I'm potentially looking at an R53 MINI Cooper S equipped with the base ST suspension from ECS Tuning. My concern is that it will ride like a buckboard and I'll end up buying something closer to stock to replace it. Anyone have any experience with ST Suspension systems, even on other vehicles? Is the ride rough?
Free bump for you.
I ran ST on one of my Golfs (a long time ago). It was pretty good, I have no complaints and actually thought the quality, both construction and ride, were quite good. Certainly were better than the racelands my most recent VW came with... The springs should be standard 2.5" I believe, so if its too stiff, they are easy to swap out. You also need to pay attention to how the previous owner set the height. A lot of problems with coilovers from some people are that they run them too low, too short of a spring, or both. What ends up happening is that you have very little suspension travel before your either on the bumpstop or getting coil bind.
On I forgot about this. They're the lowest budget option of the kw range, basically just base kws built with worse/cheaper materials. I don't know much about minis but if both ends of the car are typical suspension layouts I'd think they'd be fine. I had a mixed experience with the set I had, but one end of the car was a very very compromised suspension setup. The end that was just a typical strut layout I was generally pretty pleased with. Like above, don't run them super low. The good news is the coilovers probably have lowering built into them already. I think I was running right at the top of the recommended height range and that was still like an inch lower than stock.
The info at ECS Tuning indicates the ride height can be reduced from 0.8" to 2.0", so I would be cranking them up to that 0.8" setting. My current R53 is on Koni FSD shocks and stock springs. It's fine like that for my usage, I don't need lower, harsher ride.
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