I love the suspension on our Cooper S, but I wish I could tune out some of the understeer. It's not to proverbial "plows like a dump truck" levels, but it's definitely a bit more than I prefer. I've heard that adding a rear anti-sway bar will help to cure things a bit, but for the life of me I can't get my little brain to figure out why. As I understand it, understeer is a result of the front end of the car breaking traction before the rear does. By adding a rear anti-roll bar, wouldn't that only magnify the problem?

Confusion.

-Andy

 

talk to randy this would be a better question in the preformence area anyway mini-motorsport.com is randys site he has the madness witch i have and love. Also he is working on his own. For springs H-sport is the way to go for sure randy also has that. or if you gots the major denaro you can talk with him about the leda. All of this would help with understear and body sway



randy's # is
1-720-841-1002

 

That's true, and I will post it there... just wanted to see if there were some local folks with knowledge on this subject first.

What started out as just a trikle of performance parts for the MINI now seems to have grown to quite the steady stream!

 

I have the Madness bar set to the strongest position. The ride is a bit harsher on this setting but the car feels more neutral. I don't know how to explain it but a bigger rear bar will correct understeer. You can also adjust tire pressure to adjust for understeer/oversteer. Raise front tire pressure or decrease rear tire pressure to reduce understeer. I usually run pressures in the area of 33 front/26-28 rear.

 

Dear Latka,

I have the madness rear swaybar installed now for about a month at stiffest setting and it is working fine. Pretty neutral as far as I can tell. Haven't really pushed it much, got the MCS with sport option and 17" S-lites with Pirelli runflats which are bumpy but corner very well, extremely sticky, no wheel spin or chirping anytime. :smile:

I will bring my baby to Spring Fling- you can check it out. I talked to Randy and he can also provide more technical info and advice. Anyway not much understeer I can notice. I don't even do much with adjusting tire pressure. I will be trying 34 psi for the front and 37 psi for the rears this weekend. Hope that works OK.

 

Andy-
The rear swaybar worked fine on the track. When the instructors drove the car you could tell the car was fine and pretty neutral. Turns were all well controlled- unlike when I was driving.

I got info from Randy BMC that if I were to add the H-sport springs to lower the car by 1" front and backs that I might consider changing the swaybar setting to soft from firm. The springs (progressive rated) help to make the car understeer a little and the swaybar does the rest. Everything else you can adjust with tire pressures to your tastes.

Randy BMC can answer the technical questions that you might have and he sells all that stuff.

Brad

 

FLASH-

Randy BMC is running a limited time special on H-sports upgrades
Springs for $225 vs about $265
Swaybar set front and rears about $345
Camber links - pair for $242 and set of four for $460

Also he has a special introductory price on an ECU for $720- works with the pulley and without.

 

just to clear something up.

The software programming is different depending on if you have the pulley or not.

 

Latka,

Check out these two threads for some good discussion on the rear sway bar. In particular, my post in the second thread answers your question exactly. The first thread is just some good definitions and background.

Rear Sway Bar Thread - 1

Rear Sway Bar Thread - 2

Cheers,

James