I have an '06 Mini (non-S) and I am considering putting in an aftermarket sway bar. After checking the rear suspension, I found that there is apparently no stock sway bar. Were some base Mini built without this feature or...

a.) Am I so dim that I do not know what an anti-sway bar looks like?

b.) It is in a different location???

c.) Someone at Oxford had one too many pints and forgot to install the thing?

Also, if my car came without a sway bar, can an aftermaket bar be installed without rebuilding the suspension. Any input would be appreciated.

 

Here is what the sway bar looks like, it would be black. In this picture it is demonstrated with a red color.

 

No...to my knowledge....no mini was specced without a rear swaybar. Even the MINI ONE's, the simplest model, came with a sway.

Where were you looking for it?....you should be able to see it right behind the wheel. It sits in front of the springs from that angle.

I'd assume that you'd be able to easily install an aftermarket one even if your's is missing. You just need to make sure the holes are drilled to mount the bushings.

The red sway in this pic is aftermarket but it's in the same location that your stock sway would be. (EDIT: LOL....RS_man beat me to posting the same pic)

 

Ever MINI has a rear sway bar.

Its easy to find just take off the tire and you can't miss it.

 

Was looking for it behind the rear suspension. My bad.

*totally embarrassed look*

Thanks to all for your clarification

 

Cheers! I hope you found it.

There was a point at which I had no idea what a serpentine belt or a caliper was...

Ha ha Nice!

 

Have located rear sway bar.

Gonna next try to find the engine and then possibly my brain

 

I heard that brains are on sale 2 for $5 at 7eleven today, might want to hurry.

 

I can beat that guys. I assumed that Justa Cooper's had no sway bar and an MC Sport did. So I bought a stock Sport sway off a guy here on NAM, only to then discover my Justa Cooper already had one. Supposedly there's a difference (16mm vs 17mm), but I doubt that the 1mm will drastically improve the steering, so I haven't installed it yet.

 

The question as to how difficult is the rear sway bar is to install was never answered. Any input? I'm curious.

 

Depends on your skill level I guess. If this is your first time tooling on a car....it'll probably seem pretty difficult. Otherwise, it's a pretty simple installation once you're comfortable with working on the MINI...especially the rear suspension.

 

Too funny... Yea a rear sway off a MCS sport is a good upgrade for the Cooper and you should be able to find a take off for a very good price....

 

When I was researching this earlier, most people said it wasn't too difficult. Maybe an hour for someone who knows what they're doing, and double that if you don't. The biggest issue will be making sure you have the necessary things like ramps to back the rear of the car onto, etc.

In case you haven't seen this yet, here's a link on Alta which gives pretty good step-by-step instructions on how to do it.

http://www.altaminiperformance.com/s.../ampsus300.pdf

 

Thanks! I guess mechanical skill level is relative. I work on complex multi-million dollar pieces of semiconductor processing equipment (the machines that the IBMs and Intels of the world utilize to make computer chips right there on your PC, among other things). Realtively straightforward since I've been trained on it.
A rear sway bar installation... I'm fairly clueless. Thanks for the link!

 

A Bentley service manual has been one of the best mods I've purchased! Ah err ah...for a Mini...