6 replies to this topic

[Johnspi]

Basically thinking of running coilovers . My brother has had them on a lot of his cars and they have improved the handling a lot! What is involved in putting them in my mini any advice or suggestions on how to do it correctly :) thank

[cubby1701]

Easier getting a minitastic spring conversation kit and a lot cheaper

[cooperdan]

Personal opinion...

you can get same effects with a other and cheaper setups...

saying that you have to strenghten the body to except these, so there is some work involved

[stickycreambun]

Not being funny at all, but why coilovers rather than good well set up rubber cones/hilos/dampers the mini had from the start? The Bimmer fits the coilies much easier than the mini which will need a fair amount of work and then not be quite the same.

 

Very briefly you will be needing to strengthen the damper mountings and run a beam axle or cut down rear subby. A fair bit of work involved, not just a bolt in jobby. Oh and it'll cost a fair bit too.

[Johnspi]

Thanks for the replies .to be honest I just thought coilovers were easy enough install (obviously not now haha) thanks for all the help I just want to stiffen the suspension and make it handle better thanks :)

[stickycreambun]

Depending on your time/budget/skills you want to go over and renew/replace everything you have - would make all the difference. 

[Cooperman]

For road use it is impossible to improve on the original rubber cone spring suspension.

Rubber cone springs are true rising-rate units and to mimic this with coil springs is very difficult.

What is not realised is that coil springs were used on race Minis to reduce the initial high-deflection of the rubber springs and thus reduce body-roll when entering corners on a totally smooth track. This compliance is needed on the road, however.

Where coil-over springs are used it is vital to modify and strengthen the mountings as the damper brackets are then taking full suspension loads (like a McPherson Strut) and although shock loading is less prevalent on a race track, for a road car it is very high over bumps.

Coil springs for road cars offer no improvement - well, they can't really as the amount of suspension travel is the same and the inertia of the mass to be resolved vertically over the available distance is the same.

It is possible to use coil springs as a direct replacement for rubber springs, but the spring rates need to be virtually exactly identical with the rates of the rubber springs with larger bump stops to prevent coil binding at maximum deflection. So in practice there is no advantage in performance terms - except that those selling these springs will have a bit more profit!