one of the girl I know got a Mini Cooper S GP, and she is experiencing some understeering problem with the car....
so I was saying that she can probably get a rear sway bar on her GP and that will probably help
and here's my questions...
1.The GP does not have rear sway bar stock...right? (I haven't seen her car yet, so if the GP does...call me idiot...lol)
2.What kind of rear sway bar would you guys suggest to put on the GP ?
3.What kind of tire size would you suggest if she felt like the car is understeering ?

thanks guys... lol
I wish I got a MINI GP...

 

1. All MINI coopers have rear sways they are 17mm
2. Yes the rear sway helps a lot. I love mine 2 much! :D
3. idk..

 

any good aftermarket rear sway bar suggestions?

 

we are running stock swaybars with the Cross coilovers and have not had the problems you are experiencing

 

I would recommend the 19-22 mm ALTA bar for the car. Depending on how hard the car is driven, you can adjust the amount of snap in the rear. I drive my GP pretty hard and have up/downgraded the wheel size to 17" and now get some push in the car. I will be installing our 22mm rear bar and working from the softest setting, then upwards until I have it balanced the way I like.

I strongly suggest the rear bar upgrade unless you plan on changing to coilovers or something that can otherwise change the balance of the car.

Good luck, and let me know if I can help further.

The bars are shown on our website www.altaminiperformance.com

 

Talk the guy's who actually race mini's and work on them, you will find it will depend on what you want to do with the car. If intending to take your car to the track, one of the ones I was advised on was the Comp H-sport, but it won't stop there . The rear sway bar is probably one of the 1st suspension mods you should do. Also she should check her tire pressures, maybe she is just too high in the rear

 

A larger rear sway bar is a great addition to the MCS. What size to use depends on many things.
- Not all same size bars have the same stiffness. A tubular 19mm bar (such as Hotchkis) will be less stiff then a solid 19mm bar (such as Alta). You need to look at the rates of the bar for each adjustment hole. The rating is usually provided in percent stiffer than the stock bar. A 22 solid is similar to a 25 tubular.
- Need to decide if anything is going to be done to the front suspension to decrease understeer such as adding negative camber.
- If no plans to add negative camber in the front than a person might select a larger rear bar. Like a 22mm solid or 25mm tubular.
- If camber plates are going to be added to the front to provide negative camber (such as -2deg) than a 19mm solid would probably be a good choice.
- If a larger front bar (such as 27mm) is going to be installed than a larger rear bar (such as 22 solid or 25mm tubular) would be a good combination.
- A lot also depends on driver preference. I had a 25mm tubular rear bar (Hotchkis) and it was good with stock front camber but after I installed adjustable front camber plates and rear control arms (set at -2.1 front and -1.0 rear), I thought the car oversteered too easily (even on the softest setting), especially on trottle lift. My MCS had H&R springs and stock stocks.
- The hardest setting on a 19mm solid bar is softer than the softest setting on a 22mm solid bar. So it can be a tough decision becuase there is no overlap between the two bars.
- Tubular bars are lighter than solid bars.
- Some bars (such as Hotchkis) have zerk fittings on the mounts for greasing the bushing.

For most people that only want to add a rear bar and do not plan any other suspension modifications (other than springs and shocks), a 19mm solid bar is a good choice. If the driver prefers more oversteer (like for auto-x), a 22mm solid or 25mm tubular might be a good chioce since it can be used on the softest setting for the street/canyons and adjusted harder/stiffer for auto-x.