Springs or Rubber

[DaveShreeve]

Originally Posted by hawaiianblue

I agree, there was a fad of making everything in poly, i tried some polly rocker cover gromets they melted after 8 miles of driving! Quality branded polly bushes on the engine stabiliser split and failed after about a month. It now seems to be accepted that polly isnt as good as rubber for absorbing shocks and vibrations, and it doesnt have the heat resistance, which is why car makers still use more expensive rubber. Great for anything that gets soaked in oil or for suspension bushes were very little give is required.

Best use of poly I've experienced so far is the Minispares tie bar bush kit. Hard poly on the front to keep everything under control during hard braking, rubber on the rear to allow suspension movement.
Haven't heard of tie rod fails with poly on minis but the first generation fitted to Range Rovers caused the pins of the suspension arms to fail. Axles only located on one side and a 3 foot cast bar bouncing about under the car don't bear thinking about! They did give a hint though - they knocked the rear suspension ball joint out every 3 months!

[Graham Bichard]

Originally Posted by DaveShreeve

Regards the Minitastic units, these are the same height as a standard cone but to be on the safe side use an extra spacer between spring and subframe at the rear to get the spring into it's optimal range. As to use, the jury's still out. Pluses so far - work straight from the box and haven't required suspension readjustment since fitting, performance near as damn it to bedded in new cones. Minuses - non as yet, but they've only done about 3000 miles.

You might've just sold me on them, Dave!

[snoopy64]

No minuses and no vote so far!

[snoopy64]

Ok so 256 views but only 6 votes!
Just vote for what you have, it's as simple as that.....

[PatMarshall]

Just noticed this thread and would like to offer my opinion. Six months ago I redid my suspension on my MK1 and went back and forth about using the coil springs or original style rubber springs.

A friend of mine some years back used the coil springs on his Mini and loved them, but warned there are a few things that one must do when fitting these type springs.

For starters it's best to use the Hi/Lo kit that the spring mfg. makes specifically for these springs. These help keep the coils seated and stops the springs coming loose or unseated over rough roads. Also the mfg. makes the little wedge bumps that sit between the upper arm and the subframe. These are made out of poly and are taller, which keep the springs from coming loose when you jack the Mini up.

To my knowledge there is only one coil spring mfg. that enthusiasts on this side of the pond use. http://www.sracer.com/catalog/catalog.htm

So, after reviewing costs and installation I decided to go with the original type rubber springs from Mini Spares. http://photobucket.com/Patsgraymini2009

A few weeks ago another friend of mine decided to go the coil spring direction and after we installed these I was quite impressed with the ride quality and handling with these. http://photobucket.com/jeffmmini We also installed some rather expensive brakes on the front also.

I don't think you can go wrong with the coil spring setup. But it is important to use all the bits that are made especially for these. And again, these are the only coil springs that I know about, if someone is making knockoffs, good luck, as I have no info on who or where.

For me, I'm happy with the rubber springs. It's been a long time that I've actually been able to ride in my dry Mini that actually have suspension movement. And my decision was based with cost in mind.

[hawaiianblue]

KAD brakes - have those on mine, actually i fitted some of their rear camber brackets this weekend. Collected them myself from the factory, they're only just down the road.

I agree with you about using the adjustable trumpets supplied with the springs, what bothers me about these though is they always make the springs to fit the 'cheap hilos' rather than make the spring seats to fit propper hi-lo's. The cheap ones are just so heavy! The Japanese Delta mini ones supply quality hi-lo's but they are very very very expensive!

Since this was originally started, i've been running the fast-road uprated minispares rubber in the front, and they are a little firmer, but they haven't sagged any noticable amount in about 4 months. Rears i went for standard Rover/moulton rubber.

[Graham Bichard]

Anyone see those Japanese poly 'rubber' cones in one of the mags a while back? Mini World I think. If they didn't deteriorate like the rubber ones, they could be the alternative answer!
Anyone know where you can get them from/how much they are?

[hawaiianblue]

W&P used to sell them a few years ago. They may have been developed a bit more since then, but it's well known that Polly is nowhere near as springy as rubber. So i would imagine they'll be hard and not too progressive.