Coil Suspension woes

Ere no the BINI will be long gone and forgotten by then.

Taffy

You never know. But for the time being, it is a very popular car. Hey! I thought you were told not to respond to me.

I wouldn't bet money on that. But for the present time, they are a great car.

........................................................... Taffy, there's a difference between being told and being asked, some people just don't understand that,, Don't fall for that one Taff, he's desperate for another round of NG disruption and arguments, Fitzy

Rather...it looks more like you are.

It sounds like the springs are collapsing or are very close to it. This would indicate the wrong spec material was used by the manufacturer. That is a guess.

If possible check the distance between the coils under load. From your description, I would bet that you have only a few millimeters between coils. That would give you about 10 to 20 mm of suspension travel.

Cheers,

Kelley

Off my original topic of my suspension being rubbish and on to that of BMW Mini's, I had to hand the keys back to the Bini that I was lent for work recently, driving 60 miles plus a day i was glad to so aswell. The seats really didnt support me very well and I found myself slouching which in turn gave me bad back, being a near life time Mini driver/owner you tend to drive other cars in the same way, i still chuck my volvo into corners like a bat out of hell and even she manages it as she chucks the back out and you correct the steering and the car regains its course, but when i tried to drive a Bini like a Mini i found the performance unpredictable, leaning into corners was impossible so in turn you either turned to soon into a corner or compensated and turned to late, at speed of course, and thats another thing i found, the car had only 25000 miles on the clock, but lacked the poke i was expecting from a 1600cc engine, i have had more fun driving a Ford Ka or Vauxhall Corsa SXi, pulling away was as if the clutch had failed, i just feel that my mini pulls away far more quickly and revs far more free'er.

"madmax" wrote in message news:r9XZf.13803$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net...

There expensive, overpriced, oversized & overrated, I was sitting at a set of traffic lights & next to me was a BMW Bini Pooper S wanting to burn me away from the lights, Utting Avenue East by Lewisham Road, Fitzy will know the place, the lights changed & the Bini driver raced away with me in hot pursuit, we where neck & neck for a while until the additional power of the New Pooper made it move forwards away from me, up ahead there are 2 large roundabouts ( Broadway) , as the Bini approached them it started breaking & slowing just enough to corner, its huge tyres squealing as it started to loose grip, In true mini classic style, reminiscent of the classic Monte Carlo rally's I went towards the roundabouts hell bent for glory, at the point the Bini entered the 1st roundabout it was 15 metres ahead, at its exit point on the 2nd roundabout I had managed to get past it & was 25 meters in front of it!, once again I wiped the smile from a Bini owner,

Steve,

Enjoying happy moments in a classic mini.

Thats very strange. I've never had an older mini come close to catching up to me, when racing. I have fun losing them on straight aways and corners. Maybe you are dealing with someone who can't drive very well. I am glad that you are enjoying the classic mini, I just got tired of the constant upkeep and went with a new model. My seats are very comfortable and I have greater legroom.

...................................................... I know the area well Steve, people sometimes underestimate minis, and there drivers, Fitzy

Im 6ft7, i have better leg room in my classic, my head kept banging on the roof going over bumps. You say you seem to come off better when racing classic Mini's, just how many do you come across on an average day? Even in the UK im hard pressed to see more than three on a good day, and I live between four Mini specialist garages in a five mile radius!

I,m 6ft2 and had leg room and head room problems with the old mini. Not the new model. As far as seeing the old mini, on the road, never. They were never very popular in the U.S. I have 2 friends that do own them, and they always want to race around. When their cars are running of course.

Well of course the real Mini was never popular as it never caught on in the USA, because back in the 1960's & 1970's, most yanks drove huge gas guzzling monsters the size of the Titanic, plus I've heard that the big American motor manufacturers (Ford, GM etc) back then made it difficult for any foreign company to get a foot hold in America.

So even though the Mini was sort of introduced back in 1960 at the New York Motorshow (or so i'm told), only motoring enthusiasts like say Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood and Mike Nesmith (of the 1960's band The Monkees) took to the real Mini Cooper S (well they knew a real enthusiasts car when they saw and drove it!).

So, three Americans drove the old mini. Not anymore. They realized what a little death trap it was and now have REAL automobiles. Except for Steve McQueen, who really preferred the Ford Mustang. Clint Eastwood now drives a Ford truck and Mike Nesmith is a monkey.

Just the sort of pathetic come back we'd expect from you Marky boy, well as it happens since the BINI was launched in the USA, quite a few original Mini's have found new homes there as American car collectors have had their eyes opened to the wonder and potential of these little cars.

But the fact is the real Mini was never aimed at America, no it was only intended for Great Britain, but the fact it was such a good design and an excellent car all round (as proven by many Motorsport victories), it got manufactured in many other countries around the world due to high demand. Not even the BINI comes close to matching that!

Oh and it certainly wasn't a death trap either as the real death trap it replaced was called "The Isetta" and was manufactured by bloody BMW! And that really was a death trap as all you had was a sheet of glass in front of you, where as in a Mini you had an A' series engine and a subframe between you and the road ahead. No in latter years the real Mini even got an air-bag too amongst other safety features!

Taffy

My late Mini has an air bag and side impact protection, as well as a factory reinforced roof, yes, not many people know about that one! lol It also has gas-fired pretensioned seat belts fitted at the front in the event of an accident, and since 1990 they were all fitted with a shock activated fuel cut off switch, I seem to remember the Ford Pinto of the USA having a interestingly located fuel filler cap, which when impacted against caused the car to explode.....funny Very similiar to the early Bini's, many of them caught fire here and abroad, when the fuel filler nozzles where plugged into the Bini, the cars static electricity would cause the fuel tank gases to ignite, quite a few of these cars where badly damaged or righten off. I also understand that they have had lethal problems with Gearboxes, wrong oil poured into the transmission and handbrake failure.

nasty

Actually, the only air bags in your little cars are you.

Now there is no need for that really is there, we are all here for same reason, our love of all things Mini and each other...