About to order a JCW Clubman and thanks to this forum and all you contributors, I've pretty much figured out everything I want. I've been to 2 different dealers and they don't have a JCW Clubman with sport suspension to drive so I would have to order it blind. The '09 JCW booklet says it's not available in the Clubman but the MA and online says it is. I really like the way it rides with the stock suspension but wouldn't mind it 1/2" lower and sportier handling if it wasn't too stiff on rough roads. I don't plan to track it and don't mind the $500. Online it says "stiffer front and rear stabilizer bars...more aggressive springs and dampers". Any thoughts or experience from anyone who has one or has driven one?

I also plan to put on lightweight 18" wheels and non run-flats from tirerack. I know the 18's will run rougher than the 17's but I'm hoping the switch from run-flat 17's to regular 18"s will be a wash in the ride department. Does this make sense?

Ideally, I would love to lower it 1 to 1.5 inches but for looks only. After reading every post I can find, I don't think I will since I don't want to have to deal with new alignments, camber, worn shock/suspension components ride and possible warranty issues so that's why I want to keep the suspension stock or factory sport if it doesn't degrade the ride too much. Thanks for your thoughts here.

 

This has been discussed before but here's my take: the sport suspension has 2mm thicker antisway bars front and rear. They say the springs/dampers are stiffer but I've never really seen anyone prove that anywhere. My advice is forget it and see how you like it and if you want less understeer handling then go with a 19mm rear swaybar, which is a little thicker than the sport suspension unit. Furthermore, a thicker front swaybar counteracts the thicker rear bar in terms of combatting understeer. You'll notice that plenty of 3rd parties sell rear bars and nobody sells front bars. I fugured there was a reason for that. My rear bar was $300 installed and I'm happy with it on twisty roads. The sport susp does not lower the car at all. The JCW susp lowers is 3/4 inch only. Lower it more than that and you could get into camber problems. If you swap out the RF tires for nonRF the car's ride will be 100% softer over bumps. I just swapped mine out yesterday and the difference is dramatic to put it mildly. Whole different feel, more confidence in handling.

 

I have the sport suspension and I love it. The car is an absolute HOOT on the track. My only complaint is the ride height. The sport susp. is just sway bars so the springs/dampers are std S units and the front and rear gap is a tad extreme. If I could get a .5 reduction in front and .3 in the rear I'd be happy.