Sports Suspension or Dynamic Damper Control?
 

Has anyone had a chance to test both out? I have 2012 R57 and I currently have Sports Suspension and so I don't mind a go-kart feel to my ride but wouldn't mind some refinement in my ride too. Just trying to get some comparisons.

I tested both. I prefer the sport sus. Plus I plan on going with coilovers so not having to worry about the DDC will make the install simpler

Dynamic shocks +10%
Sport Suspension +30%

per Motoringfile review:
http://www.motoringfile.com/2014/04/...al/#more-33853

That 10% was enough for me, and cruising on the interstate, I can dial it back to minus 10%. 30% all time, I'll leave to the really hard core folks.

I get the impression that dealers don't order either for stock.

I'm being encouraged by my sales rep to get the Sport suspension over Dynamic... am hoping to test a car with Dynamic this week, but has anyone had any real world experience with Sport?

The idea of switching between soft and sport is very appealing, but I'm concerned that 'sport' in Dynamic's set up, won't be Sport "enough", and conversely if I order Sport I'll often wish I hadn't!

For reference, my last Mini was an R56 JCW which had the Cooper S Sport suspension (for some reason JCW suspension was an accessory add on here in Canada...). I rarely found its ride 'harsh'... perhaps therein lies my answer?

On another note... anyone know if there is much (if any) adjustability in the suspension? Can I get some negative camber added in without aftermarket parts?

In a week to 10 days I will have mine with sport suspension with 16" wheels.

All I can say is coming from past MINis (3) that the suspensions - standard and dynamic in the f56 would have made me not buy a F56. So I ordered the Justa with it.

I didn't think dynamic did enough for my taste. It should of had 3 settings (Normal, 10% and 30%) with a firmer setting. I am use to Porsche's PASM -porsche active suspension management where you get the firmness required to make the ride Sporty!

I think most would agree that if you plan on doing a fair amount of racing (autocross), then the sport suspension option is the way to go. DDC if you want to occasionally dial in a slight additional firmness. I wouldn't recommend the sport suspension for daily driving around town. Unless you like to be shaken and not stirred. LOL. I went with the stock suspension and for me it is perfect. I drive 90% in Sport mode and I find the suspension more than adequate in all situations, as does my wife in the passenger seat. And if I wanted to occasionally race, I'd much prefer an adjustable setup. JMO.

CM2011RG, I agree that the DDC should have come with the 3 settings of Normal, 10% and 30%. That, IMO, would probably be perfect for the vast majority of owners. Me included. If that option had been available, I would have gone with it.

The JCW suspension is a dealer installed accessory on every model in every market. It's not possible to order it from the factory. Even fJCW cars didn't come with it.
I have it on my car and love it, but it is more harsh than the regular sport suspension. One bonus of the JCW suspension is that it lowers the ride height which helps with the otherwise bad wheel gap.

Yes, I have almost 2k miles on my F56 S w/ SS. Definitely not overly harsh and would absolutely get it again.

There's a couple other threads dedicated to this already in here.

Would disagree. Sport Suspension is not overly harsh and the only time I feel it does ride the line is when I'm going over pavement that's been stripped. The car carves corners with it...to the point where I regularly autocross with construction barrels that are staged (and never used for what they're intended to) around town.

I think a major factor is the quality of the roads where you do most of your driving. Our roads aren't bad, but carving corners would be no fun for me on many roads around here. I don't even like the Sport firmess on some, and that's only +10%.

For comparison, I'm used to Kansas with has some of the best roads in the country. Now I'm in Charlotte NC, which only puts in new roads and resurfaces them when a developer pays for it....

Sport suspension isn't harsh at all around town. It's mainly about the antisway bars, not the coilovers. I like it a lot.

To truely experience a harsh ride in a MINI you'd have to go back to the early days and drive a Cooper S built prior to March 2003 with Sport Suspension Plus and 17" runflats :eek:

well put!!! :lol::thumbsup:

I wish someone would post a semi-detailed review of the sport suspension. Every other thread has similar inquries with barely anyone with experience that shares their opinion of the sport suspension. For people torn between that and the dynamic damper there is really a shortage of information out there, including in this forum.

I've probably posted 10 times about it. What is it specifically that you want to know?

