Suspension Brakes Sway bar/anti-roll bar

Discussion in 'Tuning and Performance' started by Rangerx, Sep 18, 2014.

  1. Rangerx

    Rangerx New Member

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  2. Rangerx

    Rangerx New Member

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    I'm running a 2007 MC base model no previous mods this will be the first
     
  3. Rawhyde

    Rawhyde Active Member

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    The important thing is to research all of the options and learn all you can.

    Sway bars are a suspension tuning aid. The rest of your setup and your driving style along with your intentions are the key factors.

    On other cars, I've owned over the years, most of them got a set of aftermarket sway bars. Most cars (particularly domestic and asian makes) have sloppy mushy suspensions with WAY too much lean. Bigger is better.

    A MINI on the other hand is a good handling car right out of the box even in its most basic trim. I had a 2005 Cooper S with the factory suspension, and I thought I'd spend a quick $200 and make a vast improvement by slapping on an R-Speed adjustable rear bar. WRONG!

    On some sloppy domestic car, slapping on bigger bars makes a night and day improvement. On the MINI, there was a difference, but it was very subtle. It helped grip and cornering speeds, but not by a whole lot. For the first time, (I'd done this at least a half dozen times on other cars over the years) there was an unintended side effect. If you lifted off the throttle mid corner, the rear would step out about a foot to eighteen inches until some of the speed was bled off.

    I could drive the car safely in the dry, but it made me a little nervous in the rain for several weeks. I also was VERY apprehensive about letting ANYONE else drive it, and the few who did got an extensive warning about what it'd do upon lifting the throttle.


    I almost removed it and went back to stock, but I really didn't want to go through the rigamarole of swapping it back and winding up with the car back like it came from the dealer.

    Lucky for me, I found a dealership selling JCW Suspension and Brake Kits for a deep discount. I bought both, and spent an afternoon tinkering. When I was finished, I had a car that handled considerably better than stock. I can still rotate the car with lift throttle, but now it's much more controllable, and I was able to go to the sway bar's middle setting. (The lightest setting was too much for an otherwise stock Cooper S.)

    Do your springs and shocks first. See what is needed, and tailor your sway bar purchases to tune it to your needs then. I did mine bass-ackwards. I finally wound up with better handling, and I got rid of the excessive understeer like I wanted to, but I did it backwards and drove a temperamental beast for a couple of weeks.

    Get an old muscle car, hang a set of fat bars underneath, and you'll feel like you just discovered a secret law of physics. Try the same tactic with a MINI, and you'll have to chase a proper setup.

    I hung a set of Si bars under a cheap Civic, and the improvement was unbelievable. To add sauce to the goose, the whole cost was ~$250. On a MINI, the same expenditure will net you about a 5% difference....they really are for fine tuning.
     
  4. Rangerx

    Rangerx New Member

    Jun 25, 2014
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    So what made you move to the mini rawhyde ?
    Okay that sounds good man mine does ride very well I keep it in immaculate condition especially because my last car was a crappy little Chevy Malibu
     
  5. N2MINI

    N2MINI MINI of the Month

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    Atleast 85% of the people on here will say to add a rear sway bar as your first performance mod. Maybe half go Full Stiff on it and the other half go to the Middle notch on stiffness and they all love it, and will say it makes a big difference. Do you have to have a bigger sway bar to go quick NO, if you are a top notch driver you can drive a bone stock MINI "quicker" then a bunch of us with modded MINIs. Happens to me at every Auto-x, guy there runs in the stock class, BUT he has been top 6 at the Nationals the past few years, so he wears me out on track.. As rule of thumb you never lift mid corner driving/riding anything at anything close to "full tilt" if your just riding to work no big deal, do it everyday myself because of traffic etc.. I have the 19mm solid bar on Full Stiff for the last 7 years.. amongst other suspension mods..
     
  6. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    Skip changing out the front bar to something bigger on a MINI, it's not needed....
     
  7. BlimeyCabrio

    BlimeyCabrio Oscar Goldman of MINIs
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    The issue with MINIs is, from the factory, they have more understeer than is optimal for performance driving (like pretty much any factory car).
    Two ways to address it: intentionally add oversteer (via rear swaybar), or actually fix the understeer (add negative camber in the front via camber plates).

