The benefit of lowering your MINI falls into two main categories:
1. The Aesthetics. Lowering your car is a great way of achieving a sportier more aggressive look for those with style at the forefront of their modification process. Close that wheel arch gap for cleaner lines and a sharper style.
2. The Performance. By lowering the centre of gravity of your MINI you unlock a number of handling benefits that we'll discuss further as well as the different lowering methods.
How Springs and Dampers Work.
As you hit a bump in the road your spring is compressed taking up the forces and preventing the driver from feeling the full impact. Without damping, the car would bounce back up again as the spring rebounds leading to an unstable ride.
Dampers prevent this from happening by dissipating the forces and smoothing out the movement after the initial compression. This results in a more stable ride. The damping keeps the tyres in contact with the road surface and the chassis relatively unaffected by the road surface.
Why Upgrade My Suspension?
Lower stiffer springs give you a lower centre of gravity. You'll feel this in terms of the car's agility and more feedback from the road surface. Better dampers will give you greater stability particularly when the car is being driven enthusiastically. They are much more suited to hard cornering reducing body roll and keeping your tyres planted on the road. For track enthusiasts' upgrading your suspension means reliable and predictable handling characteristics and the ability to confidently carry corner speed.
The Main Performance Benefits of Lowering Springs and Dampers
- Sharper steering response
- Better weight transfer
- Less body roll
- Less squat and dive under acceleration and braking.
- Stiffer springs giving a firmer ride and more feedback from the road.
- Lower centre of gravity
When compared to coilovers and air suspension setups, upgrading your springs and dampers is relatively affordable making them a great value performance modification for your MINI.
Which is best Springs and Dampers or Coilovers?
If you want the next level of tuning, control, and customisability, coilovers are the way to go. Coilovers have all the advantages of springs and dampers but for the extra expense you get significant advantages over other suspension types.
Precision in setup is essentially the main performance benefit of coilovers. If you're looking to prepare a car for the track and want to be competitive you'll need coilovers that are up to the job. Being able to ensure equal weighting over all four wheels for example will further increase the stability and predictability of the ride allowing you to trust your MINI and push harder on track.
The Main Performance Benefits of Coilovers
- Precise ride height adjustment
- Adjustable damping
- Corner weighting for a perfectly balanced ride
- Matched components for optimum performance
- Camber adjustment when paired with adjustable top mounts
Is Air Suspension Worth It?
Air suspension generally falls into the aesthetics and comfort category; offering excellent cushioning, reduced noise and vibration and smooth damping for a smooth ride. If it's a luxury feel is what you're after then Air suspension has to be a consideration. At car shows the most commonly seen use of air suspension however is for its low ride height potential. With a tank of compressed air in the back, it allows the driver to lift the car up when driving, up a little more for speed bumps and sit the bodywork completely on the ground when parked up if a slammed aesthetic is your thing.
Air suspension often lacks the performance and consistency of coilovers for the track but if it's right for you then it's most likely the only thing you'll be considering! (Here's our air suspension!)
The Benefits of Air Suspension
- Precise ride height adjustment (eg. Sideskirts on the ground).
- Luxury feel on the road.
Summary
Lowering your car with lowering springs and dampers is an affordable way of improving the look of your MINI and unlocking multiple handling benefits to give a responsive and enjoyable driving experience.
Lowering your car with coilovers, although a more costly option, will give you the flexibility to adjust factors such as damping and ride height that can unlock further performance from your MINI.
If you're looking to slam that MINI then consider air suspension. Favoured for the ability to run the lowest ride height possible but retain the ability to lift the car up for speed bumps, uneven roads or when no one's looking!
Take a look at the suspension options we have available at Lohen:
GEN 1 MINI Suspension
