Suspension 1st Gen R53 Greene Performance Coilovers / Ride Height Help

Hey Dude, Colin is here at MOTD with me. What is your name and did you buy the coils from him directly? Colin wants to know your real name and not screen name ?

He has a few ideas about what your problem could be, but he needs more info from you.

Also he did what me to tell you all R53’s have some ‘Rake’ to them from the factory but you can dial it out and make the car look flat.

 

I learned that the Mini must be a crooked car or these coilovers/springs just don't deliver predictable ride height based on teh amount of screw thread you measure. My coilovers (Greene BCs) are set up to unique heights when looking at thread count or measured on the shock unit itself, but only that way was I able to get consistent fender gaps front and back. I had to repeat the process a few thousand miles and a year after install a second time, because my front ride height went down significantly, likely due to the springs sagging. Not sure of this is normal with other coilover systems, but given the "custom touch" that allegedly makes them so much better than the stock BCs, I expected to see a product that doesn't have me jack up the car a dozen times before it looks about right. perhaps that's just a fact of life with suspension mods. It's done and looks right - I am ok with how it handles and other than being a lot stiffer than the stock suspension, it's been working fine for me. I just live in a state with cruddy roads.

Let me add that my car was never wrecked and it looks totally straight, so it is unlikely that the chassis is warped to require the different adjustment on the driver side. No mushrooming shock towers up front, either.

When I set mine up, measured my fender height from the garage floor, but that is the same in effect as what you are doing. We just can't compare those numbers directly. When matching both sides coil height settings to the the fender gap, I had to add half an inch on the driver side, and that with no driver in the car. My car was never hit in an accident, so who the heck knows why they are so far off, but it has been my experience that you cannot even get close to a proper ride height by simply turning these things to the height you want them at and then repeat to match on the other side. The whole thing is more complex and may have to do with corner weight and other stuff. Still rather odd that my gaps were so far off on the driver side, front and back. I double checked the install of the shock body to the spindle and it's the same on both sides, so no reason to think I put the coilovers into the car incorrectly.

There is another factor to consider, at least on my car: between install of the coilovers and the adjustment a year later, I dropped the front subframe and replaced all ball joints and the lower control arm bushings. Now, one would think that going all new would make sure both sides are more alike, or at least less likely to exhibit uneven wear between sides, but in my case the adjustments of the front coilovers were more alike before the replacement of all those parts. However, if you haven't replaced those lower control arm bushings, this may be a good time to do it, or you'll be in for another alignment and coilover height adjustment round.

And looking at your images I have to note again, that I was sold blue Swift springs with these coilovers (the then "Colin recommended" setup) and now everyone seems to be riding on red springs, so your mileage may vary, or they just got a better deal on the red powder coat.

If I remember tonight, I'll go measure the gaps I have my car set for (not a huge drop, plus I have spacers on the wheels now) The only image post recent adjustment I have is a cheesy phone image that won't tell you anything about my settings. Note there are 5mm spacers on those wheels as well. I feel I want to raise the back just a little over where I am at, and I am near the max height setting already. I certainly don't want to go lower. Nothing rubs, even on a good Wisconsin post winter pothole hit in a tight corner under load.



And regarding rake - I want some rake back. I think it's got too little now. One just gets used to the rake angle especially with two stock cars next to it at all times.

 

Dave O to the rescue !!!!!!

 

My umbers are taken from rim edge to fender edge wheel center like you are showing in your photos

Front Right 4.2"
Rear Right 4.1""

Front Left 3.9"
Rear Left 3.8"

so still not a perfect match, but close. I may do one more tiny tweak to get it closer, but only a little down on one side and up on the other to get closer Too much and another alignment may be needed.

I'll make sure to record the actual coilover thread distances when I get the wheels off again, but as you can see, you can get quite a bit lower with these coilovers. I am not at all near the end of the lowering range, front or back.

 

Colin is in NC still and will get back to later when he gets home.

FYI his coilovers are “Performance” Coil-overs not Silly soft “STANCE” for looks coil-overs.

 

Hard to tell from your rear image, but could it be that you have stock non-adjustable lower control arms and the mechanic just didn't want your camber to go off the scale? Dropping the car will strongly increase camber well beyond the adjustment range, requiring adjustable lower control arms in the back. Just a guess, but my current ride height would not allow my camber settings with stock rear control arms.

 

Let me share what I got - next time the wheels come off, I will try to get more useful images of the installation. Looks like I didn't document the coilovers. I have a lot of images of the broken lowering spring suspension, though

first off - that's what I got from Colin in June of 2015


Front right - not sure what stage of the install that was, possibly the first time I got it installed


Really don't have any good photos of the current install, so I will go have a look next time it gets jacked up for the Milltek exhaust. Been mostly messing with LED lights and steam cleaning lately.

 

The first pics on this thread look mighty high to me. I just installed Colin's Coil-overs... the same BC units, custom valved, w/ Swift springs (the copper ones for me). I'm riding MUCH lower and I think I have room to go lower, though I haven't tried.

In motion


Parked


I just got back from the Dragon, where I first got to really push the car through some twisties. It was spectacular! I only scrubbed the tires into the wells once, and that was when I hit a giant bump on the highway at 70 MPH. It's a very firm ride, but exactly what I wanted. VERY predictable in the turns and solid.

 

I'll try to get out there today to get some photos for you.

I just did a fairly comprehensive rebuild and documented it all over on another thread. There are a few pics over there. They aren't ideal for your purpose, but they might help...

https://www.motoringalliance.com/threads/refreshing-rufus-2005-mcs-jcw.29878/page-18

 

I think your mechanic doesn't know how to adjust the coilovers because they do go lower. The setup in the picture is not bottomed out.

 

These are what mine looked like in the box.


It took a little time trying to get the ride height right, It still needs to be dialed in a little more. I wanted to fill in the arches a little better but found it was unrealistic by just adjusting the coilovers. I need a little more sidewall to accomplish that. That being said I am not really looking for the "stance" look either, I wanted adjustability for handling. As it sits now, it is low as I can take it without bottoming out on everything. The GP skirts want to rub on anything I go over. I do have a slight rake which I think is normal for the car. I can say the gap between my locking rings is narrower than what you are showing on yours. I had to add spacers on the front because both front wheels were rubbing on the coilovers.

I do like the ride and the handling is spot on. I am sure if I turned it over to Colin he would dial it in better.

 

Wow, those rear wheels are tucked in there aren't they. Are those 17"s?