    Ideally the car can use BOTH - the swaybar is the easiest and cheapest... but the camber plates actually do more to address the handling issue.

    I'm a big fan of H-sport sway bars, due to their zerk fittings to lube the poly bushings (which need frequent lubrication).
     
  8. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    I still have my oem sway bars.... Didn't change them...

    Went with front camber plates and rear adjustable camber bars, and replaced the 4 oem springs with units made by Swift. The springs lowered the MINI by about 1-1/2". Still have the oem dampers.... MINI handles great...
     
  9. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    This is what you want from Hotchkis and you only want the rear bar. A front bar is not needed. I have the Competition (22mm) bar but you can also get the Sport (19mm).

    MINI Cooper Rear Swaybar by Hotchkis
     
  10. CHKMINI

    CHKMINI Club Coordinator
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    Hotchkis 22mm competition rear sway bar FTW.
     
  11. Crashton

    Crashton Club Coordinator

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    If you add a nice 19mm rear bar you'll be asking yourself why you waited so long. :yesnod: It won't make your MINI ride any harder if that is your reason for not adding one.
     
  12. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    Nope.... My eyes started wandering away from MINI's..... Or maybe MINI wandered away from me... Yeah.... That's it...

    This will be my last... Stopped adding stuff to it... I'll keep it for a while as is...

    Waiting to see what the competition will be offering...:eek:
     
  13. Firebro17

    Firebro17 Dazed, but not Confused
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    19mm Hotchkiss bar here. Went from middle to soft setting last year. Ok call Me a softie.....
     
  14. Crashton

    Crashton Club Coordinator

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    I use a 19mm H-Sport / Hotchkis bar too. For me with camber plates up front the balance is very good. I run mine wound tight.

    To the OP if you are going to be driving on snow & ice (Alaska) my feeling is a big comp bar may make your MINI quite nervous in slippery conditions.
     
  15. Rawhyde

    Rawhyde Active Member

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    Back then, I was driving a 1994 Impala SS. It was a fun car, but when I changed jobs, it was killing me on fuel. (After all, premium was going for about $1.30 per gallon)

    I wanted a BMW 330Ci, but I got cajoled into a test drive in a MINI. The MINI really exceeded my expectations. I loved the instant responsiveness of the car.

    At the time, I was a caregiver to my mother with MS. The deciding factor was how much easier it was to load her and her wheelchair into the MINI vs the 330.

    There just aren't many cars that are as enjoyable to drive as a MINI.
     
  16. rkw

    rkw Well-Known Member

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    When I bought my '06, I went with the 19mm H&R because of the claim that their Teflon bushings are lifetime no maintenance, no lubrication. It has proven to be true so far after 9 years, 85K miles.
     
  17. Stefanie

    Stefanie Well-Known Member

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    I thought about upgrading my rear sway bar the same time I did my shocks & springs, but ended up doing what Rawhyde suggested and just going with shocks/springs first to see how I liked that before making any other changes. I was afraid that if I threw in the RSB on top of that, I'd be a little overwhelmed. This way I can see what each little incremental change is doing to my MINI. :)

    That being said...even though the shocks/springs did improve my little Bug Eater considerably, I still want the RSB. Now I just need to find a slave that will install it for me for some beer & pizza, since I just spent a buttload of $$$ on my exhaust. :p
     
  18. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    That may be true but you do not really have "Weather" in Cali. :lol:

    The OP is in Alaska.
     
  19. Code3_Mini

    Code3_Mini New Member

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    Lots of great info on here. I think one of the things that makes me most apprehensive is the fact that I would equate the Mini to my vast years tinkering with Hondas, in that your basic Civic CX/DX/LX/EX cannot compare to the Si in any way shape or form. Enter the Type R. This car is so finely and perfectly tuned from the factory, that any amount of modification can actually significantly REDUCE your performance, if it isn't done with the correct parts at the correct level of tuning. The Mini's seem to be very similar...they are already a very finely tuned machine straight out of the box, so you really want to do your homework on parts/procedures, and don't be too proud to take the advice from those who know/have been there.
     
  20. Code3_Mini

    Code3_Mini New Member

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    Check with CapCity Minis...it may not cost you beer and pizza though. They may charge you a set of Lambo door hinges and a neon underbody kit :eek:ut:
     

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