MINI Countryman F60 Lift Kit and Bilstein Shocks Upgrade

Name: MINI Countryman F60 Lift Kit and Bilstein Shocks Upgrade
Uploaded: 2026-10-31T16:03:37+00:00
Duration: 17 min 5 s
Channel: Marek Drives in English

00:00this is my 2021 mini countryman f60 it's a facelifted model or lci in bmw speak and in a

00:07moment i'm literally going to be lifting it yes the time has come to give it some more ground

00:11clearance how and why keep on watching to find out

00:31as i'm recording this my countryman is three years old it's out of warranty and that's important

00:36because i bought it with a plan to lift it but then the leasing company said it would exclude the

00:41steering and all-wheel drive system from the warranty which i was not ready to accept i'm not

00:47getting a new car to drive it without the warranty on some of the most expensive elements but three

00:54years later the car seems fine and i decided to go for it if you want to know more about

01:01why i

01:01chose the countryman click the link on the screen and in the video

01:31why am i doing this and what are my goals well the main goal is to improve the proportions i

01:37think

01:38the countryman sits tad too low also the few times i tried to venture off the beaten path i quickly

01:44found

01:44out ground clearance is an issue it was never my intention and still isn't i think to turn this

01:51into a rock crawler but i find the division of light overlanding somewhat appealing and i also hope

02:00changing the shock absorbers will improve the ride mini's go-kart feel sounds good in the ads less

02:07so when you have a crashy ride before i visit the workshop i want to set some benchmarks to better

02:16understand how the lift affects the car i'll start with a simple fuel economy test i'll drive around 20

02:24kilometers on a dual carriageway with the cruise control set to 120 kilometers per hour

02:29it's 10 kilometers one way 10 kilometers another which should give me a reliable figure if the

02:35entire wltp cycle is just 23 and a quarter kilometers 20 should be enough right

02:43and i'm going off the dual carriageway and the result is 7.3 liters per 100 kilometers

02:50that's at 120 kilometers per hour because now as i'm slowing down

02:54the result is improving obviously but uh yeah 7.3 is uh the realistic 120 kilometers per hour result

03:08the next test is ground clearance now according to specification the countryman has 16 and a half

03:14centimeters ground clearance stock um i have cut some wooden blocks from 15 and a half centimeters

03:24so uh let's see what's the real deal

03:48okay so i have quickly reviewed the gopro footage and it seems that if

03:56the ground clearance is really 16 and a half centimeters it's probably somewhere like right

04:02in the middle under the car but in front we have this kind of faux skid plate thingy and

04:10uh yeah this is where uh this is where all the blocks fell including the uh 15 and a half

04:18centimeter one so

04:21yeah i really wonder if this lift is going to change anything i mean now i'm aiming for at least

04:2715 and a half centimeters

04:29under the engine when we do the lift bravo mini bravo i mean come on this is not an off

04:36-roader

04:38okay now i'll try to measure body roll i'm using a simple inclinometer like you'll find on an off-roader

04:46it basically tells you when you're about to roll over so first i'll drive along this bend at 50 kilometers

04:56per hour

05:00okay and i think i'm seeing

05:0415 less than 20 but uh let's see let's see the close-up replay from the other camera

05:24and now i'll break with full force from 50 kilometers per hour so that's uh pedal to the metal

05:37okay i think we're off the chart so that might not be uh the best result but still i have

05:44some

05:45benchmarks and now it's time to roll up the sleeves and do some real work which um nobody really cares

05:54about my lift kit is nothing big these are just two centimeter spacers made by a german company called

06:01delta 4x4 as far as i know they supplied the lift kit for x-rayed which i was supposed to

06:08originally

06:09install meanwhile when i arrived at the garage i saw another lifted countryman this is a two inch lift

06:16by a us company called m7 tuning i was considering it but i wasn't ready for the hassle of ordering

06:24parts

06:24from the u.s to europe also my lift will be somewhat more subtle the garage working on my countryman

06:34is

06:34called motosynthesa and it is headed by a friend of mine psomek safrański who's a big off-road fan a

06:41mechanic and a polish automotive tv personality his team quickly disassembled and reassembled my suspension and

06:49didn't mind me filming them they're used to their boss filming his project in the garage it took

06:55about four hours to do all four corners and it would have probably been even quicker if i didn't ask

07:01them to slow down so that i could set up with the camera also they had experience with the two

07:06inch lift

07:07a couple of days earlier so my two centimeter spacers were a piece of cake

07:13why am i not doing this myself well because i don't have the place or the tools i watched some

07:19youtube tutorials and i quickly realized this was way above my pay grade it's also a two person job

07:25with at least one of them knowing what they're doing lifting the rear will require putting in

07:31two elements one spacer goes under the coil spring to compensate for the new shocks higher travel

07:37and the other spacer goes on top of the rear strut mount as the actual lift in the front we've

07:44got

07:45macpherson struts where the spring and the shock absorber are bound together the spacer will be

07:51installed between the strut mount and the strut itself however since we're replacing the shock absorbers

07:56the mechanics will also have to partly disassemble the bottom part of the suspension disconnect the

08:02control arm and the stabilizer bar link and then using a special tool compress the spring to remove

08:08the strut also while they're in there they'll look at the strut bearings on top this is what they found

08:14on the blue countryman they were working on a couple of days earlier one of the bearings is completely gone

08:19so if you ever hear some suspicious suspension noise but coming from under the bonnet it could be the

08:27the strut bearings mine are fine while working on my car the mechanics asked me a lot of questions to

08:40which i did not know the answers i asked the delta 4x4 and bilstein if these are the right parts

