Can anyone give confirmed differences between the sports suspension and the standard? I bought my JCW with the intent of getting the JCW suspension installed but I got incorrect information about it and did not want to pay close to $3000 installed.

So now I put an H-sport competition sway bar which has stiffened up lateral movements in turns.

My only other complaint is the amount of suspension movement on accelerating and braking.

Is the sport suspension just a larger read sway and different shocks? Or are the springs different as well?

 

It's shocks and springs. (imo, they are just as horrible for a daily driver as stock.)

Buy a set of Koni sports, some TSW springs, and call it a day.

 

I would but that puts me our of D-stock for autocross. I can do just Koni yellows and stay in stock but not springs.

 

Sport suspension on my 2012 MCS was the bomb, I loved it.

I switched to NM springs to close up the wheel gap, but had no issues with the stock springs...other than it resembled a tiny milk truck riding that high :-).

I'd seen this chart of MINI sway bar sizes, comparing stock to Sport to JCW, in this link:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...32-post10.html

You're autocross-savvy, so likely you've been through the AutoX forum posts to get other setup ideas.

Is it the case that JCW suspension is D-stock legal for your car in that class? It may pay to keep shopping...find the kit itself on sale with one of the vendors, then arrange for an independent shop to install it. Just a thought.

 

See if you can find some used OEM sport springs. That change out should allow you to remain in D-Stock as far as I understand. The other items of the sports suspension are free to change under the SCCA rules (sway and shocks).

 

How big of a rush are you do swap to the 'sport suspension'? I ask because this winter (January-Febuary) I will be pulling off my sport suspension since I'm building for DSP. By then it will have 12-15k miles on it. If you can wait that long maybe we can work something out.

 

The shocks stink.

Get the springs and get Koni Yellows. Much better.

- Andrew

 

Definitely keep me in mind when that time comes. You may be able to unload them to me.

 

You can really screw the SCCA by buying a set of Konis and some kind of spring then paint them black. I highly doubt they will be able to tell.

 

First, he would know.

Second, at Nationals this year someone was caught cheating because he put up a youtube video of his cam install. Now we are talking top 5 national drivers, but still.

Third...wow really?

 

I'm not into cheating, hope others are not, but apparently they are.

 

This is a great offer. I got the sports suspension and find it great for autoX without doing anything to it.

However, if you are going to take up this offer you need to get the front sway bar and install it in order to stay D stock. The sports suspension comes with stiffer front and rear springs, shocks and sway bars. You have to start from this point and then you can change the shocks and a sway bar. That means that you can't just stick in the sports springs and call it "stock". You need that front sway bar.

 

Man I should have ordered it with the car... My plan to have the JCW suspension installed screwed me up since it was coming out $1200 more than originally quoted when ordering the car.

 

IMHO The sports suspension option is probably one of the best $500 you can spend to get a MINI with greatly improved handling. I know "the shocks suck", but they work well on the track and for autoX. If you are not going out to win the Nationals I see no point in replacing them until they are shot especially with the problems with the aluminum trailing arms and the shock bolts breaking after change out the shocks.

I hope you ordered the DTC to have gotten the eLSD.

When I ordered my 2012 I wanted the JCW suspension too. But the order price of $1500 does not include installation. Installation was to be about another $1200 making it ~$2700. You can do much better, in this case, with aftermarket parts and then go into STX. So I went with the sports suspension and spent the rest of the money on the upgraded seats from the sports seats. Both were a fantastic purchases.

A lot of people will disagree with me on this one, but I really think that the MINI needs the larger front sway bar that comes with the sports or JCW suspension. From there you can balance the car with the larger rear bar. The larger front bar keeps the front from diving in the corners. Overall, the balance with the sports suspension is more neutral in the corners than the stock suspension, but it is not as tail happy as it would be with a larger rear bar and the stock (non-sports) front bar. Been there, done that.

 

k_h_d - Remember there will always be someone out there trying to "game" the system. It doesn't matter if it is taxes or autocross. But don't let that dismay you. Local autocross events typically involve a close knit group and those at the top of their class are going to be well known and their cars will be well looked at.

If you are just starting out, then your object should be to learn proper driving skills. That is easiest to do with a car that doesn't mask your mistakes. Once you have mastered your car as it is, then make the modifications that you need to make it competitive in whatever class you are in. But be fair warned, to make it at the top of a class means studying the rule book and making every possible change you are allowed to make with the best possible after market parts.

There is another option to take. If you just want your car to feel better and you are out to just have fun then move into a different class, such as STX. This is what I did. That way I can make all of the suspension changes I want. I just do autocross to have fun and improve my driving skills, so why cheat. I admit to not yet having the skill to beat the people in either the stock class or STX so I just race against my own times.

 

Thats standard on the JCW.

 

Skip the sport and go right to the JCW springs and bars if you are staying in stock. JCW stuff is standard prep now.

The installation isn't that bad. Its doable on a Saturday if you have a friend and a garage. I definitely wouldn't pay $1200 for it. While you're in there, pop the alignment pin out of top hats for that extra 0.1 degree of camber.

 

I installed my rear swaybar. The rear springs and swaybar are easy to remove and install. What about the front? Is the front subframe hard to deal with?

 

The front was not as bad as anticipated. We ended up disconnecting the mounts at the very front by the bumper core which let us pivot the whole subframe down. Everything was disconnected but the subframe was never completely removed from under the car. It was time consuming simply because its a lot of bolts to remove/reinstall. The hardest parts were removing the middle steering rack bolt (bring all the socket extensions you can find, and a u-joint) and reinstalling the ^&$#@ exhaust clamp. But other than the time involved, I've done MUCH worse jobs.

I had Helix do the front struts due to time constraints on my end (stupid DC Pro in April), but since you can just unbolt the ball joint housing, it should involve much less swearing than the same job on the R50.

 

The front struts are relatively easy.

I had not heard anyone before say replacing the front sway bar was anything but a pain. Did you do up a DIY post of how you did yours? I think a lot of people would be interested in knowing how you did this.

 

The small pin change is a really easy to do and it actually will get you an extra -0.3 deg of camber; -0.3 deg to -0.6 deg. And this change is legal for stock class and is a great change even for the street - no additional tire wear, just great turn in. Just remember that you have to reset the toe-in. You can screw-in each tie rod in about 3 flats (~1/2 turn) to get it back close to zero.

 

Eddie, on your suggestion:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tallation.html

Hope that proves useful.