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z
MCR Member
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Posted: Wednesday January 16th, 2008 06:09 pm |
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Next stop suspension! I would like to reduce the harshness of the ride on my X reg Classic Mini Cooper without upsetting the driving experience. I was wondering if anyone has fitted the Minitastic Fast Road Coil Springs and with which gas shocks?
If not I would like your opinions on which set up is best.
Z
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hanlminiman
MCR Member
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Posted: Wednesday January 16th, 2008 06:55 pm |
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| Check out AVO shocks.
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hawaiianblue
Member
| Joined: | Saturday June 2nd, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 202 |
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Posted: Wednesday January 16th, 2008 09:06 pm |
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Just fit new rubber cone springs. Rubber by it's nature becomes hard with age and loses it's springyness.
If you're car is on it's original cones, chances are it's sitting on the bumpstops at the front.
Really i think the cones have about a 5 year service life regardless of milage.
I was amazed at the difference to mine when i fitted new cones, the handling didnt suffer at all, but the ride quality was equal to that of a modern car.
GENUINE Hi-Lo's (exclusive to mini spares) improve the ride too as they have a wider seat for the rubber cone, i suspect they'll also be kinder to the springs.
The coil springs should be a good fit and forget replacement, however you have to make sure you get properly made ones, i think the originals are made by S-Racer, a friend of mine fitted some cheap ones, which were fine until they got metal fatigue.
Uprated Dampers wont make any difference to the ride if your springs have collapsed. Niether will they improve the ride even with fresh springs, but they will improve the handling greatly.
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z
MCR Member
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Posted: Wednesday January 30th, 2008 06:24 pm |
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Sracer springs has been mentioned but I understand that there is a company in Cheltenham - Mini Tastic~(or something like that) that sells their own make. Can anyone recommend a type which is value for money? I also noticed that Mini Spares do a set but I have heard stories re inferior copies and so want to be sure.
There are three types going from soft road through to racing and I wonder if anyone has any experience of the differing types?
I don't race and I use my car weekly - the longest trips tend to be shows in the summer. I don't want to end up in a bouncy castle, neither do I want a back breaker!
I've decided that I'm going for the springs instead of rubber as a long term solution but advice is what I would appreciate re make and type.
Z
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midlife
Member
| Joined: | Thursday January 31st, 2008 |
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| Posts: | 2 |
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Posted: Thursday January 31st, 2008 11:31 am |
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Fitted minitastic fast road springs to wifes 12" Cooper just before xmas.They uually supply them as a kit with mini spares hi-los.They reccomend GAZ adjustables which have 32 way adjustment.
Does make a LOT of difference I set these up with a fairly standard ride hight and 8 clicks on the shockers gives a firm compliant ride gets rid of all that crashiness you tend to get with cones. Also you dont get the high front look that you get with new cones which sometimes take ages to settle.
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snoopy64
Member
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Posted: Tuesday May 6th, 2008 05:35 pm |
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How long to fit a new full set of rubber springs would you say??
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hawaiianblue
Member
| Joined: | Saturday June 2nd, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 202 |
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Posted: Tuesday May 6th, 2008 08:57 pm |
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Well it depends who's fitting them and how much practice they have.
I'll assume you're going to fit them yourself.
You should get it done in a weekend even if you've never done it before. Also you should fit new knuckle joints and cups at the same time, it will save work in the long run.
The rears shouldnt take more than a couple of hours, it's fiddly getting the rubber boot back over the knuckle joints and can take patience. You'll need to remove the rear dampers for access, which means moving the fuel tank out of the way for the passenger side.
There are a couple of methods for doing the front ones. You can either remove the top suspension arm and fit new cones or you can lever the cones out with it in situ, the later isnt recomended for concours cars. Taking the top arm out is a lot more work so i've never bothered with it. There is a knack to getting the cone in the right possition to pop it out, but i suppose it should only take around a couple of hours per side for the front, you'd probably get the second one done in an hour.
So even being relaxed about it and taking your time it's less than a weekends work.
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Graham Bichard
Member
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Posted: Wednesday May 7th, 2008 08:33 am |
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Word of warning though snoopy, when I did the rear ones on my 99 car last year I could not (tried soaking in penetrating oil, big lever etc!) seperate the rubber cone from the trumpet on either side!
I ended up hacksawing through the ali trumpet at an angle (12" hacksaw, using about 3" of the blade due to space - it was okay on one side, a pain in the other cause I had to use my 'goofy' hand!). Not too much of a problem as I was fitting adjustable suspension at the same time, but still time consuming.
I thought it would take me about a weekend as hb says, but ended up doing the fronts quite quickly, the rears I started, discovered the problems and ended up finishing off the following weekend.
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Andrew1967
MCR Member
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Posted: Wednesday May 7th, 2008 03:31 pm |
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If the cones won't come off the trumpets then we use a 3" wide cold chisel and hammer to seperate them.
When refitting, make sure all parts fit together without having to knock them together (clean up with a file and/or emery paper) and copper slip everything so it comes apart easily next time. Same applies to the knuckle joints where they enter the trumpets.
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hawaiianblue
Member
| Joined: | Saturday June 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 202 |
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Posted: Wednesday May 7th, 2008 04:05 pm |
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Of course fitting genuine Hi-Lo's improves the ride too (wider spring seat), so you can just take a chisel to the side of the trumpet and snap it in half, then just bin the whole lot.
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snoopy64
Member
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Posted: Wednesday May 7th, 2008 05:57 pm |
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Thanks folks, almost wish I hadn't asked!! Was hoping to stick with rubber and hoping that new ones would improve the ride but springs are tempting!!
Here goes anyway...
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hawaiianblue
Member
| Joined: | Saturday June 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 202 |
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Posted: Thursday May 8th, 2008 05:32 pm |
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Personally i'd go rubber, you know where you are, you know the quality of the ride and the quality of the product, (ie i think you can only buy Dunlop ones).
Coil springs are great in theory, but some have reported lousy ride and handling. I personally know of someone who had them colapse after a couple of months normal use. So i think the consistency of manufacture is called into question on coils. Although if you buy them from an established reputable company then at least you have some come back on them.
I was tempted by the coil spring route, but was swayed back to rubber by the questions over coil quality.
Of course if you want a real project and the ultimate ride, you can buy a smashed Citroen C5 and fit the Hydractive system (i dont seriously recomend attempting it!)
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snoopy64
Member
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Posted: Thursday May 8th, 2008 07:35 pm |
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| I think I'm with you on this one hb and as for the Citroen idea.... well I'm not ready to break out the sea sickness tablets yet!!!
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DaveShreeve
MCR Member
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Posted: Thursday May 8th, 2008 09:17 pm |
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hawaiianblue wrote: Personally i'd go rubber, you know where you are, you know the quality of the ride and the quality of the product, (ie i think you can only buy Dunlop ones).
Caution, see here: http://www.calverst.com/CC110F.htm
Copying is easy, getting something that works needs more knowledge. Rubber or steel needs to come from a seller with a reputation to protect.
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hawaiianblue
Member
| Joined: | Saturday June 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 202 |
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Posted: Saturday May 10th, 2008 03:09 pm |
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Well they are clearly rubbish ones.
It does say they're foreign pattern part ones though, not 'fakes'
So i guess its a question of buying Dunlop ones from a reputable seller, where you can get some comeback.
I disagree about Calvers comments about the only suspension being the tyres though. Basically if the cone collapses then you end up sitting on the bump stops, which are rubber buffers themselves, ok its still not good, but tbh most minis on the road sit on the bump stops after the cones are 5 years old, thats why the suspension goes so hard.
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