[Stephymonster]

Hey everyone!

My gf has an 02 MC and really wants to lower it. She's okay with spending a few hundred dollars but the grand required for struts and springs are a little high. I've read tons about springs on this site and think we're going with the H-Sports. My question is this:

Will aftermarket springs damage or increase wear to the stock struts?

I know that for my car (tsx) there have been many cases where people will throw on aftermarket springs and within a year they'll have to get new struts due to the difference of spring rates.

Any help you can shed on the topic would be much obliged - thanks!

[pocketrocketowner]

Won't affect them at all.......shocks or struts last to 50K miles with some semblance of dampening......you REALLY should change them after that, regardless.

[cpearce]

Typically when you install aftermarket springs on a car with stock shocks, you're fine. But, after about 10,000-15,000 miles the stock shocks will be less effective. The main reason this happens is from the stock shocks not having as much rebound with the aftermarket springs. Hsport are probably the best spring for this reason. They didn't lower the car more than an inch for a reason. They found out that the stock shocks in front don't like a spring that will lower them more than 1 inch.

My wife drives our MC too and she didn't want a harsh ride. I plan on installing the h sports for this reason. The Eibachs are good, but they didn't take into concideration the stock front shocks of the MINI.

So all in all......With the hpsorts, you'll be less likely to do harm to your factory shocks/struts. Although, the Eibachs would probaly be fine too.

Do the springs and later on down the raod, after the stock struts are waisted...buy some Koni adjustables. You can set it to soft on all for corners and have a better quality ride than you did stock. If your g/f still has the runflats, you may change them out to standard tires, so you don't have a harsher ride.

You're on the right track with the hsports!