I'm curious if anyone has any experience with the factory sport suspension and aftermarket suspensions. I have the sport suspension option on my 2012 R55 MCS, and was wondering if there would be a difference between that and an aftermarket sway bar and loweing springs. I'm not sure if I'd be wasting my money or not (probably). Thanks Wingnut
Personal opinion only here. If you're thinking of modding your MINI, I wouldn't opt for the sport suspension. Aftermarket springs, shocks, rear bar, poly flex bushings, etc would, in my opinion, surpass the factory "sport" suspension. If you only plan on using the MINI as a daily driver or just seldom spirited motoring the sport suspension might be okay as an option. I'd love to do a head to head comparison of a non sport and a sport equipped MINI.
My car came with the Factory sport suspension. I do think you would see a pretty noticible benifit from springs and a sway bar. Plus you would get the added benifit of being a little over an inch lower.
:cornut: My personal opinion and what I actually did with Margi(08 R56 BRG MCS/JCWm) was to tighten/tune her 'Sport Suspension' by dropping unsprung weight. It's a lot cheaper also. I trashed the heavy run flat tires and 24lbs light weight factory wheels for for light non run flat tires and 14lbs 'OZ' wheels. Just doing this made an major difference in acceleration, stopping, and cornering. She had dropped 70-80lbs of unsprung weight. The down side is: No bright yellow shocks or blue antisway bars. In the end though, it's to each his own. Get what you want and what your wallet can aford. Jason
You will definitely notice a huge different with either a bigger rear sway bar or set of lowering springs or the combo. The rear sway bar has proven over and over to be the best bang for the buck suspension mod even with stock suspension. I'd say find a local person at a club event and go for some test rides and see what you think. But at the minimum get a rear sway bar you'll love it.
A rear sway bar upgrade is extremely well worth it! It absolutely changes the way the car handles. The under steer common to FWD is almost perfectly dialed out. There are times when I'm in competitive autocrossing events where my handling of the course appears to the outside viewer as though I'm driving a RWD vehicle with the way the back end swings around and I swing around tight corners and counter steer.
I went from the "sport" suspension to lowered and in my opinion it "Really" depends on what you want, if you're looking for comfort & slightly better handling, go with the factory sporr w/ the aftermarket sway bar, if your looking for all out handling and are willing to sacrafice some softness (regular driving, not in the corners) and having to pay attention to road conditions (heavy snow, speed bumps, potholes) then save the money on your purchace & put it into aftermarket. And as mentioned earlier, ditch the runflats asap, get a plug kit & mini 12v compressor, or donut spare, or both to carry around with you, esp. on trips. Hell find you some wheels you like, keep or put the runflats back on the factory wheels & use them for winter till there gone.
I'd say a RSB is the best single bang for the buck suspenders mod one can do. It really does make the car drive more pointy. An added bonus would be camber plates & a good alignment. I'm using Ireland Engineering fixed plates & they transformed the car. Keep in mind that these suspension mods make your MINI handle better. At the limit it will still handle like a fwd car, but those limits have been raised a whole lot higher.
Ok. I've put this out to my local club as well, MetroplexMINI, and I'm getting the same thing. Like I said, I ordered the sport suspension thinking I'd stay with it. I'll look into the RSB and see what I come up with, and put the rest on the back burner for now. Thanks. Wingnut
I have a 2011 MCS with the factory "Sport Suspension. I really hated the ride quality, even after putting Bridgestone AS tires (non-runflats) and a 22mm RSB and Team Dynamics wheels. So I have reduced weight, added roll control with the RSB and hated the jarring ride. Because of where I drive lowering the car is not an option. I don't track the car but I do drive very spiritedly. I opted for the Koni FSD's and wow what positive difference in ride quality BUT, and it is a big BUT, I can't seem to keep top strut bearing in it now. I don't have a clue as to what's going on. I really liked the feel of the Koni's but trashing the top strut bearings is no bueno. Several other people have had great success with the FSD's but they are not late model "Sport Suspension" vehicles. Any ideas as to what's going on?
