Is it worth upgrading a non sport suspension MCS to the stiffer sport suspension springs for DS?

From pervious autox experience, I expect the answer to be yes as stiffer is almost always better for springs at least as relates to factory springs none of which are all that stiff.

Will they work with non sport shocks for awhile until I upgrade to Koni's?

Anybody know how much stiffer a sport spring is vs. standard spring and how much lower it sits the car?

thanks!

 

Absolutely, the sport springs are significantly stiffer than standard and slightly lower (10mm IIRC?)

But the hot setup for DS and HS Minis is now the JCW suspension + big rear bar. So you need the JCW front bar and bushings, the JCW springs, the JCW front bump stops, and the JCW specific rubber spring pads, then you put any rear swaybar you want on. JCW springs are 1/2" lower and stiffer still than the Sport springs and the JCW front bar is 0.5mm bigger.

If you were planning to buy used springs, note that both the Sport and JCW springs come in multiple part numbers, each with a slightly different spring rate ostensibly and based on what options your car has. So to be 100% legal, you have to go to the dealer, give them your VIN, and order the springs that Mini says go with your VIN.

 

I will keep that in mind - if I get serious with this car, I will go that route. For now I picked up a set of sport springs from a same MY car as mine with similar equipment used for super cheap. So I will throw those in there and pick up a sport front swaybar and get an aftermarket rear bar.

I need a rear bar with a setting soft enough to make the car neutral to understeering for the street so it is safe for my daughter and wife to drive. Yet something with a setting firm enough to allow the car to rotate and have a slight oversteer tendency for autox. This is my first FWD track car, but I have a ton of autox and track experience including road racing in a spec series with NASA for a few years. So I can certainly handle a car set up for mild oversteer for the track.

Suggestions? The hotchkiss race bar may be a bit too much. The alta 22mm bar looks good from a specs standpoint, but not sure about the welded ends. I guess that one is cheap enough to give it a shot for a bit tho. Other ideas on rear bar?

 

Note: To be legal you need not only the stiffer sport springs but everything that goes along with them- shocks, etc. This is the case for any factory option where you can changing something especially suspension and the same holds true for all your factory options that affect weight of the car on the suspension. If you use Koni Yellow shocks and Sport Springs then that would be OK for D stock.

In stock classes for SCCA you are allowed only ONE swaybar change not two bars. So only adjustable rear bar with stock front bar is legal or vice versa.

To be most useful the rear swaybar can be 19mm or 22 mm. For the 19mm bar you might be able to use all three settings depending on how you drive and what wheels and tires you have on. Middle or stiffest settings likely to work with a stock front bar. On the 22mm bar I would think softest setting then adjust, stiffest setting too stiff with any R compound tires.

If you do stiffen up the rear bar and drive on the street I would suggest really good (not worn out) street tires to maintain grip at all times.

 

I will add Koni yellows when I swap in the sport pkg springs.

And I just picked up a 22mm rear sway bar with 3 settings, so will start it on the softest and go from there.