Hi all,

I've been looking for front and rear strut braces, and a rear sway bar for my 2008 R56 Base cooper. Been having an issue finding a set that will actually fit my car. I should mention I have a DDM Works intake so it'll need to fit around that. Also I'm def in the market for a performance exhaust system but it appears the only ones available are Milltek and Remus. If you guys have a suggestion or can let me know which is better it would help my purchase decision.

Thanks!
-D

 

Rear strut braces don't do anything other than add weight, so skip those.
Many folks like JCW strut braces, and they are relatively inexpensive, but (a). they may not clear your intake (not sure); (b). they do NOT provide any strut tower mushrooming protection.

Since I have a VIP K&N intake, for (a) but especially for (b), I went with M7 strut brace. Either straight or J-brace will do the trick:
http://www.m7tuning.com/m7-strut-tow...-assembly.html

For rear sway bar (RSB), there are a dozen manufacturers out there. Some like 19mm bars, some 22mm, other go thicker. Don't go too big of a bar, as it creates neutral handling by actually detracting from rear-end traction !
You can start by browsing and selecting from here: http://www.waymotorworks.com/07-10-c...ion/sway-bars/

I can't speak for Justa's, but on MCS there is minimal to zero performance gain from aftermarket exhausts unless you also change the down-pipe/cat. So you are either talking an entire cat-back exhaust swap that will run you north of $1K, or just cosmetic changes that change the sound and do nothing for performance.

a

 

Like other manufactures, none of the M7 strut braces fit "Justas". They only fit Cooper S, and JCW models. There apparently either isn't a large enough market to bother, or there really isn't enough room under the hood.

 

Yeah I'm finding that out. I'm starting to feel like Justa owners are the red headed step child of the Mini owners trying to mod their cars. We are so limited in what we can do. It's actually made me reconsider keeping my cooper. I'm now looking at turbo options, and not just Cooper's :-/

 

I don't have any info on the strut brace, but I did go with the VIP resonator back exhaust and absolutely love it. Great exhaust note, quality build and while I'm sure it's not a huge HP gain, I can feel the difference from stock for sure - especially in the upper band.

 

Wow, this sucks.
I did not realize Justa strut tower geometry was any different than that of MCS cars.
How are they different ?

You are probably correct with your assumption on the causation - MINI community is so small, that it's hard for aftermarket companies to generate positive ROI on supporting us. We already lost a LOT of support between 1st and 2nd gen cars, then more again after N14 engine was discontinued with 2nd gen LCI.

There must be just more folks with MCS's willing to throw money at the mods vs. Justa's. Sad indeed.

a

 

I don't think it's the strut towers. I'm pretty sure the hood has a different profile between the base Coopers and the S and JCW models. This means that there isn't enough room for the bar that connects the towers.