Well, I have owned my R50 for eight months or so and she has been lots of fun. I have been suffering on snow tires for the last few months, and as you would expect, the handling is very poor. Now the sun is coming out, and I am looking forward to motoring for fun again.

After much deliberation i ordered a 19mm sway bar from Alta. I expect it will be a vast improvement over my stock non-sport bar. I deliberated over springs and camber plates, but I decided to see how this works out for me before I spend a lot more money.

I also ordered a set of Yokohama S.Drives in 205/50/16. I never want to buy tires again.. slogging through countless reviews and tests, and endlessly pestering Alex at TireRack for advice and input, it was quite the ordeal. It came down to Fuzion ZRi or the Yokos, and the S.Drives are said to have stiffer turn in and better response, which is the big thing for me. I don't care about road noise at all.. thats what the stereo is for.

Both shipments should be here within a week or so, I can't wait to have them installed! If the tire store and I can work out a deal, I will be trading in my heavy mille miglia wheels for something lighter, as well. I hope these 3 things will really transform the car.

 

Sounds great man, i have an R50 too and down here in texas we dont get much snow so idk what handling is like up where your at. I recently had some caster bushings installed on my car alongside the irish engineering camber plates. I Primarily did it to get rid of the strut tower mushrooming deformation but also noticed it improved handling. i wouldnt over exaggerate the camber plates but theyre so much better than stock and the strut tower rubber hats are more durable too (from what ive heard) let me know how much greater the sway bar works out for you !!!

 

Thanks, I'll post an update next week! I also made a deal with the tire shop, I'm trading in my heavy-*** Miglia wheels (23lb) for a set of Konig Rush (19lb.) so I'm hoping that will help acceleration a little as well.

I'm not sure what setting to go with on the sway bar initially.. anyone have any suggestions there? How hard is it to change the setting?

 

Received my Alta 19mm bar yesterday! Shipped very quickly from Alta via UPS, 2 business days to my door. Christina at Alta was great to deal with.

 

If you're not sure on what to set the bar to, set it on the middle setting. however, coming from a non-s system, id reccomend doing full soft initially. I'm running the s.drives in a 205/55/15. Im pretty happy with them, though i will go with extreme or max performance summer tires next time, they like to burn out, but hold a great line through the corners. You should be plenty happy with them. Lighter wheels make a marginal difference, its a bit over-rated here. i went from stock wheels (~20lbs) with 29lb runflat tires to 14lb rims and 19lb tires. it made a slight difference, in that it accelerates just a bit better. most of that is to do with switching from a 16in rim to a 15in rim though. S.drives arent very loud btw, i wouldn't worry about noise. although then again, i did come off of all season run flats. i guess your coming off of snow tires, so this will be quiet! congrats on the new parts, you'll love them!

 

Thanks for the input! I am leaning towards starting off with the middle setting. A lack of tools and garage space means adjustment after the fact will mean a trip to the tire shop, so middle setting seems like a safe bet. Once I get used to it, I may look into going full stiff.

I appreciate the report on the S.Drives, I was getting a little stressed reading a lot of TireRack reviews on them about the poor wear and horrible noise, I thought I may have made the wrong decision. Are you pleased with the turn-in and handling? Those and dry grip are the main thing. Since I don't put on a ton of miles and have dedicated winters, I can live with short life.

I know the ~4lbs won't make a huge difference, but they look better, and every little bit helps!

 

honestly, i think changing the position only requires a jack, jack stands, an allen wrench, and a wrench to change. but i guess if you dont have that, then that makes since.
haha reviews are never gonna tell you enough about a product. look at this way, the mini got bad reviews from a lot of people, does that mean it's bad? i sure as hell dont think so... im very pleased with the turn in and handling, these tires grip into corners very well, its really nice. they're pretty reactive too, it cut down the understeer quite a bit. these tires haven't been too noisy for me at all, although i don't do much freeway driving. dry grip is great, they really stick. hell wet grip is better than my $300 a piece dunlop all seasons i had before, though those were very worn out when i got the car. they don't wear super fast, although i have noticed more than i should be getting... mainly due to burnouts, but of course that's to be expected. i'd think my only complaint with these is that they do spin really easily, ive done a couple smokey burnouts and some screechy ones too, its a little too easy to do. they handle braking really well though, i haven't had any issues with that. You should be fine with them, they're really great tires. hell of a deal too.
the main difference the weight will make is on your mpg, it'll grow quite a bit...

