25 replies to this topic

[Cooperman]

If you fit softer springs of any type you will be creating a new problem whilst ameliorating an existing perceived one. Then that new problem will need to be sorted which may lead to other issues.

The bare facts are that the Mini was designed with fantastic rubber cone rising rate springs to cope with road surfaces and conditions.

It is the short travel of the suspension which makes the ride seem bumpy. So if a rubber cone spring with a softer initial rate is fitted, then the rate must be higher and it must be harder towards the end of the compression to prevent the suspension hitting the bump stops. A car won't steer or have good traction with the suspension on the bump stops!

One thing which can be done is to raise the ride height a bit which allows more available travel. Then the dampers need not be quite so hard and the suspension will be slightly more compliant. It is possible to skim a bit off of the bump stops, but that can cause an issue with the hubs and is not advised.

Anti-roll-bars (anti-sway bars across the 'pond') are difficult to get right. A rear ARB is not suitable for a road car as it promotes over-steer which is fine for improving 'turn-in' under full power on the race track, but on the road it's simply unsafe.

The best option is still the original specification cones, as sold by Mini Spares and made from the original tooling, with Hi-Lo's to set the ride height and adjustable dampers to optimise the damping front to rear.

In the end, the Mini has its suspension travel limitation which cannot be overcome, only minimised.

[RobbieP]

Just trying to get a feel.

So why did you fit Hi-Los?

Do you know what they do as well S alowing you to adjust ride height!

They stiffen up the spring rate.

Going back to standard cones would give you a better ride. Trim them to get the same ride hight if you want the look.
 

 Car came over from Japan, where(as I've been reading)the hi-lows were fitted as a dealer option. It's currently still at standard ride height. 

 

To try to answer your original question, I've no direct experience of the Moulton kit but a mate of mine at work fitted it to his wife's everyday driver mini city a few years back and said it did make a noticeable improvement to the cars comfort, but did make it roll more through the corners.
There's also a good informative thread on here somewhere in the product reviews section by somebody that actually fitted and ran the Minitastic springs for a while and liked them a lot.
It is a difficult choice due to the expense and difficulty of changing it all round again if you fit something you find you don't actually like when you've finished!

I'm not too bothered about a bit more roll on this car. As I said it's just my daily run around as I have a vtec car for fun on the weekends.

 

I'm thinking of exploring the 10 inch wheel route. I like the look and will obviously give a softer ride for least effort. The dampers where replaced last summer and the cones look like they're in good shape. I'm up for trying anything at this point. 

 

Thanks for the good info gents! 

[Cooperman]

Of course, 13" wheels are about the worst choice in terms of ride quality as the sidewall, which with the classic Mini is a significant part of the suspension, is far too short of depth.

So to really start to improve ride quality change to 10" wheels. It may be all that is necessary.

[fenghuang]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 13s to 10s is not a minor change.
As I understand it you'll need to change the brakes, and possibly the speedo gearring and the final drive (unless you can keep the same outer diameter of the tyres, which I've always had the impression you couldn't). I've got a feeling the arches are bigger on the later 13 inched cars too.

I'm not suggesting it's not a good idea in terms of handling, and Cooperman will probably be able to counter all my points, but I don't think it's a trivial change to make.

[Cooperman]

You only need to change the brakes for the 7.5" discs and 'S' calipers.

The speedo and gearing are all virtually the same because the rolling radius of a 175/50 x 13 is virtually identical to the 165/70 x 10. With the 10" wheels the speedo will read exactly 4% faster for the same speed, which is within the 10% tolerance.

The difference in sidewall depths is an additional 28 mm with10" wheels. That is a lot of additional depth to help absorb the bumps without doing anything else to the suspension.

I have a friend who bought a 3-series BMW with 18" wheels. He had a ride in the one I had which had 16" wheels and said how much better the ride quality was. He then bought a set of 16" on ebay and sold his 18" set. The results were remarkable.

My BMW is on 19" wheels (730D) and I wish the wheels were smaller to improve ride on bumpy roads.

[fenghuang]

I knew you could set me straight. (Glad I got one bit right though.)

[Cooperman]

It is a common misconception that with 13" wheels the gearing changes a lot, but if it did, the rear tyres with 13" wheels would not fit as they would hit the radius arm brackets or the arms themselves.

The fitting of 13" wheels was a styling and sales thing which actually degraded performance, especially in the wet or on bumpy roads (as the OP has discovered.

In fact, I reckon that if the OP just fitted 10" wheels with either 165/70 x 10 or 145/80 x 10 tyres the difference in ride quality would surprise him.

The 70% or 80% tyres are a necessary part of Mini suspension design and to fit 50% gives the same degradation in ride quality as these ultra-low-profile tyres on so many modern cars, especially wen they are also 'run-flats'.

[carthorse]

The suspension was raised on the sports pack cars by using knuckles with a built in spacer, a reduced travel steering rack was fitted and the front wings cut back for clearance.
I have seen 10 inch rims fitted to a sports pack but they need to be quite wide with a fair bit of offset to fill the arches without looking silly.

[Cooperman]

Change the wheel arch extensions, or remove them altogether.

A 4.5" x 10" wheel with standard offset doesn't need any arch extension.

[Spider]

 

What would be the best suspension set up for comfort?

 

I'm a little surprised it hasn't already been suggested - Hydrolastic - hands down is the answer here. I have it is some of my Minis (Clubman GTs) and nothing comes close.

 

If you didn't want to go to the trouble of such a conversion, then stock rubber cones and custom trumpets will give a softer ride.

 

As the other guys have said, forget springs.

.

Edited by Moke Spider, 07 April 2015 - 06:01 AM.

[vx220]

Worth borrowing some 12"s to see if that improves the ride enough?
Will fit over the brakes...