Are you talking about the JCW one or strut braces in general? I assume its the JCW one?
A good strut tower brace (Ideally welded / no pivot points) helps keep the wheel geometry the same under lateral load, especially with cars that flex. I don't know the flex characteristics of the clubman or what you are trying to do. But outside of engine bling (which is nice) if the car is stiff you probably won't see a bid difference unless you drive twisty's alot. It will not help with torque steer. AEM Makes solid braces.. but they can be a PIA to install. I had to modify mine a little to get it to fit. Also if you have a different cold air intake, you would need to account for that.
I have a set of strut tower reinforcement plates for an R53 that won't be in use much longer. I don't know if they will fit your car, though, but I have them on all my Gen 1 MINIs and have never had any mushrooming problems with them on.
Agree 100% that a real one is welded in.. next best option is solid (not bolt together or with hing points) i.e. solid. A few articles below. The one with the best factual data is the bimmerworld one. However that was performed on a race car with a cage. So the test data, proves essentially the comment I made above, if the car is already stiff it won't help much outside of engine bling. That said, they didn't test with one on, only with one off and the car was already much stiffer than a street car. Also, that braces on older cars probably add value compared to new stiffer cars.
Ultimately, results will vary. I can say on my 88M5, my solid brace (and lower chassis brace) made a big difference in the feel of the car during hard turning. Did it make it faster... no idea. My gut says the BMW Mini chassis is stiff, so value will be much less when compared to an older car.
I was talking about the JCW bolt on strut braces and all bolt on ones general. They really do nothing at all except give people a placebo affect of “it feels tighter now”. It does nothing at all, especially if it’s multi-parts bolted together like M7’s and many others sold.
A real strut bar is welded in and a solid brace that is part of the frame structure and rigid.
Like x 2
