Everyone,

I'm sure there has been lots of discussion about sway bars and I did a search, but it was hard to wade through, so I hope you won't mind a thread specifically about rear sway bars.

I just bought my standard Cooper and my first mod will be a rear sway bar to neutralize the handling a bit. My wife has gone completely bonkers over my Mini and wants it for herself, so I will probably be ordering a Cooper S for myself very soon.

I want to go ahead and upgrade the Cooper, but when my wife takes it over, the sway bar will not mean anything to her. So, does the Cooper S have a stiffer sway bar than the Cooper? If it does, I think I might get one of the infinitely adjustable units and put on the Cooper, then when I get my Cooper S, put the Adjustable on the S and the Cooper S stiffer bar on the Cooper.

Does anyone have any experience with the infinitely adjustable bar? It has clamps that simply hold position by clamp pressure. Is this reliable and strong?

Any experience and insight is welcome, and hopefully this thread will initiate some rear sway bar AWARENESS.

 

First of all, the Cooper S does have a different and stiffer bar than the Cooper.

Second, I think you would be better off sticking with some of the more tried and true adjustable bars., There are many to choose from by Alta, H-Sport (comp and sport), Mini Madness. Some have 2 settings, some have 3 settings. Depending on your needs and driving style, you will be able to get the bar that you need. I have the H-Sport comp bar and have it set on the middle setting for daily driving, stiff setting for track days.

Check out the Performance Mods threads for more info on some of the other bars.

 

Looks like a good plan. I have a Cooper with the S rear swaybar and like the results for everyday driving.

I took my cooper to the track last weekend for the first time and found that it still pushed in the tight turns but there were situations in which I was getting some pretty balanced slide that I could control with throttle input.

When you order your S, I recommend avoiding the S "lite" wheels. From what I hear, they are pretty heavy and lot's of people end up trading them out.

 

Thanks very much for the replies gentlemen.

Do you know what size the S swaybar is? It appears that the Cooper is 16MM and aftermarket units are 19 and 22 mostly.

 

I believe the S rear swaybar is 19 mm.

>>Thanks very much for the replies gentlemen.
>>
>>Do you know what size the S swaybar is? It appears that the Cooper is 16MM and aftermarket units are 19 and 22 mostly.
>>

 

While we're on the subject...does anyone have experience with a front/rear upgrade? It seems that the rear bar upgrade is popular, but I know that there are F/R kits out there. Is the balance that good with just the rear upgrade, that a F/R kit would be wasted money?

 

I've got a Cooper with the Sport Suspension Plus. What do I have for a rear swaybar? Not that it matters since I won't change it (I'm an avid autocrosser and want to stay in HS) but I'm curious.

Is the SS+ on the Cooper the same suspension the S uses?