Have bought some Hilos and new wheels and thinking that the donuts will also most likely need replacing. What are peoples thoughts on rubber v spring conversion and where is the best place to buy them?

dont know about springs , i feel my new springs are binding too easy, not much i can do about it unless i make my shocks stiff then its a train ride

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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying "Damn...that was fun!"

A lot of people will shout loudly about fitting coil springs and how superior they are but they seem to go quiet when the springs...

1 Fall out.
2 Snap.
3 Sag
4 Tip sideways and bend the high low
5 Bottom out then tip sideways, sag, snap and then fall out.

Yes , the coil spring kits are for race cars or boy racers or people who like the exercise of switching from donuts to coils and back to donuts , just stick with donuts just plain donuts , I know you can get Competition donuts but the plain donuts are just fine , if you can find some original Dunlop donuts even better, donuts you know it makes sense

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Having owned and used a set of springs I wont be going back.
The only way they will fall out is if you have your hi-los wound all the way down. Also good new shocks. basically the normal stuff whenever modifying the ride in any car.
And they only snap if you buy the shitty chinese ones, Go minitastic and you'll be fine.

Having said that they aren't coil overs, and the mini suspension setup is less than desirable especially with the donuts. Springs are just a good way of making the best of a bad situation.

I am yet to see any tangible evidence of springs failing (which only says maybe I don't spend enough time on mini forums) all I know is mine are great and I haven't had a problem and Ive seen nothing but rave reviews about minitastic coils, In fact the only bad things Ive seen have been on ausmini which seems to be very cynical about anything new these days.

Do a search here on coil springs and you'll reads of other's experiences with them and, as 74snail has said, change back to donuts. I'm pleased kirby that you are happy with you're Minitastc ones, however, even these do not and cannot provide the same sprung travel as the donuts do. The Mini front end has around 6"of travel, which ain't much, fitting springs further reduces that. Even Spring Engineers has who have looked at this for me have said ''ever thought of using rubber?". The only way I can see that coil springs can be successfully used is to lengthen the top arms, which in itself, bring on it's own set of problems. Also, springs cannot provide anything like the progessive rate that the donuts do.

No, I am not against coil springs, not at all, however, the day that it can be successfully done, I'll be the first to buy a set.

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just played around with my settings under the car, took a spring out and jacked the wheel up to see if there was anything stopping it from hitting the arch, well i found the gaz adjustable shocks are the problem, bottoming out 12mm before the tyre hits the arch, so it look like the springs are fine the shocks dont compress enough,

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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying "Damn...that was fun!"

Got springs in both my cars one on 13s one on 12s awesome never going back to cones.

And the falling out is a load of crap, buy the minitastic kit nothing else.

Umm, the falling out is not a load of poo poo. It has happened. Really it has.

Bottoming out adjustable shockies is a big issue.
I have seen what it will do to a car when cornering hard

Always get the lowered type.

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Too many cars, and too little time.

Under normal driving condictions hitting big potholes in the 2 years so far and everyday driving not once have they fallen out and I now have them on my swift gti mini and it's pumping out good power and same thing again no problems.

The comfort over cOnes is so good, its better then cones.

They only way it could dislodge or does is when you jack up the car really high and let the bottom arm be disconnected from thr shock leavibg it at full droop it will be loose.

So there is no way that will happen while driving, i hAve hit massive pot holes and no drama.

One thing i don't miss is the teeth clenchng when coming unto a big bump train tracks or a expansion joint in the road.

I'm just giving a honest opinion, I'm sure they can fall out but I have never see it happen witht he mini tastic kit, it's the only kit mini magazine say to fit.

I have seen problems with other springs though cracking subframes etc.

One thing I can say once you fit springs you will newer ever ever go back to cones.

I would go the fast road kit, if you like the car really high and drive like miss daisey get the town ride kit.

Like anything there is a risk as the lads have said but lots of people have had not one problem. For one problem there is many that have been fine.

It's like saying the a series is crap and blows up all the time and is
Un reliable.

Well it's not, if set up incorrectly it could be. Set it up right it will be fine.

One disadvantage is on the rear you can get some body role, it really pends what you want? If you are racing stick in some yellow or red cones.

Good luck. Let me know if you get the springs

My brother had springs on his car and they kept bending the hi-lo threaded rod, or bustin the top of of his subframe) (kept cracking)

I would suggest stay with doughnuts.

If springs were better BMC woulda fitted them. They did have springs in the 60's

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from memory i think your brother bought some random green ones that he had no idea what kit there were from or spring rate even.

a few people are running springs now from mini tastic and no problems.

as i said 2 years in no problems, remember get minitastic springs only they are made for the mini from japan originally & were designed for the rover jap minis.

http://www.minitastic.co.uk/

I am still not sure if I need them or not, but has anyone had any experience with the ones from Huddersfield as that is where i got my HiLos and don't really want to get a new set of them from Minitastic if I go down that road?
Cheers james

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1962 Traveller with 1275LS engine

Just stick with what works. Go with minitastic, theyre definitely an improvement over donuts. But still not as good as hydro.

And youd be able to buy them without hilos, but may as well get them. They are cheap.

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Simplify and add lightness