What do you know about Ground Control strut tops? I want to adapt a pair of these for the MINI. Digging through the MINI boards, it appears they did offer a product at one time, but I could not find it on their website.
How are these mounted to the shocks/struts? Can you use any bottom that fits your car? How do these work for daily driving as well as spirited driving? How do they work on gravel and in snow?
Any and all feedback is appreciated.
Jeff
Odd... given how complete thir offerings for BMW's are, I'm surprised they don't list anything for the MINI.
Are you referring to camber plates? If so, they bolt to the top of the struts like on most cars.
Unlike the E30, which has the spindle and spring perch as part of the lower strut housing with a separate strut cartridge, the MINI uses the more common set-up where the entire strut assembly goes into the spindle carrier and is held in place with a pinch bolt.
I've installed camber plates for Helix and Ireland. The former were more race-oriented with a solid bearing mount that made the street ride brutal. The Irelands have been their fixed versions which we like (I've installed a bunch of these). Those are basically heavier OE strut mounts (E46, apparently) welded to a MINI-specific top plate. These have no detrimental affect on ride quality and have definitely helped with tire wear when the car is driven aggresively.
I'm confused too, are you talking about the spring top-hat or something else? If it's the top hat it's just an aluminum cone with a hole in the center for the strut to pass through to mount to it's mounting point, and a machined lip on the underside for the coilover spring to sit and stay seated...
I know at least this much as the used GC kit I bought for the XR4 turned out to be for the rear of a Honda Accord and I was missing the hats, $50 later I had them from GC...
Sorry, I'm talking about the sprint top hat that goes on a strut/shock. Though I will be adding camber plates.
Basically I'm trying to get a better suspension setup than stock, but need to keep the ride height and travel of stock. I can even afford to increase ride height a bit.
Then I recommend the Ireland fixed plates. Good compromise between performance and ride comfort. They actually raise the car a smidge (like 5mm). One of the cheaper options as well and the heavier top plate help to minimize strut tower mushrooming (we still have Craven plates on top, too).
The end result is front wheel negative camber than more of less matches the OE rear wheel camber. Tire wear has been nice and even across the tread (the car is the g/f's DD).
When you install camber plates, the OE spring pads and perches are re-used.
I used the Ireland Engineering fixed strut tops in my MINI when I mushroomed a tower hitting an expansion joint on the freeway. The strut towers are weak. A chunk of 2x4 and a sturdy hammer will coax them flat pretty easily.
The IE plates fill a greater surface area than the stock mounts under the strut, spreading the load. They raise it 5mm, because they're 5mm thicker than stock. IIRC, you get 1.5 degrees of fixed negative camber, plus whatever you can get at the strut.
These are a preventative maintenance item IMHO.
Nothing is going to make a MINI worth a crap in gravel and snow, between short wheelbase and lack of suspension travel, little ground clearance. Not saying it can't be done, but mine wasn't stellar over anything other than smooth pavement. Probably want to shield the PS pump/fan if you're going over a lot of gravel.
Thanks for the feedback, I'll check out Ireland stuff.
I actually like how my car handles in the lose stuff. Pretty easy to get the back end to rotate with throttle and LFB. Yes, I need to get the skid plate. I know it won't be stage rally ready, but it should do fine on fast TSD's.
What do you guys like for struts and springs? My OE stuff is tired.
Coilovers might be better. Get some additional ride height. For a direct replacement strut, you can't beat Koni. The problem is getting at the adjusters in the rear of the MINI. IE..you can't.
I'd love to find a coilover that preserves or increases ride height. Almost all of them cut ride height a bit even at full extension (10-15mm, or about 0.5 inches).
You'll probably need to call either Ground Control or AST and talk to them about what you want.
We're running Koni FSD's with the original R53 Sport Pkg springs. JCW springs are a bit stiffer and don't lower the car much.
Another weak point in the front suspension is the LCA bushings. The OE ones don't last long before they start puking oil (I've seen them go in under 10K miles). Powerflex makes a poly version that I've installed in a number of cars (I have a special MINI tool that allows me to do it on the car and can replace both sides in a couple of hours or less if the owner doesn't help).
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