COILOVERS - what's good?

[DavidJCW]

Who got what and do you regret changing from stock?

 

Now that I have the exhaust installed, the next step is coilovers for my F56 JCW.  

 

I have pretty much narrowed it down the BC Racing BR series.  Seems that they are the most popular and best fit for an average price point (not the lowest price, but certainly not the highest).

 

I WAS looking at MEGAN RACING - they are less expensive AND made in USA (oxymoron, I know considering the GERMAN car I drive that was built in the UNITED KINGDOM) but have been steered away due to the lack of reviews and advice from a club member.  But there is also KW, Bilstein, ST, etc...

 

Who runs what?  What have you heard good?  What have you heard bad?  What do you like?

 

Help a brother out!

[1975_mini]

Most people do not regret moving from stock as long as they don’t by Amazon specially and understand the expectation of a performance suspension (I.e normal driving will be a much stiffer ride). 
 

as for Gen3 specifically you are kind of a the front of the curve for modification. I know @twakefield have done some sespension mods to his Gen3 hopefully he can weigh in. 
 

I recently to Koni yellows and I am very happy, but I was looking for a performance strut with adjustable dampening while not interested in ride height adjustment. I already had the OEM up graded JCW suspension so I retained the stiffer OEM springs. I additional changed to fixed -1.5 camber top plates in the front. 
 

@MELO-R56 has used raceland or bc and is currently on Running KW I believe hopefully he can weigh in on the pro and cons of those  

 

OEM JCW upgrade are bilstein b12 on the gen2 I believe, I ran those for serval year and really enjoyed those.

 

KW is the band used by the JCW racing team, in The TCA series. The big thing with there product is know what you are going to use often folks buy the KW3 with all the bells and whistles when they could have saved a lot of money with the 1 or 2 variant. 
 

lastly have you upgraded the rear sway bar yet? Likely your biggest suspension performance complaint at the moment is understeer (“tight for those using NASCAR terms). This is best addressed with a larger rear sway bar. Quality one are around $500 and will have a big change on handling. 
 

most people say this is the biggest change behind maybe quality non-run flats. 
 

all just my opinion, hope this helps

[twakefield]

Sorry for the slow reply  

 

I am running BC Racing Coilovers on my F55 with a (i think) NM Racing rear sway bar.  Love the setup.  I had NM springs on factory shocks for a couple years.  They were OK, but eventually the shocks started leaking and it was bouncy.  The BC coils are great, and fully adjustable.

 

 

I also ditched the run flats and run 2 sets of tires.  Summer only tires on the factory rims, and a winter set on another set of rims.  

 

To complicate the question, on my BMW m235i I run Blistien B16's with electronic dampening control retained to the factory sport button.  And they are AMAZING, but over 2x the price.  So it can be true that you get what you pay for.  

 

Let me know if you have more questions.

 

[DavidJCW]

Thanks guys!  I am leaning towards BC Racing.  I do not have DDC so regardless what I go with, I am going to have to manually adjust.  Not there yet on the sway bar - seems like a pricey modification.

 

I am running Pirelli run-flats for now - they came with the car and are brand new tires; can't justify ditching them when there are other things on the mod list.  When the time comes I will be curiouis to see the difference - everyone says that it is pretty dramatic.

 

I am taking Sluggo up to a local tint shop today to get the windows tinted.  MORE MODS!

[twakefield]

I think you will be happy with the BC's, probably the best value.

 

I didn't think the sway bar is that expensive for what it gains you.  Plus if they are already pulling parts of the car apart, the install is better to do all at one time.  Almost zero side to side roll on my MINI now, set to medium for the sway-bar.

[DavidJCW]

@twakefield, @1975_mini, @MELO-R56 - Answer me this:  Along with the coilovers, any other modifications to keep that geometry of the suspension straight?  Anything like adjustable end links and such?

 

I know Sluggo will need an alignment after the install, but any other suspension components needed to keep the car straight and squared away?

[twakefield]

I am at 62k, only the coilovers and swaybar have been changed for me.

[MELO-R56]

Weighing in here. Keep in mind I'm on the R56 platform, so not sure if everything I mention applies to your F56.

