MELO-R56 Posted February 23, 2018 Report Posted February 23, 2018 Hey gang. Does anyone in the club have skills with coilover installation on a MINI Cooper R56 S? I'm purchasing a set of Megan Racing Euro Street 2's and wanted to know if anyone has done coilovers on their MINI. It seems like a reasonable job for DIY, but I don't have the knowledge or tools to pull it off on my own. After install I would take it to get a proper alignment. Any insight is appreciated. -STEVE 2009 Mellow Yellow MCS, JCW Aero Package, JCW intake, JCW Steering Wheel, NM Engineering strut tower brace, Nvidia Q300 Cat Back Exhaust, ST XTA Coilovers, Madness Motorworks 22mm Adjustable Rear Sway Bar, GP2 Rear Diffuser, Powerflex front control arm bushings, R112 Black Challenge Wheels, Bridgestone Potenza Tires
1975_mini Posted February 23, 2018 Report Posted February 23, 2018 coilovers are very easy to do yourself, all it requires is a jack, jackstands, and a metric socket set. Its actually less work than sport springs because you do not have to take the strut apart or rear sway bar because you are not dropping the subframe. I can always lend a hand and the tools. Looking at your breakdown I see you have koni shocks now, do you have adjustable rear control arms. if you plan to lower the car much more than stock the stock control arms do not have much adjustment to remove the increased negative camber in the rear? 1975 Mini 1000, 998cc A+ w/ K&N air filter, 10" Mamba wheels
wyretrip Posted February 23, 2018 Report Posted February 23, 2018 3 minutes ago, 1975_mini said: take the strut apart or rear sway bar because you are not dropping the subframe. 2 minutes ago, 1975_mini said: I see you have koni shocks now, do you have adjustable rear control arms. if you plan to lower the car much more than stock the stock control arms do not have much adjustment to remove the increased negative camber in the rear? 1
MELO-R56 Posted February 23, 2018 Author Report Posted February 23, 2018 Corey. I will also be getting the H-Sport adjustable rear control arms. https://www.waymotorworks.com/h-sport-rear-camber-links.html Do you recommend getting adjustable sway bar end links for the front as well? https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-adjustable-swaybar-endlinks.html I have a garage, couple of jack stands and a torque wrench, but otherwise I'm lacking a bit in the tools department. Let me know what you would need from me for your services? Once I've sourced all of the necessary parts, I'd be looking to do this by April at the latest. Thanks! -STEVE 2009 Mellow Yellow MCS, JCW Aero Package, JCW intake, JCW Steering Wheel, NM Engineering strut tower brace, Nvidia Q300 Cat Back Exhaust, ST XTA Coilovers, Madness Motorworks 22mm Adjustable Rear Sway Bar, GP2 Rear Diffuser, Powerflex front control arm bushings, R112 Black Challenge Wheels, Bridgestone Potenza Tires
Gearhead60 Posted February 23, 2018 Report Posted February 23, 2018 I'm not sure who does it in Northern Virginia, but after doing the coilovers I would also get the car corner weighted, especially if you are going to track the car or run autocrosses. Someone like GT Peace might be able to do it. 2017 F54 ALL4 Clubman S "Beer Wagon" Digital Blue Sport Package w/ LEDs & cornering lights, Premium Package, Cold Weather Package, Stealth Mode, 6-Spd. Manual Trans, Vegan Leather, Cravenspeed Short Shifter w/ Yoda Shift Cap, NM Engineering 25mm GT rear Swaybar & End Links, Chassis Bones Braces, Mirrors that fold w/ the push of a button, Spare Tire.
