Thank you Onasled Racing and TSW...

[cct1]

Marc, how are you getting to the tops of the rears to adjust the dampening? Does anyone know the best place to drill, if that's what I need to do, to get at them?

When I got the KW's, the drawing showed a dampenening adjustment on the bottom of the strut, so I had them installed, only to find that's not the case; my fault for not looking at the rears before installation, but I'm still slightly miffed at KW for that picture that clearly shows the adjustment on the bottom of the strut.

Anyway, I'm set too soft--10 clicks from full hard on the rears--I THOUGHT I could easily change them. So if I have to drill a hole for quick access, not a problem, but I want to only drill one hole and do it right the first time, I don't want a honeycomb back there....

[Bimmer Lite]

Greg drilled holes above the rear struts. I can get my hand through the boot access doors that are there on each side, finagle the allen key a bit, and then complete the adjustment. Left for loose and right for stiff. It's still a pain to get in there, so I think this will lead me to get rid of those interior panels, or at least get creative with a dremmel or something.

My MINI is not near me at the moment, but as soon as I can, I'll snap a pic of the drilled hole and where it is.

Edit - here's a shot looking up through the rear shock pickup point:


- Marc

[M^Cubed]

Marc, I hope I'm not crapping on your thread...

I've driven my friends 05 with BC Coilovers (8kg front 6kg rear) and a 22m solid rsb and rear seat deleted. The alignment was done by the guy who does the RSR cars also.

Anyways, his car feels really good, borderline nervous/twitchy. Very quick steering response and return to center - very flat through turns.

My car on the other hand has a mild alignment with the Cross setup (8kg front 7kg rear). Stock sway bars and full back seat.

My car on the other hand acts very mild mannered and the ride is iffy. Through some suggestions - I picked up some new springs that are supposed to help with the ride and the mild mannered nature of the car. I went with swift 10kg front and 8kg rear, but I'm afraid this might induce even more understeer which I do not want.

I am looking for a neutral to slightly oversteering setup with planted feel around town. Right now it seems to have a little too much bounce off of expansion joints. I thought this was under-dampening on the rebound of the shock, but could be a combo of both spring and shock.

I really don't want to have to add a larger RSB if I don't have to, but I feel I might need to in order to get the rear end feel I am looking for. It seems to have a little bit of soggy but at the moment - could be alignment - could be weight - could be springs, not sure!

I'm not sure if I can swap my front springs to rear since they are the same I.D. - they are slightly different length though.

[Bimmer Lite]

You're not crapping - you're discussing! By all means...

Your thought process is exactly what I went through for the months (okay, years) it took me to decide what would be good for me and my driving style. Part of that was doing a number of track days on street tires and basically stock suspension to find out exactly what I didn't want the car to do anymore. Once I knew that, and it sounds like we have similar tastes, all signs pointed towards stiffer rear springs. The stock spring rates are something in the 100s, so the people who are worried that lesser spring rates won't hold up the engine don't have anything to be worried about, I don't think.

Again, the technical explanations that were made to me are not "mine" enough for me to repeat with any confidence to you.

Here's what I'll say: after living with this setup for a little bit, and after three extensive days on track in every possible condition (dry, hot, wet, medium, standing water, drying, misting, you get the idea), I would recommend stiffer rear springs.

If you're worried, like I was, go with the 10kgs in the rear and 9kgs in the front. Mine are 9 rear and 8 front, and I think I definitely could have handled not only stiffer springs, but also a larger differential between the front and rear.

I know I'm not an expert at all, but I hope this has been helpful.

Edit - when I got the car back and Greg told me he left the RSB on full stiff (19mm), I was scared. He said not to worry about it and that it'd be balanced. He was right.

- Marc

[M^Cubed]

Marc,

Thank you for the excellent reply. It is wasn't so freaking hot in AZ right now, I'd be all over some NASA events.

[Ryephile]

FWIW, the springs that come with BC, Megan, and Cross are only good for one location, the circular bin. Swift, KW Race, Eibach race, and Hyperco are "for real" good springs. Personally I wouldn't put much stock in tuning the setup if they're using crap springs, because chances are the rates are highly progressive.

Perspective: I used to run 392 lb/in front and 279 lb/in rear with H-Sport comp bars on soft front and hard rear. Going to 400 lb/in front and rear, I only had to move my rear sway bar to medium to achieve similar dynamic weight transfer [within a few pounds on the more-oversteer side]. If you're running stock swaybars, you can run a very stiff rear spring and the car will still be neutral. What you give up however is street comfort since you're not supplimenting dynamic [cornering] spring rate with the sway-bars as much as you would be with a stiffer sway-bar.

--->M^Cubed: I'd suggest swapping those 10kg/mm fronts for 8kg's and then get yourself a 19mm RSB. That'll be very close to neutral without being twitchy or as killer on the street.

[Bimmer Lite]

One other thing I want to mention that's unrelated to suspensions but something I've written about before is the performance of my Wilwood 11.75x.81 "race" kit. I had previously experienced frequent rotor warpage, or what I now think was "hot-spotting" from improper cool-down. With Way's ducts in-tact, the club giving us a FULL cool-down lap, and moving the car a few inches periodically after each run, I had zero issues last weekend - the brakes were great. They never faded, and I just kept stomping on them. Went through about 1/2 of the life of a set of the B-compound pads.

It probably also helps that the 949 wheels have much more space than the Rotas had.

Lightning (at least for me during this event) is a track where I found myself lightly braking to set the car or even left-foot braking. I know that these light applications can lead to much more added heat, but it didn't prove to be an issue at all.

- Marc

[BThayer23]

I'm dying to see what that spreadsheet of yours looks like, Ryan.

[UKCoopeR]

This thread has lots of great info esp for people like me that are still deciding what todo Keep it up! I look forward to my stock shocks letting go as I abuse them with track days & h-sport springs lol

BimmerLite, mind saying how much your parts and setting up cost? I miss having easy shop access and scales You can pm if you prefer

[Bimmer Lite]

Originally Posted by UKCoopeR

This thread has lots of great info esp for people like me that are still deciding what todo Keep it up!

Glad it's helpful. Can't even remember how many of these I've read, how many people's brains I've picked, or how many times I "decided" which direction to go.

Now all I need are 10 million other things, like a roll-bar, proper seats, proper harnesses, a HANS and a freaking oil cooler!

- Marc