Hey everyone I'm new to the mini world but old to the "car modding" world. I've done sway bar kits on a few of my past projects and I've always changed both front and rear.

I would like to know why it seems like no one is changing the front sway bar on the Mini's and only changing out the rear?

I was looking to pick up the complete Hotchkis competition front and rear kit but now i need to know what everyone else in the mini community know that i don't. I tried doing a front sway bar install thread or youtube video and came up with no information.

 

This may be oversimplified, so hopefully someone will correct me if I'm off:

To correct understeer or oversteer using front/rear sway bars, you want to either stiffen the rear sway bar and soften the front sway bar or vice versa. As a front wheel drive car, the MINI Cooper suffers from a bit of understeer common to FWD cars. The stiffer rear sway bars help make it more neutral so it doesn't understeer, and it doesn't require a softer front sway bar.

 

that covers it^^

 

Thanks for that info fellas. Guess that saves me a couple hundred bucks and several hours from not having to do the front bar. Any recommendations on the best rear bar or its all subjective?

 

Personally I prefer the 25mm hollow, same rigidity and performance of the 22mm bar but less weight than the 19mm.

 

Are you guys upgrading the end links also or just reusing the stock ones?

 

Unless it's lowered, stock ones should be fine.

 

also the front sway diameter difference isn't much different than a stock front sway bar, so all that work and nearly no difference. im sure if helps when you race.... whereas the rear is a lot easier to change, and makes a big difference. I have the 25.5mm hollow and its amazing, not sure why people get the 19mm, the 25 is great, and save weight over the stock size

 

hollow here too, on stiffest setting. I use the stock end links and I'm on jcw springs

 

I went with a 19mm bar, and like it. I like to do autocross and track days, but I also have to drive in snow in the winter and I don't want the tail coming around on me all the time. So I went with the 19 so I can run it full stiff for play days and full soft for snow days. I've never driven with a hollow bar so I can't say for sure that it would be a pain in the snow but I figured I'd rather not find out the hard/expensive way. I even kept my stock bar and bushings so that I can put it back on in the winter if needed, but I doubt I'll need to.

 

Thanks for all your great info guys!!

 

I'll chime in as someone with front and rear H-Sport "competition" sway bars. I put competition in quotes because my car is just a daily driver. I talked to Way Motor Works about upgrades and he suggested to do both bars rather than just the rear.

I can't compare both bars to just a rear bar, but it made sense to me to stiffen both ends of the car rather than just the rear. (of course the rear ends up stiffer than the front to reduce understeer) It could be overkill, but I remember the first spirited drive I did after my suspension was done and the car felt wonderfully stiff compared to stock.

I had the bars installed the same time as springs and dampers so I don't know how each piece affects the handling by itself, but I definitely like the effect of the whole package.

 

I get horrible wheelspin I can't imagine adding more front sway! I have to square of turns or it just spins

 

^^ this, and that you have to drop the subframe (at least on R53's) to replace the sway bar.

 

Hmmm. Well, my car being a daily driver doesn't get driven that hard. (So why modify the suspension? Why not?! And the ride actually improved!)

But that brings up an important point which is to modify your car based on what you want to do with it, and make sure you have a cohesive plan before you start modifying.

Just a rear bar might be the right solution for someone, both bars might be the right solution for someone else - depending on what you want and depending on what other mods you're making.