somethings wrong "I opted for the Koni FSD's and wow what positive difference in ride quality BUT, and it is a big BUT, I can't seem to keep top strut bearing in it now. I don't have a clue as to what's going on. I really liked the feel of the Koni's but trashing the top strut bearings is no bueno. Several other people have had great success with the FSD's but they are not late model "Sport Suspension" vehicles. Any ideas as to what's going on? " Read more: http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/suspension-brake-modifications/16761-mini-sport-suspension-vs-aftermarket.html#ixzz2UqEyaMDO we have installed over a hundred sets of MINI FSDs, most of them on R56s, and never had a strut bearing failure any time afterwards. Did you do the install? or if a shop did it, are you sure the thin dust shield washer and thicker support washer (#5&6 below)are in the correct place, or there at all? they are easily left out and will cause an issue, possibly the one you describe--also-at reassembly, did the installer use an allen wrench/key to hold the internal shock rod and carefully tighten the top nut, or was it run down with an impact (a favorite installation hack of tire stores)? this will cause damage to the strut bearing as well-can you post a picture of the damaged strut bearing?
Yes, the top strut rod and allen key were held properly. We had a tool that allowed the allen key to be held and the top nut torqued with a wrench to the proper setting. This was done in a home shop, but a very good shop that is set up better than most pro shops. Ex-mechanic that owns 2 mini's takes great pride in his work and I made sure the Bentley Manual was open to the right page. We had it on a lift and checked for every possible thing that could be loose causing the clunking noise on extension going over speed bumps and all was tight and no noise. When the wheels were turned lock to lock a clunk was noticed coming from the top strut towers, and also felt there. I am pretty sure #5 and #6 were there but when I get it apart, again for the 3rd time, I will make sure of those parts. #5 for sure is there but #6, I am not positive. When I get the bearing out the damage is not visible, so it must be an under load thing. I will try to photograph the various stages of removal. Thanks, wish your shop was closer:biggrin5: Stephen
kyb top mounts KYB has a somewhat better top mount available, as well as the Ireland Engineering fixed camber plates for a superior upper plate-but-I am not sure your uppers are "ruined" because of a clunk. Did you actually change them out yet? I am happy to hear it is a diy project and no impact was used-is the clunk worse or better with the car back on the ground and weight on the suspension?
It does it under load when the wheels are turned lock to lock, I first noticed it coming down off a speed bump while turning; approached the bump slowly and gave it enough gas to get over the bump and when the shock extended going over the down side of the bump there was a clunk. Now it is doing it when I come off a street onto the apron and up into a parking lot and the suspension extends to reach the level surface of the parking lot. About 40 years ago I had a suspension come apart and drop a front lower A-arm into the street with a stock suspension TR-4a IRS. A real adrenaline generator! So, I am pretty picky about strange noises coming from my suspension, as you might surmise. Do the IE Fixed plates require carving out any of the strut tower mounting area? I did change one set already and the clunk went away immediately but came back after a couple of months. Because the noise went away with that change it leads me to believe the same thing is happening. Our shop has air power but it was only used for the spring compressor; all re-assembly was done with hand tools and an array of torque wrenches.
I will be at the shop after 9 (todays my birthday so I get an hour off ) call me if you have time, I would like to discuss this a little more in depth with you-the switch to the FSD product may be when this started, but I don't think it is the shock-something is amiss. We truly have never had any issue with them EXCEPT when the youngest/greenest member of our team left out one of those washers, which created a clunk-I knew immediately where to look on disassembly, as I have had a few brought to me done elsewhere with this same issue. The only 2 things I have seen with strut mounts is the torn rubber around the bearing and I have seen 2 where the bearing pushed upwards off of its "staked" position in the mount. the bearings that moved created a grinding noise when turned left to right and back.
As far as strut top bearings go I'd recommend a set of IE fixed camber plates. They have a very robust bearing. In fact the whole thing is much beefier than the oem strut top. I've had a set on for 70,000 miles or so with no problems.
No I did not. My MINI is an R53, but Metalman put IE plates on his R56 with no issues either. I ended up with camber at -1.9 & -2.0. You will need an alignment after the install. My tires are lasting longer with the added camber.