car chassis must have torsional flexibility to function correctly, and that to ensure good cornering there must be lots of tyre squeal.

 

I could go on, and debunk just about every bogus suspension tweak on the market, but why bother? It seems to me that people are just gullible and easily deceived, as seen by those who are deceived by manifestly false and deceitful advertising into wasting more than the cost of a good Mini or two on a "high end" HiFi system, the performance of which in many cases is easily proved to  be absolute rubbish. But they will insist that it "sounds better". Better, arguable, some may like needless amounts of second harmonic distortion, more accurate, definitely not. And, people buy Mini parts from SC Parts, where a normally £6k shell, from the same supplier, Heritage, costs £10k. Do they believe that it is better? And, they buy an idiotPad or idiotPhone, or Rotten Apple, at twice the price, or more, of an equivalent Android or standard PC. And, they buy new and unreliable Mercs..... (I feel sorry for Lewis Hamilton, their recent reliability problems seem to have spread to the FI cars.) Daftest of all, they choose to live in London, in poor quality but unaffordable housing, and often buy a Chelsea Tractor, that never goes beyond Chelsea.

 

People are daft, all of us, it is just that some do more blatantly daft things than others.

[Cooperman]

There are so many Mini-parts sellers out there who need to make a profit. They can't compete with the likes of Mini Spares, Mini Sport, etc., so they make parts which are really not necessary and, in many cases are not either useful or indeed safe. Then they try to convince owners that these are 'must have' items without which their treasured classic car will be inadequate, won't go well, won't stop, won't go around corners well, won't handle well, and won't look good.

If the car is being used for historic competition, then some of the claims can well be true, but for a road car competition derived modifications are often detrimental.

If one thinks the Mini owning clan are beset by these unnecessary products, take a look at the VW Beetle owners and see what 'stupid' really means in some cases. They have cars which won't even go on the road properly and then think they are wonderful.

There are classics where this does not happen and the MGB lot seem more interested in preserving the original MGB as a true British classic.

[midridge2]

Well that was a rant and a half and a big deviation to the question asked.

[tiger99]

Actually, to answer the original question precisely is impossible, as the amount of lowering required was not specified. However, it it retains the original bump and rebound stops, and does not overload them and mash them up, it should not need shorter dampers. In fact, you should never actually need shorter dampers, as the simpler and more correct fix is to use modified damper mounts to move the damper up or down, so that its full operating travel is retained.

 

As has been discussed before, the only correct way to achieve serious lowering is to raise the subframe and damper mounts, but it is a very major welding job, involving the most highly stressed part of the shell. Anything else messes up the geometry seriously and/or risks balljoint fracture.

[Stephen Mini-magazine]

I smell much ******* in this thread.

[Midas Mk1]

Total **** going off topic again. The next thing we'll be getting told to fit a maniflow exhaust, to raise your suspension, and to paint your car red and white.... lol 

Edited by Midas Mk1, 18 March 2014 - 10:40 AM.

[loobies-dad]

Total **** going off topic again. The next thing we'll be getting told to fit a maniflow exhaust, to raise your suspension, and to paint your car red and white.... lol 

I am so happy, my Mini is red and white so it should handle like it's on rails. :)