One issue with coilovers...they are not as tuff as the stock spring/strut setup... Be prepared for a failure...on smooth roads they do fine...but they tend to have PHYSICAL failures due to POTHOLES...remeber they are RACE BREED....and no potholes on a racetrack.... The roads I drove on in Kenai/Soldonta area WERE pretty good when I lived up there...but the washboard gravel side streets and "breakup" might be an MAJOR issue if you lower. Good luck.... Me I would stick with the stock height...maybe Koni FSD's, and spend the $$ on a set of extra rims.... You can have some crazy fun with a near stock suspension and a bigger rear swaybar with good tires....heck...I bet 90% of drivers cannot use 100% of what their car can do....
FYI they also use coil overs in off road rallying. :ihih: Also said you can dial them up (adj.) them to be soft and raise the car height with them. :idea: Shocks and Springs all only have one setting and I would never buy Koni FSD's. FSD stands for: F-ing Stupid Design :lol::devil: Koni makes good shocks but the FSD's are garbage.
I'm not an expert on coil-overs or coil-unders & don't play one on M/A. That being said I just have to stick my .02 in here. Yes rally cars use quite sophisticated coil over set ups. I'd guess one corners worth would be worth more than my MINI. I don't think any off the shelf affordable coil-over is any where near tough enough for rough road use. One other thing is using a coil-over in the corroding winter conditions will make them un-adjustable in short order. OP paid someone $150 to fix a loose screw on his airbox. Don't think he's going to be under his MINI cleaning coil-overs to keep them adjustable. I may be wrong, but that is my take.
That is exactly why I use this stuff on my coil overs, inner outer tie rod ends and anything else that is exposed to harsh Winter conditions that include road salt. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007US3YGM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.theruststore.com/Fluid-Film-P179C67.aspx?gclid=Cj0KEQjw7vmgBRDdnLPZp7aBlroBEiQA7_NmV0YaATrRNU9UIXRN6gDSb7kt7wjh0Y-OFHBsrpiJqCkaAjZE8P8HAQ
