Suspension Brakes 1st Gen Most liked posts in thread: Rear Sway Bar?

I think H&R uses the same ones....I don't think I have ever heard a complaint about noise!
Good to know the TSW's are the same!!
I have been on the Fence over which bar to get all winter...spring is here and I feel the need to install a sway-bar to go with the tune I have coming!
Thanks for the info folks!

 

How thick is the stock sway bar? Did the JCW Mini's get bigger bars than R53's R50's?

Nick

 

The regular rear bar is 16mm. The sport rear bar is 17mm. The JCW cars did not get a different bar, just used the sport 17mm bar.

 

All R53's came with a 17mm rear sway bar JCW or not, there was never a JCW rear swaybar upgrade for the R53.

For a street car just go with a 19mm Hsport rear sway bar it will make a huge difference in handling.

 

Alright thanks guys...

Nick

 

link to a really sweet ARB....Mini Cooper Adjustable Hollow Rear Sway Bars

 

I read this all the way through and it appears you trade off ride quality for cornering. Is this correct?

Jim

 

A sway bar is one of the few things you can do that doesn’t affect ride quality. A 19 MM bar like Way is suggesting makes a big difference. The car will turn much better. MINI did not do it because they want to make sure the car ALWAYS understeers. More front camber (fixed plates) and a bigger bar are a big help to handling, and do not affect ride.

 

When I was car shopping back in 2004 or so, I remember reading the test reports where the car magazine writers complained the MINI handle too well. "If you sneezed, you could find yourself on the side of the road", they said. ut:

After I got my car, I went and got a 22mm rear swaybar and I still detect understeer, though greatly reduced. :rolleyes5:

 

Thanks, that is what I had believed, but in post #9 Minidave said otherwise. Was this because of the size of the bar?

Jim

 

I suspect the noise and harshness MINIDave was referring to might have to do with the tires he was using. Some tires (like the ones I had before) get incredibly noisy as they wear and under certain conditions. A swaybar may make a difference in how your tires wear also.

I think mainly because when cornering, the geometry of the tire contact patch area has changed. I also noted that with a thicker rear swaybar, particularly at the hardest setting, my rear tires wear faster than my fronts. Could be because I'm cornering a lot harder than I used to also.

However, if the ride really does get harsh with a rear swaybar, on my car and with the way I drive, I didn't notice it to be a drastic change enough think it was a problem. Going to a different tire, I didn't even notice.

 

Thanks, I also found this, so type of road condition could also come into play.

Because an anti-roll bar connects wheels on the opposite sides of the vehicle together, the bar will transmit the force of one-wheel bumps to the opposite wheel. On rough or broken pavement, anti-roll bars can produce jarring, side-to-side body motions (a "waddling" sensation), which increase in severity with the diameter and stiffness of the sway bars.

Jim

 

Was that on the "south of St Louis" or "north of St. Louis" roads

 

Damn, for $500 that thing better make coffee, too. Looks like you get what you pay for, though. That bar looks like it belongs on a p-car.

 

I don't know about St Louis, but it would apply to ANY road ANYWHERE in the entire state of PA. :cryin:

Jim

 

or a race MINI that makes P-cars quake.

 

A sway bar is a spring (actually a torsion bar) that does not have any affect when both wheels hit a bump. That is why most people say it doesn’t affect ride comfort. When one of the wheels on the same axle hit a bump or rolls from cornering forces the sway bar acts like a spring and pushes down on the unloaded wheel. The amount of push is determined by the diameter of the bar (the diameter is the single largest contributor) and the length of the arms. Front wheel drive cars have the majority of the weight on the front wheels. In a corner the tires on the front are being asked to do most of the work. Making the back stiffer by changing the springs or putting a stiffer sway bar in, makes the back tires work harder, and more evenly distributes the cornering forces. Sway bars do have an effect on ride comfort, but I do not believe you are going to perceive the difference. MINIs do not have a smooth ride to begin with, and this change should be hardly perceptible. Handling and ride comfort are subjective terms. Everyone has a different idea what comfortable is. I suspect there aren’t many Cadillac owners who would think a MINI has a good ride, or MINI owners that would be happy with the handling of a full size Cadillac.

 

CarlB makes good points...

by trying to tune understeer with rear bar only, you are really punishing the outside front contact patch. Work on the camber there first, then tune to the rotation characteristics that you like with the bar. Getting more rotation via stiffer rear bars really reduces weight on the inside rear, and increases weight on the outside, both front and rear.

Istara and those who autox a lot really benefit from the increased rotation from stiffer rear bars, but for street driving and road coarses, too much rear bar makes for a very loose set-up, one that is prone to breaking loose and spinning if one isn't carefull.

That bar on the Porsche site is the one Randy Webb used to offer, or I guess Randy's Porsche roots are showing, that's probably who made it for him.

I drove a Caddy CST-V, and the handling on that (and power too) would surprise many.

Matt

 

Thanks, I can feel the under steer, so I was looking to trying this until I read what I posted above. I like to feel the road and have never owned a plush riding machine, but being beaten to death, as it seems the WRC drivers are, is not good either. I am guessing that for a street car, 19mm is the correct choice?

Jim

 

Ummmm.... doesn't a stiffer rear bar to a point make the inside front bite more? And from a personal observation at RA when going through turn twelve with the 22mm bar set in the middle the car was a bit loose, one would think that adjusting the bar softer would help but it was not the case. I moved the bar to its stiffest setting and the car was much more stable and planted......it wasn't rolling over as much....

There is more to why a stiffer rear bar reduces understeer than just loosening the rear end up and making it slide around. The bar effects front bite.....2 cents