1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: How do I know if my suspension is bad?

Thanks for the heads up Jason!

 

Is the car lowered or at factory stance? Does the car have coilovers?

 

Stock springs are very well made and their service long lived. Spring height could be measured against a spring from another MINI for a ball park reference, but a completely sacked stock spring is less likely than worn shocks. They could be spring dyno tested, but that's no longer DIY.

For the shocks, first visually inspect for leaking fluid.




Remove the struts and disassemble, screw the shock shaft nut on the end of the shaft to protect the threads, invert the shock on a non marring surface (like wood), press the shock body downward to push the shaft inward, raise the shock. The shaft should extend slowly, taking about 12 seconds to return. If the shaft does not return, and/or it makes excessive gurgling noise, it is time for replacement. If you can compress and return the shaft with only arm strength (think playing an accordion, plus sounds like a washing machine), time to replace the shocks.

 

It wears leather jackets and smokes and hangs out with the wrong crowd?

 

Bilstein Touring shocks are ideal for daily driven street use. If you decide to install them, post again and I'll provide some tips. The touring model front shock body is a fraction of a millimeter larger in diameter than stock, and has a square bottom edge that keeps it from inserting easily within the steering knuckle.

Be sure to check the type of attachment for the front stabilizer bar link. Enter your VIN# here RealOEM.com * Online BMW Parts Catalog to see the differences. If your build date is prior to April 2002, more parts will be needed to make it work.

 

KHuevo, is it possible for shocks to go bad without leaking any fluid? That is, if you don't see any fluid leaking out, can they still be bad? I am going to guess that the internals can go bad without external leaking, but please confirm. Thanks!

(I am not sure exactly how shocks work but isn't there some restricted transfer of fluid from one chamber to another which provides the dampening effect?)

 

Yes, damping can deteriorate without fluid showing outside the shock body. In the absence of a visual cue like a leak, aural as in knocking (FSD does this when failed), or physical like the car bouncing five times for every bump, it's time for a hands-on test.

There is a lot of information about how shocks work available on the web, Bilstein has a good video to look for. As you suspect, there are restrictions called valves (orifices, discs, flappers/gates, etc.) that meter the flow of fluid from one chamber to another providing a damping effect.

It may be possible what the OP interprets as shock failure, is just a characteristic of the early model shock. Early models were filled with a heavy fluid, which provided a steep damping curve and less-than-cushy ride. Cold temps don't allow the shock to warm sufficiently for faster fluid flow; combine the two and bumps can become jarring.

An addendum for the hands-on test, if the shock shaft will not move without extreme effort, that's a test fail too.

 

Thanks. Good to know.

 

You never said how many miles are on it? With a Mini that age I would bet that all your front bushings are shot, and more than likely the motor mounts are too.

 

I had the nice folks from Helix change out my control arm bushings at the dragon this year. At 95,000 they were nothing but dust. As far as how my car rode it really did not make much of a ride difference. It made a heck of a lot of difference as far as turn in went. Over time I had not realized how loose the steering had gotten.

I'm still on the oem shocks at 101,000 & am getting ready to swap in another set of low mileage oem's I have.

 

Does the MINI still have runflats for tires? If so that can be a large part of the harshness. The early cars were not designed with runflats in mind. This can lead to a very harsh ride.

 

Mine's same age and about the same mileage.

It's got more or less the same suspension behaviour, and I'm running 17" non runflats.

But in my case my MCS has a factory sports suspension which as far as I have read, its lower than non sport and a bit harder too. (Am I right?)

The only work I've done so far (knock on wood) is change both upper tower (strut bases), two front wheel hub bearings, and fixed a bit of mushrooming on both tower bases.

I still have a problem with a bit of suspension thumping when riding on rough pavement (suspect a damaged bushing somewhere) and also a bit of loose steering too. Specially when turning left while accelerating or even worse while releasing the gas pedal.

Happy new year by the way!

 

:cornut: I don't know about R53s but, MINI says that my R56 MCS/JCW with factory 'Sport Suspension'(not JCW Suspension) is 8mm lower (1/3in) than standard suspension. Plug 'Sport Suspension' into search above and you'll get a lot more facts on 'Sport Suspension.'

Jason

 

Great, glad it all worked out for you. Thanks for updating the thread too. :beer