After posting / reading / getting good advice from the board i pulled the trigger on the jcw suspension and the jcw leather steering wheel.

I head up to my dealer tomorrow morning to have it installed.

I am excited. It's almost like getting a new car. I have 21k miles on the original runflat tires and i'm interested to see how much the ride changes with the new suspension.

These cars are so much fun to mod. I drove a bmw for 12 years and never did a single mod to it.

I'll post my feedback when i get the car back!

 

Lots of luck. I know you will enjoy both. Both make the car much, much better.

Which dealership?

 

Thanks onefish2 - Princeton MINI

 

Nice. I'm enjoying my JCW suspension right now. Make sure you ask them to install the front struts pushed in, like with the free front camber mod thing.

I'm hoping to gain more camber if the springs settle a little. But when they installed mine with the tops pushed in too, and did the alignment, I was still only at -0.9 left, and -0.7 right. I saw someone with the JCW suspension post that with the struts pushed in, they ended up at -1.2 which I think wuolda been great for street.

 

I have the JCW Steering Wheel and I love it. It's nice a thick, just the like BMW M3.

 

nykwan - Thanks! will do. I got a loaner (2011 MCS, automatic) to drive today. It was fun driving a different MINI. First time i had driven the automatic. Still a MINI, still fun to drive!
Ch28Kid - i think of all the posts i read on the jcw steering wheel only 1 person preferred the stock wheel to the jcw so i'm pretty sure i am going to love it.

 

Well....did you get it installed yet?

What do you think?

 

They just finished the install today at 3 pm - picking it up tomorrow morning. (friday)

 

Picked up my car this morning. I'm very happy with both the JCWsuspension and the JCW steering wheel.

The suspension:
My car has 21.5K miles. With the new JCW suspension the car feels like new! The ride is significantly better than the previous sports suspension.

I was prepared for the ride to be harsher but this is not the case.

Part of the ride improvement may be that the previous suspension had 21.5k miles on it.

Bumps feel less jarring and body roll is decreased. Taking an off ramp still puts g force on your body but the car doesn't lean.

The minor rattles in the car are also gone.

While changing lanes on the interstate the steering feels lighter but more responsive.

JCW Steering wheel:
Slightly more padded, slightly larger diameter, feels great overall.

The only thing i noticed is that my wheel is a darker color (charcoal) than the pictures i have seen which look dark gray, and the leather is grainy, not smooth as i thought from the pictures.

It's like i just got a new car!!!

 

I agree. I think some people must have expected the Mini to ride like a Camry cause I've seen people even say the base suspension is too harsh for them. The JCW suspension isn't really that harsh. Actually kinda feels right.

 

Maybe I am getting old but it makes a tight stiff car even tighter and stiffer. Its great on nice roads but if you drive in the city with bad roads and potholes... forget it. It is a bit jarring. Its not bad, I think it gives the car more character.