But, to start, there is no better Bang for Buck upgrade than the rear sway bar. DO IT!!! It is the single most dramatic difference I have added to my car that instantly changed (for the better) the way my car drives. On the R56, the stock sway bar is 17mm I believe, and I upgraded to a solid 22mm sway bar (you can go up to a maximum hollow Hotchkis bar at 25mm). The car is SO planted in the corners, corny but true statement of cornering on rails! Zero to no body roll means the car will respond much quicker to driving inputs. It's a game changer!

 

My first set of coilovers were a gently used pair of Megan Racing Euro Street 2's. I wanted to try some out at a good price to see if it was something I would enjoy. I had the Megan's on my car for 1 year and I would characterize them as stiff with not much dampening. There are 32 clicks in the dampening adjustment and I ran them on close to the softest setting and they were still pretty stiff. I wouldn't say they were terrible, but I felt like there had to be better options out there.

I'm currently on ST XTA coilovers. Made by KW and have the same internal dampening as the KW V2's with external rebound adjustment, but for a better price the ST's include top camber mounts (don't get those with the KW's). Everything I read kept pointing me to KW's amazing ride quality and dampening. I'm 1.5 inches below stock height and have ZERO rubbing. The ride is buttery smooth and I have my dampening set in the middle setting and it's perfect. Ride characteristics are subjective, but I have to say these ride better than any stock set up and have never been harsh or too stiff. Honestly no draw backs being on these coilovers other than the occasional steep driveway or speed bump. You just learn to go at an angle to get over obstacles like that. Compared to the Megan's, the ST's are incredible! I didn't imagine coilovers could ride so good at the lowered height that I'm at.

 

I remember being in the place you're in trying to figure out if I wanted to spend the money on something that I could only read about. It's hard to decide when you're reading other drivers subjective opinions on a product. Maybe take a ride in one of our cars to decide for yourself. 

 

Another thing to consider would be to have your control arm bushings replaced as well. The factory rubber bushings that MINI supplies on our cars don't last much past 50-60k miles before they start to wear out. Once you start messing with suspension,  you'll quickly notice how much play your bushings have. I replaced my bushings with Powerflex Polyurethane bushings. Those will last you the life of the car and are designed to never wear out. Highly recommend! 

 

There may be a few other things to consider for your F56 platform that Thomas would know better than me, but I'm confident saying that adding a set of quality coilovers can be a great upgrade. Just be sure to buy good ones and stay away from the cheap stuff!

 

-STEVE

[MELO-R56]

Oh, forgot to add. I did need to get adjustable lower control arms for the rear. On the R56 platform, once you lower the vehicle, the stock adjustability for the rear camber is insufficient. Lower control arms are the only way to dial in your rear camber, which really effects how well the car corners and rolls down the road, plus tire wear. I went with Hotchkis rear control arms as they were rated as the best quality. 

I have it mind to one day get adjustable end links for the front and for the rear sway bar, but so far I've had no issues with the stock ones. If I did it, it would just be to get everything perfect. But as it is, no issues, all good.

The adjustable camber plates on the tops of the front shocks and the rear adjustable control arms are enough to dial in the suspension geometry. You really don't need much else.

 

-STEVE

[Scavenger]

I installed KW V1's on my 2006 about 8 years ago. After trying aftermarket springs with the stock struts, it was a huge improvement in ride quality while getting a nice lowering. Killed all that evil wheel gap!

They've been great until the last year or two, they've been noisy, so I do think there is certainly a life expectancy to coil-overs.  The nice thing is that KW provides a lifetime warranty, you can ship them back and they'll rebuild them, you only pay shipping. The obvious downside is that the car isn't driveable with the suspension removed!  I've considered buying cheapshit struts to install in the interim, but not sure the time and labor is worth it. 

Oh, and as mentioned above, I also have adjustable lower control arms in the rear to account for the ride height change. After getting the coil-overs installed, I took a conservative approach to alignment to reduce excess camber in the rear, and actually removed my Ireland Engineering camber plates from the front.  The result was a nice ride height, a decent ride, but without the running and silly tire wear that can come from "half-assing" a lowering spring install.