GreenCactus Posted February 23, 2018 Report Posted February 23, 2018 PTuning can do the alignment when you're done. They can also do the install if you decide you don't want to DIY. They installed Ohlin coilovers on Michael's Roadster and did a great job. 1
1975_mini Posted February 23, 2018 Report Posted February 23, 2018 1 hour ago, MELO-R56 said: Corey. I will also be getting the H-Sport adjustable rear control arms. https://www.waymotorworks.com/h-sport-rear-camber-links.html Do you recommend getting adjustable sway bar end links for the front as well? https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-adjustable-swaybar-endlinks.html I have a garage, couple of jack stands and a torque wrench, but otherwise I'm lacking a bit in the tools department. Let me know what you would need from me for your services? Once I've sourced all of the necessary parts, I'd be looking to do this by April at the latest. Thanks! -STEVE Steve, nothing needed always willing to lend a hand 1975 Mini 1000, 998cc A+ w/ K&N air filter, 10" Mamba wheels
1975_mini Posted February 23, 2018 Report Posted February 23, 2018 Good choice on the control arms. As for adjustable endlinks, it depends how low you plan on setting it up, more than two inches and you should probably get them. Nothing required for my time, I will bring whatever we need tool wise it really is basically just a couple sockets and an Allen key. 1975 Mini 1000, 998cc A+ w/ K&N air filter, 10" Mamba wheels
Gearhead60 Posted February 24, 2018 Report Posted February 24, 2018 2 hours ago, Gearhead60 said: I'm not sure who does it in Northern Virginia, but after doing the coilovers I would also get the car corner weighted, especially if you are going to track the car or run autocrosses. Someone like GT Peace might be able to do it. Keep in mind that an alignment is different than having the car corner weighted.... https://robrobinette.com/corner_weight.htm 2017 F54 ALL4 Clubman S "Beer Wagon" Digital Blue Sport Package w/ LEDs & cornering lights, Premium Package, Cold Weather Package, Stealth Mode, 6-Spd. Manual Trans, Vegan Leather, Cravenspeed Short Shifter w/ Yoda Shift Cap, NM Engineering 25mm GT rear Swaybar & End Links, Chassis Bones Braces, Mirrors that fold w/ the push of a button, Spare Tire.
CarlB Posted February 26, 2018 Report Posted February 26, 2018 I have done a lot of this type of work and my MINI has coil overs. I would highly recommend PT tuning for the alignment. If your goal is to autocross or track the car, I would recommend camber plates. The stock camber settings might be good for tire life, but they limit the amount of cornering force. I have and use my wheels scales to corner balance my car. If you are not autocrossing or driving on a track, I would spend the money on something else. You can change the way the car handles by adjusting the static weight on each wheel. The way the magazines describe corner balancing they are trying to get the cars handling balance in both left and right turns equal. A Mini of any other production car is going to have more weight on one side or the other and therefore it will corner in one direction better than the other even after you set the wheel weights. What you achieve is the same understeer oversteer balance right to left turn because you eliminated cross weight. Think of cross weight as a tables four legs being the four tires on your car. If one leg is slightly longer the table will distribute more weight on that leg and less weigh on the leg on the opposite end and opposite side. It is important that the ride heights be set very carefully. If you do that, most of the bias the wheels scales would dial out will be eliminated and you will be close enough. Wheel scales are a very good tuning device, and there is no one way to set the wheel weights on a race car. Lots of front wheel drive race cars set the wheel weights equal with the driver in the car because late braking (and having both wheels doing equal work) is critical to lap times. They sacrifice the corner balance in right and left turns for better braking. I balance my autocross car with me in it so I do not have any cross weight but I tune the understeer oversteer balance by raising and lowering the rear ride height. The wheel weights give me a more precise measure of my set up than ride height. If you want to corner weight your car you will need adjustable sway bar end links. To do the job correctly you set the wheel weight with you or equally distributed weight in the car and the sway bars disconnected. Then you hook up the sway bars with out changing the wheel weights. Doing that without adjustable end links is almost imposable. If the front sway bar pushes down on the right front, when it is attached, it changes the corner balance. 1
ucf3 Posted August 15, 2018 Report Posted August 15, 2018 oh, sorry, haven't been on the site lately. I did coilover on my mini back in march. huge difference. 2k10 Mini Cooper S (R56) 6sp, Coilover suspension, K&N Intake, Alta hotside, Stoptech Rotors, 17" white wheels w/ Conti DW, and resonator delete, S42 turbo upgrade, upgraded intercooler, tuned 250whp. 2k9 Lexus RX350 AWD, Classic Metallic, Sirius radio. 2k8 Audi R8, 4.2, Silver Metallic, StaSis Exhaust, MPSS tires, Sirius radio (Totalled) 2k14 Audi R8 5.2 Suzuka Grey, Larini Exhaust, MPSS tires, Sirius, K&N Filters w/ silicoln sleeve and tuned.
