First a quick intro. I'm a first time poster and long time lurkerc. I'm your fellow enthusiast who appreciates safe aggrisive driving with my MCS. I have don a bit of research and still have a few questions about suspension set up. My MCS is stalk but I plan to upgrade suspension before engine. I take satisfaction in coming through corners like a race pro.

My suspension goals are:

1. Get the MINI to handle neutrally. I plan to do this with the H Sport (competition or race??) 22mm sway bar.

2. Get the MINI to look lower but not slammed. I plan to do this with the H sport lowering springs since as Randy from webbmotorsports claims it is the least lowest lowering springs and they and they have a bit more forgiving progressive travel.


Here are my questions:

1. I know there are obvious advantages of a thicker sway bar, but will lowering springs without the sway have any obvious effects to handling? good or bad

2. Will a lowered Mini require adjustment to rear camber? I am concerned because I do not want the back tires to look like they are caving in like this / . I think that look seems ghetto and I want it done right.

3. Without camber adjustment, will using the Hsport lowering springs cause uneven tire wear?

4. Will a MCS with a H sport lowering spring encounter problems with speed humbs, bumbs or undulations

4. If you lived in cali how much should I expect to pay for labor?


No other questions now.
Any responses will gratefully be appreciated.
I look forward to you opinions and experience.

Thanks

AKA Monkey_punch

 

3. The negative camber increase when lowering tends to offset the neutral handling that the bigger sway bar adds. You should consider adding H-Sport lower link bars so the camber can be adjusted after lowering.
Dan

 

1. The H-Sport springs have increased rear spring rates. So, Yes, the springs alone will help decrease understeer.

2 & 3. Ditto sanddan's recommendation; grab a pair of adjustable control arms. Again, H-Sport's product is top-shelf; great craftsmanship, and the stiff rubber bushings won't loosen teeth fillings like spherical bearing control arms. You don't need to adjust the camber with springs only, however with the sway-bar also, adjusting your rear camber closer to factory spec (about -1.5 degrees) will help even out tread wear and create more predictable at-limit handling.

4. Not compared to other lowering springs! Aside from pulling into an occasional steep driveway, you’ll have no problems.

5. I'm going to guess about 2 hours for both. It takes less time when you combine both than doing them separately.

I hope that helps!
Cheers,
Ryan

 

Hey thanks for the info guys. You know I really like the performance of the Stock S ......I wonder how much mental courage i could gain with just a H Sport 22mm sway bar ~ set to neutral.

BTW - anybody hear of news of DINAN recently, cant find anything news online?

sunny day in the Bay Area CA !!!

M.P.

 

Dinan is supposed to release their competitor to the Cooper Works kit in the next month or so. Expect it to produce the same kind of power for a lower price.

If I were you, I would start with the swaybar and see if that accomplished your goals to improve handling.

The stock suspension is really pretty good

 

Careful of the swaybar, you can easily dial from neutral to tail happy. I prefer the latter, as it is very useful for autocross purposes.

H-sport won't lower as much as my H&Rs, which gave me -2.2 degrees of rear camber. I corrected that with adjustable control arms, but you may want to drop it and then find out where you sit. Anything around -1.5 would be fine.