 

Yeah, I agree that you have to take reviews with a grain of salt, as people are much more likely to write one when they're unhappy with something. Even so, buying tires is a bit of a crap shoot considering how many options and opinions are out there. Thanks for the feedback, sounds like they should suit me pretty well. $300 a tire is nuts, I paid close to $400 for a Pilot Sport for my bike a few years ago and I vowed to never do it again.

A little bump in MPG would be nice, I have a 1,200km road trip (one way.) on the agenda this summer! Lots of twisty back roads and sweeping highway curves, can't wait to break in the new rubber and get used to the sway bar.

 

I think the middle setting is definitely the way to start. You will love that mod, no doubts about that. I went full stiff this winter and have really enjoyed it. The rotation feels more neutral than any other FWD car I have ever owned.

 

I think middle setting is the plan at this point. Can't wait!

My S.Drives showed up today.. big thanks to Alex @ TireRack and UPS (never thought I'd have anything good to say about UPS.) they were waiting outside my door when I arrived home today, just 2 days to ship to the Great White North! As soon as the wheel shop gets my Konigs in, I'll get everything done.. hopefully this week.

 

good plan. my bar came in today too. but i wont get to install it till tomorrow . sounds like everything is piecing together, its good to see!

 

Thanks, I'm hoping these three additions will curb my temptation to test drive the S again!

Which bar did you get?

 

So I am wondering if you got the install completed yet? I am just waiting for tax return and I was thinking about spending it on a new sway bar? I would like to hear your opinion on initial experience.

Thanks
Cam

 

I know this wasn't directed to me. but im very happy with the sway bar, made a huge difference. im really happy with it. i went with the eibach 19mm sway, the cheapest available. no complaints, aside from a poor paint job, but what do you expect?

 

Hey, yes I did get the install done this morning! I'd recommend the sway bar for sure, I haven't had a chance to drive it much but it feels very solid in the turns, definitely a noticeable difference in how the back end feels. I have it on the middle setting and plan on driving the **** out of it this weekend to see if I need to stiffen if up further and put it on the stiffest setting.

I started a new thread (for some reason, should have just updated this one.) about my first impressions, but I'll ask the mods to delete it and just paste my post here:

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I finally got my new stuff installed. Replaced my heavy-*** Miglias (23lb) replaced with Konig Rush wheels (19lb) and the winter tires with Yokohama S.Drives. Also replaced the stock non-sport sway bar with the Alta 19mm bar set to medium.

It's like night and day! Acceleration and braking are greatly improved, even over what I recall of the stock wheels and RF dunlops I had before the winter. I am actually pushed back into the seat when I really get on the gas. Haven't had a chance to tear up the twisties yet so I can't speak to the traction, but of course they aren't scrubbed in yet so it's difficult to tell anyhow. Haven't broken loose hammering the throttle out of sharp right handers though.

Overall the car feels more planted when turning, and I imagine it will be more dramatic when I get into some more "spirited" driving.

Some downsides to my experience: the shop initially forgot the center caps on the wheels. Then they found them, but they are missing the Konig emblems, so they look a little weird. Also, there are 8 holes in the wheels and of course only 4 lugs for the Cooper. I didn't even notice until I had left.. I am questioning the shop on this one. I have to go back tomorrow so they can figure out what size the emblems are *sigh.*

Also, I curbed the old wheels so that cost me about $100 extra on the trade, but I can chalk that up to an expensive parking lesson.

I may be paranoid, but I thought I felt some vibration at about 110 (KMH, don't worry mods!) and I'm not sure if that indicates improper balancing or just the stiffer ride over the winters on a poor road surface. I will mention it tomorrow.

And finally, now that I have gone from 205/55/16 to 205/50/16, there is so much fender gap! Next up, slam the car.
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Thanks for the input guys, glad to hear your please. So I talked with the local alta dealer her and it sounds like the difference between 19mm and 22mm is only $16.

My question is do you think it might be too stiff for just regular road use?? I enjoy driving in a spirited manner but doubt I will ever track my MINI.

I am figuring that at the extra cost I would go with the bigger bar and start on the softest setting and probably end up leaving it there.

Any input would help
Thanks
Cam