08:46and

08:47this is all i knew fortunately there were no hiccups no missing parts no need to replace anything

08:55watching mechanics at work you learn to appreciate how replacing one part may require a complicated

09:01disassembly to get to said part this means having the right tools and the know-how so you don't end

09:07up

09:07breaking stuff

09:53after messing with the suspension i had to fix the wheel geometry that's a bit more advanced than simple

09:59wheel alignment the mechanic installs these reflective targets on wheels and there's a bunch of cameras which

10:05follow the dots the computer knows the appropriate angles for various car models and the mechanic

10:10adjusts the angles and the distances in the suspension it takes about half an hour maybe 45 minutes

10:16and in poland it costs about 60 euro

10:19what about the looks well to an untrained eye this is just a stock countryman but when i look at

10:27it i see

10:29there's a bit more clearance in the wheel arches also when looking at the car from the rear and from

10:34around the front fenders you can make out the yellow bilstein shocks it's subtle but those who know

10:41know this is no longer a stock car and just to make sure i'm not hallucinating i repeated my measurements

10:51okay and here's the result from my second or actually third fuel economy run it's 7.7 liters per 100

11:02kilometers

11:02uh on a 20 kilometer stretch of dual carriageway at 120 kilometers per hour now i did a sort of

11:11pre-run before i had my geometry adjusted and it was also 7.7 however now it's warmer it's windier

11:21so maybe it's like 7.6 doesn't really matter it's uh pretty much uh pretty much the same

11:27um anyway uh obviously the lift has cost me money to do and uh it's also uh it's also going

11:40to cost me

11:41in extra fuel i'm going to put into my car but come on this is what cars should be all

11:48about they should

11:49be about fun they should be about pleasure they should be about uh being what you like them to be

11:55if you want your car to be super efficient and to just take you uh home and to work back

12:03and forth

12:03that's fine but if you want your car to kind of stand out to look cool etc then you know

12:10it's gonna

12:11it's gonna cost you some money but i think it's uh it's well worth it um i'm enjoying myself thoroughly

12:19next i checked the ground clearance as i found out before lifting the car the lowest point

12:25is under the engine there's a soft felt like engine cover down there which i'm going to replace

12:30with a metal skid plate i found one and i know it's going to be at least as low anyway

12:36currently

12:37i knocked down a 17 centimeter peg before the lift i knocked down even the 15 and a half centimeter

12:44peg

12:44so it all checks out i also reversed over the pegs and it seems that under the middle of the

12:52car

12:53i have about 19 and a half centimeters ground clearance while the braking pitch result is

12:58null and void i can feel the car dives a bit more upon braking now and what about roll in

13:05the corners

13:06well sorry for the sun but it's early in the morning it looks like it's the same 15 degrees

13:13so it seems i only made the fuel economy worse and the diving upon braking thing but did i improve

13:22anything it's been a month since the lift during this time i drove about a thousand kilometers and

13:29this is what i found out now finally my countryman is comfortable the bilstein shocks and more suspension

13:36travel means no more hitting bump stops on rougher roads i mean i just raised the limit raised the bar

13:43but it's just much better than what it used to be on the roads i know for example here on

13:48this forest

13:48road now i get it bmw and mini focus on m and jcw packs but my plan for the countryman

13:55was always to

13:55make it more comfortable hence the smallest stock alloys and the thickest rubber possible however stock

14:02shocks seemed to be geared more towards the go-kart driving fund and comfort and that was one of my

14:09problems with the countryman so that's fixed okay i improved the ride but has it impacted handling nope

14:17when i was on a business trip i took a scenic route along some twisty roads which badly needed repaving

14:24at least in some places and with stock suspension i'd have to slow down with the lift kit and the

14:29new

14:29shocks i could enjoy every corner maintaining a brisk pace and keeping a smile on my face i also went

14:37off

14:37the beaten path a couple of times nothing challenging just to see if the two centimeters extra ground

14:42clearance make a difference and yes they do and i'm already planning some maybe overlanding adventures

14:48trips for the next season for now i'm buying some basic gear so i don't end up like with the

14:54defender

14:55by the lake in a couple of months i'll do a separate video about what i bought and how i

15:00use it to get

15:01out of trouble now as far as the looks are concerned my countryman may not look drastically different from

15:08a stock car but i know what i'm looking at and i like it the proportions are just right the

15:14two inch lift

15:15mini i saw at the garage needed much more mods in my opinion so mine is just perfect

15:28and an unexpected but welcome positive change it's easier to get out the two centimeters extra mean a

15:36slightly different knee angle and i just find it more comfortable and how much did this project cost

15:44well the delta 4x4 lift kit costs about 660 euro the bilstein shocks were supplied by autodoc who

15:52sponsored the polish version of this video but normally they would cost about 120 euro a piece

15:57and finally szamek was kind enough to do the install for free but normally it would cost about 400 450

16:05euro to

16:06have it done at his garage so a big shout out to motosynthesa garage for sorting me out if you

16:13need your

16:13car serviced or repaired in warsaw check them out i'll link them in the video description am i happy

16:18with the lift project yes the car looks better in my opinion it rides better it's time to start

16:24planning adventures and what do you think should have i left the car stock slammed it or given it

16:29even a bigger lift and did you do any mods to your car i'm very interested to find out let

16:35me know in the

16:35comment section below if you like my sarcastic down to earth and possibly mildly amusing car reviews

16:43join me every friday at 3 pm central european time and don't forget to subscribe and like this video

16:50as it helps me move the youtube algorithm thanks for watching and i will see you in the next one

MINI Countryman F60 Lift Kit and Bilstein Shocks Upgrade

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