I have a suspension question for those of you who have knowledge in that department.


I have an aftermarket adjustable rear sway bar already installed on my 2006 JCW. I place it at the stiffest setting when running the car at autocross / solo but I still find I'm a little too soft in the rear and experiencing more understeer than I think I should be. I'm wondering if swapping out the OEM rear end links for adjustable ones could be a cheap approach to stiffening the rear suspension a bit: shorten the end links to allow for less travel.


What do you guys think?


I already have front camber plates running roughly -2.5 deg and am running the stock 2006 JCW suspension that has roughly 50,000 miles on it.


Thanks

 

I don't have tons of experience with tuning suspension and autocross, but I remember looking at adjustable end links and they were more expensive than a sway bar. So if you can, I think it'd be more cost effective to go with a bigger sway bar. I've also heard that you can do some tuning by cutting down the bump stops, you might look into that. It could be potentially cheaper and more effective.

 

What brand of sway bar are you running in the rear currently?

 

Not quite sure. It's old, darkish blue in colour and was installed by the previous owner not long after he purchased the JCW in 2006.


I have to take the time to measure it's diameter to see if it's a 19 or 22 mm. My gut is telling me 19.

 

Here's the thing. Are you entering corners on three wheels? Any photos of the car?

Consider the implications if so - the inner rear is being pushed down by the spring, and up by the sway bar. Where does that battle wind up? Many Minis pick up the inside rear for two reasons:
1. the sway bar opposes the rear spring so strongly that the inner rear corner never reaches maximum droop, and
2. the rear roll resistance greatly exceeds the front roll resistance which when exacerbated by weight transfer under braking makes the rear almost irrelevant...

If you are hitting these limits, then tires, tire pressures, and driver input are your only tools.

Or at least that's my two cents.

Mind you if you are willing to leave Street class, then the world's your oyster - but having run an STX car for years it's a serious commitment.

Cheers,

Charlie