Got my MCCS a couple weeks ago and love it. My most favorite thing with our MCS (2 MINI family) is driving the twisties, which is why I wanted a MINI of my own. I love that the R55 has a more comfortable ride than the R56, but I want to improve the handling in corners. I need to find a good balance with comfort and performance. I don't care much about speed, just handling. (not saying that will never change, but for now my view is to let the hubby's MCS get all the speed mods)

I think I want to start with a rear sway bar and end links, see how the ride changes and go from there. Only trouble is that I am a complete newb. I never cared about car parts until now.

What are your suggestions for sway bars and end links? I have no clue what the difference in 19mm and 22mm will get me. I also don't know much about brand quality. I have been looking at the cheaper option of just buying Alta parts, but I was also considering the NM bar at Way.

And are camber links and end links the same thing?? If so, I was also looking at the H-Sport camber links at Way.

 

Camber links and sway bar links are not the same thing.

I have a 22mm bar on my Clubby and normally run it in the softest setting, when I go to the track I kick it up a notch.

Are you still running the stock 16" wheels and runflats? Probably the other most effective thing you can do is go to a better set of tires (non-runflats), if you need all weather capability then look for some Ultra High performance versions, if not summer only tires will give you the most bang for the buck. Doing those two things will not affect your ride quality much and will definitely help the cornering ability of the car.

The last and probably MOST important piece of the puzzle is the driver - you. Get yourself to a HPDE, driving school or whatever you can, you'll be amazed what your MINI can do dead stock once you drive it correctly.

 

I have the stock run flat and 17" wheels. We have a spare set of wheels for the MCS, I might have to get a spare set for the MCCS as well. I suppose I could always use the existing spare set on both cars... but the white wheels might look a little funny on my black-topped MCCS!

I definitely do want to do a HPDE course... just gotta find the time and a helmet!

How do you go about changing the setting on a sway bar? I have seen the holes on the ends of course, I just don't know how difficult it is to change the settings.

 

Personally, I would call Way directly and let him know what you're looking for. He was very helpful to me.

I think a 19mm H-Sport sway bar would be the way to go, though. That should be all you really need - it'll make a nice difference.

 

It's pretty easy, disconnect both sides, reconnect in different holes - the further away from the end the hole is, the stiffer it gets. If the bar has 3 holes, consider that the middle hole is the middle stiffness setting but both sides don't have to be in the same hole, so in essence you have a fairly wide band of adjustability to fine tune it. Easy peasy. I usually change mine while I have the car up in the air to swap wheels/tires for my track day. I also change it back to the softest setting for street driving when I'm done.

 

You should consider shocks as well like Komi fsd.