Cones have squashed. They do this over time, apparently the newer ones
are worse for it too.

Put new cones in and (assuming nothing else is worn, reducing the ride
height) it will sit at the height it did in the showroom when it was
new.

I can't see how anyone could describe the original design intent as
"unnacceptably high".

Of course you can.

Hi-Los will allow you to disguise the problem of sagged cones, but it
doesn't actually fix the problem. If all you want is normal suspension
at the normal height, just buy a pair of normal cones and have them
fitted.

Your mechanic is correct about the initial set of the cones but in the
long term the Hi-Los aren't necessary.

Anytime you change or remove/replace cones the ride height will be
higher than it was before the change. Once the parts work into place
the ride will drop a bit. I usually allow about 3/4" but it's hard to
predict. This initial settling doesn't take long maybe a week or two,
or a few hundred miles. Rough roads will settle it faster.

New cones also have a secondary settling called creep. This is a
movement of the rubber itself as it takes a set under the pressure of
the weight of the car. This takes longer. If you look a pictures of
Minis in a dealer showroom they always look like the ride height is
too high. Alex Moulton's original tests showed that the inital creep
settled out after about 400,000 cycles and then changed by about half
the initial amount over the next 40,000,000 cycles. These tests were
done on an automated test apparatus running continously over a period
of three years until the cone failed.

Personally, I would have the Hi-Los installed along with the new
cones. Hi-Los make the installation of the new cones a bit easier and
should save you some money on labor. In the long term it will make
trimming the ride height much easier and enhance the value of the car.

Cheers,

Kelley

It wouldn't do any harm to fit hi-lo's to your car while fitting new cones.
I fitted hi-lo's to the rear of my year 2000/X mini seven then levelled the
car out so the back wasn't as high as the front.  Looked much better.

I would strongly advise that you also fit new knuckle joints to your car
while fitting new rubber cones, regardless of the apparant condition of the
ones on your car.  They are cheap, ?4-5 each?.  But the labour to fit them
(esp on their own) is huge. Fitting them while having the cones done will
add 5-15mins to the whole job, max - depending on how hard the old ones are
to remove.

Sorry to point out something obvious if you've already allowed for it!!!

;-)

chris