76 replies to this topic

[1275john]

i cant see why it would be a problem.

hi i finaly got around to fitting the smootha ride cones i told you about now ive only fitted the front 2 and kept standard trumpets the car has koni adjustble shocks,
now on the test drive the car was aful , to bumpy the car was bouncing ova every hole it came to.
due to the fact i havent dun the back yet the front is in the clouds while the back looks to b slammed.

how long would u imagin itle take for the cones to settle and would it be worth ditching the konis for standard as u can c from the picks its pretty darn high i hope it wnt stay like that . eb thanks .

[Mini_Magic]

hi i finaly got around to fitting the smootha ride cones i told you about now ive only fitted the front 2 and kept standard trumpets the car has koni adjustble shocks,
now on the test drive the car was aful , to bumpy the car was bouncing ova every hole it came to.
due to the fact i havent dun the back yet the front is in the clouds while the back looks to b slammed.

how long would u imagin itle take for the cones to settle and would it be worth ditching the konis for standard as u can c from the picks its pretty darn high i hope it wnt stay like that . eb thanks .

That's exactly what mine were like when I first fitted them, don't worry they will settle to a more sensible height in a few weeks.

From what I've heard it's the shocks that really make the difference to the ride, might be worth either adjusting your Koni ones or buying some new ones.

[THE ANORAK]

well if you kept the standard cones in the front then you NEED to change them to adjust-ables. because of the extra height of the smootha ride front cones you must not use them with standard trumpets.

that's why your car looks the way it does and that's why its handles so badly. your shock absorber looks like it's fully extended, this is going to damage something !!!


also, I'm going to try some different/softer standard shock on mine this weekend, I'm doing the front and if that makes a difference I'll do the rear as well.

should be interesting to see what happens

Edited by THE ANORAK, 25 January 2008 - 11:02 PM.

[Mini_Magic]

also, I'm going to try some different/softer standard shock on mine this weekend, I'm doing the front and if that makes a difference I'll do the rear as well.

That's exactly what I'm doing this weekend, spooky.

[THE ANORAK]

also, I'm going to try some different/softer standard shock on mine this weekend, I'm doing the front and if that makes a difference I'll do the rear as well.

That's exactly what I'm doing this weekend, spooky.

i bet it's not exactly what your doing

I'm going to take the softer ones off alice, if they work well with the smootha-rides then Dominic's new but stiff ones will go on alice and I'll get him a full new set of standard ones



(Alice's rear ones got buggered when i took the sub-frame off )



I'm also removing Dom's brake disc shields as the other one has broke now, cant be bothered to keep fixing them. you doing that ????

Edited by THE ANORAK, 25 January 2008 - 11:18 PM.

[THE ANORAK]

right then, after fitting a pair of standard shocks to the front a couple of weeks ago i finally got a pair on the rear today.

now that I've got standard shocks all round its a lot closer to how the proper smootha ride kit should be.

I've not driven it yet but I'll keep the topic updated over the next few days

[THE ANORAK]

just been out in the mini with a full load of kids in the back.

well the softer standard shocks do seem to have calmed the rear end down a little bit.

the slightly stiffer shocks that were on it would allow the smootha rides cones to soak up the big bumps but seemed to prevent them from taking the vibrations out of the small ruts in the road.

I'll test it out with just me in it tomorrow and see how it is with less weight in the back. also see how much it rolls round the faster corners

[Spitz]

Hello, new here and this was my the first thread I've read through. Very intresting so far. Any updates from anyone?
Thanks

[THE ANORAK]

ooh, this is an old one, anyway, glad people are still finding it interesting.

i hadn't really given the ride much thought lately to be honest. i guess the one thing i could say (again) is, these special cones dont seem to give the amazing improvement that they claim to. i really think you would notice a bigger improvement if you invested in a set of 165 tyres, and its so much easier to do.

[Down&Out]

ooh, this is an old one, anyway, glad people are still finding it interesting.

i hadn't really given the ride much thought lately to be honest. i guess the one thing i could say (again) is, these special cones dont seem to give the amazing improvement that they claim to. i really think you would notice a bigger improvement if you invested in a set of 165 tyres, and its so much easier to do.

so would that improve both handling and comfort? i wouldnt mind myself a set of fancy tyres but all the grippy ones wear out WAYY to quickly.

[THE ANORAK]

well I'm not really sure about the comfort of the 165 tyres, but the improvement in handling makes the car a lot nicer to drive.

I'll have to have a think about this next time I'm driving the mini, I've driven it very little over the last few months and my attention has been focused on the differences made by fitting an extra engine steady.

as said before, the car now has standard shocks all round but is also back on the thin 145 tyres (yes my yokos are now too bald to use)

ride height looks like this.....



I'll have to take it out with my mind on the ride and handling so i can do a propper update to this topic

[taffy1967]

ooh, this is an old one, anyway, glad people are still finding it interesting.

i hadn't really given the ride much thought lately to be honest. i guess the one thing i could say (again) is, these special cones dont seem to give the amazing improvement that they claim to. i really think you would notice a bigger improvement if you invested in a set of 165 tyres, and its so much easier to do.

so would that improve both handling and comfort? i wouldnt mind myself a set of fancy tyres but all the grippy ones wear out WAYY to quickly.

I'm running on the new type asymmetric Falcon 165/60x12 tyres and their a big improvement on the older designed directional Falcons.

I don't know how they'll fair on wear though, but the older types seemed to last at least as long as the basic 145 tyres.

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

good work cheers

[THE ANORAK]

well i was driving the car the other week, just me in it, and came to the conclusion that it does roll a little more than standard cones. when its fully loaded it stiffens up a lot. but you can still chuck it into the corners.

speed bumps are still an improvement and rutted roads are more comfortable but the still gets thrown around on big bumps, but i guess its too light not too. again this would improve when fully loaded.

i guess if your car is full of people all the time these cones would be better, but if your just on your own you may not like the slight lack of stiffness.

[Mini_the_Minx]

ooh, this is an old one, anyway, glad people are still finding it interesting.

i hadn't really given the ride much thought lately to be honest. i guess the one thing i could say (again) is, these special cones dont seem to give the amazing improvement that they claim to. i really think you would notice a bigger improvement if you invested in a set of 165 tyres, and its so much easier to do.

so would that improve both handling and comfort? i wouldnt mind myself a set of fancy tyres but all the grippy ones wear out WAYY to quickly.

All depends how you drive to be honest. Yes they do where I out quicker than budget tyres and they are a much softer compound. But I had Yoko's on my 165/60/12 and they were on for about a year and when I took them off a few days ago, they stilll had about 5mm of tread.

Anorak, I understand you had to take the top arms off, is it worth putting my negative camber in at this time as my new cones, Hi Lo's and Koni's are going in today or should I wait, is it a pain in the bum job?