Anorak Corner in Practical Classics - Advice sought please.....

Following the Elf/Hornet Buyers Guide in the March 2011 issue of Practical Classics, the author of the article has contacted me to say that someone from Australia has written in to contradict him.

This is what they say....

"A low ride hieght on a dry car may not be worn-out knuckle joints at all. It's just as likely to be cones that have settled with age. More recent non-genuine replacements seem to squash down within 12 months. The solution is genuine replacements or fitting a set of hi-lo's to allow the ride height to be adjusted. Regardless, if the cones have gone hard the ride quailty will still be bad."

Can anyone confirm or deny this? Mine's hydrolastic so I can't really comment.

Cheers all


Jase

The cone suspension units as mentioned collapse with age and although hi-lo's will sort out the ride height, the overall ride is pretty hard. Even the later genuine Dunlop cones can collapse after 12 months and generally on the drivers side (I wonder why, Um!). If the car is on 10" wheels and using radial tyres then these take some of the harshness out of the ride but the only real cure is either revert back to Hydrolastic or fit aftermarket springs such as Minitastic. I have these on my Mini Cooper and work fine.

I agree with the author of the contradiction. Although knuckle joints are suspect in low riding cars, they usually affect one corner at a time, not the entire car. Worn cones are most likely the issue for a non-hydrolastic car. Replace the cones would be my choice over springs.

I had a bad time with cones and now have Minitastic springs.

My Cooper had bad cones when I bought it so I replaced them with genuine cones. 18 months later it had sagged badly so we put shims in. 12 months later again and we were back on the floor. That was when I gave up and went for springs. They give a better ride and haven't sagged yet in three years.

RobBFG wrote:I had a bad time with cones and now have Minitastic springs.

My Cooper had bad cones when I bought it so I replaced them with genuine cones. 18 months later it had sagged badly so we put shims in. 12 months later again and we were back on the floor. That was when I gave up and went for springs. They give a better ride and haven't sagged yet in three years.

I've heard a couple of cases where the springs have come off.

In my experience the knuckle joints are the first thing I would check, and cones 2nd.

My Skye has become harsh-riding; at the same time I notice how low the front end sits. So I suspect cones.

In the next week or so the engine is being swapped, so while I'm at it coils are going in. That means the addition of hi-los at the same time, so if the knuckles should turn out to be duff they're being changed anyway.

Sorry to continue with the anorak stuff.
I have two Elf saloons, the sporty Red car has standard dry suspension with 4.5 x 10" Minilites, running on 165 Yoko's and genuine Rover cones. I converted over to dry a few years ago and the car height is still the same. The car doesn't get much use but is driven quite hard. The green Elf is standard hydrolastic and runs on 145, 10" Falkens. The Cooper is a late Rover Sportspack with 13" wheels and has Minitastic fast road springs with adjustable shocks.

The green Elf is very comfortable and with the standard 998 engine, offers adequate handling and ride quality.

The red Elf produces 80bhp at the wheels and will cruise at 90+mph. The ride quality is good but not as soft as the green Elf but cornering and general road holding are far better.

The Rover Cooper when purchased had very little suspension and although the knuckle joints were fine, the cones had sunk offering very little movement. I converted this to Ministastic fast road springs and the ride was transformed. Having said that, the low profile tyres are very hard and so the suspension does all the work. The ride is harder than the red Elf but the handling is sharp and direct.
If and when the red Elf cones decide to collapse, I would seriously consider Minitastic springs and shocks. As after market springs, the Japanese Minitastic springs are very well made and finished and are easy to fit.

Later Rover (Dunlop) cones where softer than the original 60's / 70's cones, to compensate for the larger wheel diameters (12" and 13") and consequently don't stand the test of time as well as the original units.

I've heard a lot of people say good things about the Minitastic springs. However, being a willing guinea pig and living a short-ish drive from P&L, I've decided to try theirs out.

TONYELF wrote:

RobBFG wrote:I had a bad time with cones and now have Minitastic springs.

I've heard a couple of cases where the springs have come off.

If you try to run with the car much lower than normal then, if you get airbourne, the arms can come down far enough to let the springs out so I'm told. My wheels were rubbing when I had it that low though. There is a spacer provided for the rear springs where this is more of an issue.

My advice: Just be sensible when you're setting the ride height. I put the springs in and set the adjusters so that there was some pressure on the springs before putting the car down to test the height.

Check out the Moulton Smootha Ride kit by Minisport.
Product Description:
An innovative design developed with the specific purpose to take the harshness out of the Mini suspension, totally transform all Non-Hydrolastic Minis making a great car more comfortable and easier to drive!!

Designed by Dr Alex Moulton of Moulton Developments(the designer of the Mini suspension) who developed, tested and licensed to manufacture Avon VMS for the new front unit: and BTR Coventry for the rear, assembled as a set with the Mini Sport Adjusta Ride, a fully adjustable front and rear Mini suspension system and marketed exclusively world wide by Mini Sport.
Also in my case saves a trip to the dentist after going over speed humps in a Sportspack!