1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Oversteer and understeer where is the balance?

^ Very sound priorities! :yesnod:

I agree with all of the above.

 

I like mine as it came from MINI, maybe a 19mm rear bar in the rear with 3 adjustment holes to find the setting I like best. I don't want a race car just a quick twisty road car that instills confidence as I'm not running at 10/10ths. all the time.

 

Interesting.....

I'm doing a rear sway bar here in a few weeks. This thread is very informative.

 

Thread worth bumping with summer and autocross season in full swing... remember to back off the tire pressure and rear bar settings before driving home!

 

I'm trying the next step next weekend--an inch wider rim up front, same tire size.

 

Friend of mine did that, impressive difference. Can lead to a bit of 'tramlining" as the wider rim picks up the tire ruts, but it's easily handled. Also makes the tires themselves look so much more aggressive.

 

Funny you mention that--I put the tires on this weekend to check for any rubbing issues, took a quick spin around the block, and on the highway, and the first thing I noticed was the tramlining, even on regular roads. The second thing I noticed was the braking was better, even on cold tires.

I would not want to run this setup on the street though, following every nook and cranny in the road grows tiresome very quickly on a daily driver.

 

"The one and only" DixonL2 indeed.... (thank God!)

Fun times, and fun TIMES. JasonSMF (who technically is jasonstx now...) was CRUSHING the autocross course, the corner workers where I was (a very technical box-slalom gate corner with a sweeper slalom finish) were complimenting the balance he had in his R53... but as he said, what was "oh so right" on the autoX course wasn't the balance you'd want on the street.

Horses for courses...

 

What a great bunch of info! I have a 19 mm solid bar on my 05 R53 which was originally set it up in the middle hole. Most recently I moved it to the lightest setting after two years at medium. I experienced a positive change in street ride and have learned to appreciate the lesser tendancy for oversteer. It's a subtle change that I'm happy I made.

 

I'm going to be looking for a more oversteer for the gravel stages in Costa Rica. The stages are twisty so the more oversteer the better. I had that with the Swift which was great but took a lot of focus to keep a good pace. With FWD cars on gravel the front wheels tend to pull the rest of the car along depending on steering input and foot to the boards. The main aim is to not steer around the corner but have the whole car slide around keeping the front wheels straight ready to power out. Understeer scrubs of speed and most likely you will be visiting the tree tops on the outside of the curve. Reading here it seems I need to stiffen up the rear sway bar. Is the stock "MCS" stiffer than the MC?

This nice photo shows the Swift taking a left hand corner with very little steering input.