It's supposed to be four hours to fit and two hours allocated to a 4-wheel steering geometry alignment, making six hours in total. That's according to the official dealer fitting instructions.
JCW Suspension - install time
Hi all,
I have a 09 MCS on order with delivery in a couple of weeks. I have sourced the parts of the JCW Suspension kit in England at a great price compared to the Swedish market (about £ 300 less) so my plan is to have the parts shipped to me and have a local MINI dealer fit it.
Thing is, I'm a cheap ******* so I need to have some sort of idea of how many hours (and sterling) they might charge me for the fit. Could those of you who had the kit fitted please post (or PM) time and £ spent on installation?
I'm considering having the job done in England in connection with MINI United should the bill be to heavy in Sweden.
Best regards,
Robert
I have a 09 MCS on order with delivery in a couple of weeks. I have sourced the parts of the JCW Suspension kit in England at a great price compared to the Swedish market (about £ 300 less) so my plan is to have the parts shipped to me and have a local MINI dealer fit it.
Thing is, I'm a cheap ******* so I need to have some sort of idea of how many hours (and sterling) they might charge me for the fit. Could those of you who had the kit fitted please post (or PM) time and £ spent on installation?
I'm considering having the job done in England in connection with MINI United should the bill be to heavy in Sweden.
Best regards,
Robert
1 - 8 of 8 Posts
Thank you Roma. In your experience, does dealers tend to stick with the suggested time frame or is there great margin of appreciation?
I'm not sure dr Dunkel. I have got a fixed price for the JCW Sports Suspension from one dealer in the UK. Basically he has given me a good discount on the parts and labour, including the 4-wheel steering geometry alignment. It's worth shopping around and getting a fixed price for parts, labour and VAT but make sure that the dealer has good experience in steering geometry alignment otherwise your car is likely to handle much worse after having the kit fitted or you may not be getting the best out of it!
I took the trouble of going to meet the service manager and checking out their workshop facilities, including the equipment they use for the alignment and spoke to the technician who will be fitting my suspension kit and aligning it. He seemed very knowledgeable.
I have also insisted on a printout from the alignment equipment after the wheels have neen aligned to show that the alignment has been carried out to specification.
I took the trouble of going to meet the service manager and checking out their workshop facilities, including the equipment they use for the alignment and spoke to the technician who will be fitting my suspension kit and aligning it. He seemed very knowledgeable.
I have also insisted on a printout from the alignment equipment after the wheels have neen aligned to show that the alignment has been carried out to specification.
Thank you!
I have just ordered the parts of the kit from Chris at Woodman BMW. I'm currently shopping around for a good deal on the installation here in Sweden so your input is much appreciated.
I have just ordered the parts of the kit from Chris at Woodman BMW. I'm currently shopping around for a good deal on the installation here in Sweden so your input is much appreciated.
Just had a quote of 7 hours work. Seems fair.
I've had my JCW Sports Suspension installed this week. It has transformed the car! I made a big point about the wheel alignment to my dealer and have a printout from their KDS machine showing that the wheels are aligned correctly.
I've only driven around 50 miles so far and it still has the factory JCW Challenge wheels with Dunlop Sport SP01 runflats. The car feels very planted on the road. There is little or no tramlining on lane 1 of motorways. The steering is quick and very responsive.
The car seems to hug the road much better than it did before. Poorly-surfaced roads are handled much better with far less crashing around of the suspension. The suspension is hard but not as hard as I had thought it would be (when compared to Porsche suspension for example). It's perfectly usable on the roads and is actually better than the factory sports suspension in terms of ride quality.
It's a strange mix of a firm but controlled ride over bumpy roads to superb cruising on motorways and then minimal body roll on bends and B-roads. I also have the JCW strut brace fitted so this probably helps too.
I was very sceptical of much improvement considering the cost of the JCW Sports Suspension kit but it has made a significant difference to the car if you are a keen driver. If there's any criticism of the JCW Sports Suspension it is that I would have preferred it to be a bit firmer!
I've only driven around 50 miles so far and it still has the factory JCW Challenge wheels with Dunlop Sport SP01 runflats. The car feels very planted on the road. There is little or no tramlining on lane 1 of motorways. The steering is quick and very responsive.
The car seems to hug the road much better than it did before. Poorly-surfaced roads are handled much better with far less crashing around of the suspension. The suspension is hard but not as hard as I had thought it would be (when compared to Porsche suspension for example). It's perfectly usable on the roads and is actually better than the factory sports suspension in terms of ride quality.
It's a strange mix of a firm but controlled ride over bumpy roads to superb cruising on motorways and then minimal body roll on bends and B-roads. I also have the JCW strut brace fitted so this probably helps too.
I was very sceptical of much improvement considering the cost of the JCW Sports Suspension kit but it has made a significant difference to the car if you are a keen driver. If there's any criticism of the JCW Sports Suspension it is that I would have preferred it to be a bit firmer!
Just one other point of note with the JCW Sports Suspension: i've had no issues whatsoever with speed bumps of any kind nor with awkward, steeply-angled driveways. This was my one big concern about getting the JCW Sports Suspension but no scraping noises so far.
Mind you, I do slow right down to 2-3mph when going over speed bumps. It does annoy drivers behind me who want to fly over them but i'd rather protect my car.
Mind you, I do slow right down to 2-3mph when going over speed bumps. It does annoy drivers behind me who want to fly over them but i'd rather protect my car.
1 - 8 of 8 Posts
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