[adrianpowers]

Hi all,

Been thinking about lowering my car with either coilovers or springs. A friend said Swift springs (a japanese brand) was quite good as it lowers the vehicle within the each vehicle’s usable stroke as well as being just as comfortable but also offers better performance. They say on their website that they have less coils too for increased responsiveness. But after checking the website i don't think they make for Mini.

http://swiftsprings.com/graph/swift_vs_other.gif

So what other brands make good springs? What i mainly want is to still maintain a comfy ride, but lowered and increased handling if possible. Also dont wanna damage the shocks or anything like that.

[REDHOT CHILLI COOPER]

If your looking for a lowered look with a comfy ride plus better handling then go for Eibach.

Progressive rate gives a more compliant ride than the SS+ suspension I had fitted, lowers the car by 30mm (but be patient, may take a week to settle), handling is much better and work well with standard shocks.

I would certainly buy them again if I changed the car.

[Richard Crofts]

I would suggest avoiding KW -35mm as they are rock hard, and very low for the road (if you have speed bumps etc, especially on 215/40 tyres and aero kit!)

Having got KW on my car and driven eibach cars with similar wheel/tyre set-ups I can say the KW are slightly better for cornering, but the ride suffers a lot. The eibachs gave almost as good in the corners but with a lot less spoiling of normal ride comfort. Am thinking of getting some Koni FSDs and seeing if they can help soften the ride a fraction on the bmpy straight bits. If not then I am seriously considering moving to Eibachs instead

No nothing about swift springs so can't help there, sorry.

['COOPERMAN']

So are we saying that eibachs are the best to go for? Will these springs damage the standard cooper shocks?!

[Fu Manchu]

Sticking my kneck out I would say that most of the members running lowered cars are running Eibachs or KW springs. Personally i'm running Eibachs, and am very happy.

As for damaging the stock shocks the theory is that they may wear out quicker. This is down to the fact that they have a reduced travel so the section of damper that is used is used more. Don't know how much the lifespan of the damper will be decreased as i've never had the shocks replaced on any of my cars.

[OJwerks]

from my experience with many other cars (mostly benz, vw and bmw) I have to agree that eibach offers the best setup when talking about "steet comfort" and runing stock shocks...... but the reason I personally dont like eibach is because the cars I have fitted eibach on always appear to sit lower in the back.. or "too flat"..hence if you intend to fit anything (people, bags..etc) in the rear of the car..it will always look lower in the back....... that is why i personally go with H&R in my cars, even though they tend to be a little sitffer.. this time around, I have ordered TEIN "S-tech" springs for our 06' S...... I have used these before on a couple VWs and they seem to be VERY comfortable when runing stock shocks.. and they lower the car 10mm more than the Eibach pro-kit.

[minigolf]

I've been running Eibach on my MCS for a bit over two years. They're great, but don't believe anyone who says the ride is better or no worse than stock. They are wrong.

On smooth roads the handing is definitely better.

On rough roads it is not.

Eibachs give the car a more agressive stance, which is what I was after. I'm happy to live with the other compromises.

[MadUsa1]

minigolf, are you running the 20mm drop or the 30mm drop?

[REDHOT CHILLI COOPER]

Quote: Originally Posted by minigolf (original)

I've been running Eibach on my MCS for a bit over two years. They're great, but don't believe anyone who says the ride is better or no worse than stock. They are wrong.

Personally, even though they are 30mm lower I found them to be a little more forgiving due to their progressive spring rate. But I was running SS+ suspension beforehand which does tend to crash over anything larger than catseye.

Not sure how they compare to standard MINI suspension though.

[MINI-Morgan]

Does anyone know if lowering the car also effects the xenon headlight alignment?

[minigolf]

Quote: Originally Posted by MadUsa1 (original)

minigolf, are you running the 20mm drop or the 30mm drop?

Australian spec R53 Cooper Ss all came with SS+ from factory, so my understanding is the drop with the EIbachs would then be 20mm.

See this post for a comparison between my car and a Jan 06 build Checkmate.
http://www.mini2.com/forum/wheels-ty...ml#post2676814

[minigolf]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINI-Morgan (original)

Does anyone know if lowering the car also effects the xenon headlight alignment?

In my experience the performance of my xenons has not been adversely affected by the Eibachs.

[Meeerrrk]

i'm after a set of eibachs. saw the pics of "minigolfs" before and after pics and i was sold!

[alski]

i have 30mm from ss+ and big glass roof + all the toys and 215/40/17 rubber on ET37 on my mcs
so just about as bad as it gets weight wise
fine as a single seater, 4 up not good and would rather have std set up
in between flip a coin,

on the + side roundabouts are much more fun

i would like to compare with 20mm or jcw set up before making a firm recomendation, but i would guess they would be a better bet unless most of your daily drives are on A1 tarmac
or you have taller rubber or a lighter car than me, or your "billy no mates"

attached is parked on hill, but you will note a visable difference between front and rear clearence even on level ground