Reviews

Rating: (5/5)

Reviewed by: Gareth Nichols

Date: July 2009

I’d heard good things about the coil spring conversion, and had read a great deal about how this would improve both the ride and handling of my Mini, but I still remained unconvinced. The rubber springs were designed for the car, and would therefore take some beating in my opinion. As one of the rear springs on my 2000 Mpi then had the cheek to collapse, my hand was forced. Do I replace the spring, or go the whole hog and look at the conversions? After I had investigated my options, I went for the spring conversion offered by Minitastic. Costing £246, it wasn’t the cheapest option on the market, but the design is excellent and included height adjustable cones and springs. After a very helpful phone call, the purchase was made (including some Gaz dampers!) and the whole lot arrived very quickly, and well packaged.

Minitastic offer three different varieties of spring - Town, Fast Road and Race.

I opted for the ‘Fast Road’ version, as I wanted some level of comfort and

support. The description of the Town spring as ‘like the ride of an early 80’s

French car’ put me right off those. I hate early 80’s French cars. The Race

Spring seemed a little too short tapered for my driving style, so I went for

Fast Road.

So now all that remained was to fit it to my car….

Having dealt with Mini suspension components before, I was fairly confident to have a go myself and fit the lot. This proved to be a relatively easy task - once I’d removed the original Rover items which were seized in place!

The springs fit easily in place, and have a poly spacer for the rears. The adjustable trumpets are also easily fitted in place, and fit well to the knuckle joints. The whole lot has a very solid feel about it - the feel of a quality product.

No problems to report during the fitting, other than watch out when setting the ride height on the adjusters. I set them far too low to start off with, although they are very easily adjusted on the car.

So what are they like?

I was honestly amazed by the difference. True, my rubber springs were original to the car,

and being 10 years old they weren’t in the best of conditions. The springs are so much more

comfortable and responsive. Much of the harshness is taken out of the ride - no more

jarring over bumps and potholes. There is very little body roll either, and cornering is superb!

I must say that I am now officially a coil spring convert, and would definitely recommend the

Minitastic conversion!

Tel / fax 01451 824249 email sales@minitastic.co.uk