I have the sport suspension in my F56S and really like it. I don't have any experience with the DDC but I have found the SS to be a great fit for my driving style. I drive on a number of rough roads and do not find it harsh by any definition of the word. Is it stiffer than a regular suspension? It definitely is! I got to drive an F56 this past weekend, with stock suspension, which I thought was much too soft for my taste. The SS really shines, in my opinion, when you hit the twisties. I have one 8 mile section of road on my way to work with easy curves, then a long straight, and ends with 4 mile section of tight mountain curves. The car is controlled and very well planted through the turns. It's posted 45 and I can comfortably do 60-65 in most corners. It has a long straight in the center and I will regularly pass folks there that I know won't keep up speed in the tight going. Now the road is not the Dragon, but is the fun point of my daily commute. I think the sport suspension makes the MCS compare very well with my Porsche 911 in ride quality and handling. In fact the 911 has the Adjustable Dampers and that ride I would certainly call harsh, when it's engaged.

I hope this helps. You understand that this is my opinion and completely subjective. I'm just an old fart who likes to exceed the posted speeds and not a member of the motoring press. "Your Mileage May Vary." But if your driving learns toward the sporting style I would recommend the Sport Suspension as the way to go - without a significant loss of civility in daily driving comfort.

I'm still pissed mine didn't get ordered with SS.

Ouch! I thought you got everything you had specified. How did they miss that? I don't recall any issues with the SS like there was with roof color or HK sound systems.

They ordered my car before I looked it over and when I noticed it they said it was too late and said if I reordered I'd be hit with the HK and color roof delay.

So I ordered my 2016 F56 JCW with DDC. Now questioning Sport Susoension as better. What are the options to stiffen the DDC and still have adjustability?

Does anyone know if sway bar diameter/stiffness is different with/without DDC? Note that miniusa vehicle configurator does not remove "Sport Suspension" as feature when DDC option is selected.

My 2015 F56 MCS has sport suspension. I live in Colorado where there are lots of curvy roads and the car is a joy when cornering. When driving in a "spirited" manner in sport mode the suspension is very taught and the car stays very flat during high speed cornering.

In city driving I find the the suspension to be overly harsh in all driving modes over expansion joints, pot holes, man hole covers and all other road irregularities. This could be due in part to the Hankook H420 tires that came on the car. It's hard to tell how much of the harshness is due to the suspension and how much is due to the tires.

Bottom line is that when driving at speed in the mountains, the sport suspension is perfect. When driving on smooth roads it is fine as well. For city driving or driving on less than perfect roads, I am not so pleased.

I have the SS also. Never drove the other one. My R56 had the JCW SS on it and my Corvette has the Z51 suspension so I'm no stranger to performance suspensions. I'm perfectly happy with my SS. As a matter of fact it was one of the reasons I bought the new car. I'm in my late 60's, 6'4" at 250 pounds and live in a rural area. The roads are generally good but some are pretty rough especially after the snow plows tear up the road. Never had a complaint about the ride. Hell, if I'd wanted a smooth, cushy ride, I'd have bought a Buick or Lincoln!

I have the Dynamic Damper Control (as part of the Sport Package) on my 2016 F55. I enjoy setting it on sport mode for back road driving (or quick highway acceleration), but I don't keep it there for cruising. I think that the sport suspension would be far too stiff and uncomfortable for me.

A few caveats to my experience are:

1. The roads around here suck camel butt. I drive in Montgomery County, Maryland and the District of Columbia for the majority of my time and the roads have bumps and potholes that have swallowed careless MINI drivers; I can only hope that they will be released from the deepest pits of hell at some point. For anyone that's been in the area, the I-370 Metro Extension has sections that look like a Clifford the Dog-sized German Shepherd chewed on them and on I-270, there are bridges with horrendous bumps up from the pavement that can do serious damage at 70 mph.

2. I'm coming over from a Subaru Forester, which is the least sexy drive possible. It isn't so much like riding on a cloud as just generally being a bit "mushy" (not that I dislike that; it was by far the best choice I could have made 6 years ago for my first new car). That makes it ideal for the crap they call roads here, but also means that the responsiveness from the MINI is flat-out jarring.