I bought a 2008 R52 JCW convertible last year with 25k miles - tons of fun and now I am getting the bug to do some mods. I find the power is pretty useless at launch and even at slow speeds as the front end gets all squirelly and its a mess. I have to turn off the DSC or else it is almost undrivable with that front end acting up. I believe I have a limited slip already but am not sure if it is standard on all JCWs or if there were different ones. I have one of the last of the supercharged series if that matters. Here is what the dealer printed out when I gave them my VIN:

http://minicooperjcw.weebly.com/

Any ideas on what type / if I even have a LSD.....if I do, I have to admit I am very disappointed with it and from what I have been reading on these forums for the last 2 hours, the Quaife is the way to go....

 

02DA appears to be an LSD.

What tyres do you have?

 

It seems to have some type of LSD but the question is what type is it.....and is it worth anything?.....I just haven't driven enough cars with and without to be able to compare..... on the recommendation of my mini dealer rep who does autocross with his mini, I put on a set of Hankook Ventus R-S3....I got them as big as the wheel wells would allow (215/45/17) to get a bit more rubber down....

 

Hankooks are a good choice.

I found changing all my engine and gearbox mounts helped stop the DSC intruding so much. Unfortunately you've bought a 230HP FWD car. Some scrabble is inevitable.

 

I think re learning a driving style to suit the car will be a big help.
the stock LSD is a great help compared to a Open diff.
and you could have put bigger tires on the car I run a 225 with plenty of room.
More likely than not your front end problems are more related to blown control arm bushings.
put a breaker bar on the wheel with the car on the ground and attempt to "tighten" the wheels see if they move fore and aft in your wheel wells..

 

Uhh.... somewhat less, I think.

 

Killer package from Tirerack...love the ride and the look! 16x7.5 rims and 205/50R/16 for tires...kept it simple....

 

My mistake, 210BHP according to Wikipedia.

 

You can definitely learn to drive around an open diff but if you really want the tires to stay connected you're going to have to swap in a real diff. We have the e-diff on the JCW and it works-ish. If we do end up with a diff it'll be the OS Giken

 

so do JCWs typically have an electronic diff as opposed to a real mechanical one?

http://minicooperjcw.weebly.com/

Does this really tell us anything about my specific one?

 

E-diff was not available in 1st gen MINI (including the R52). The factory mechanical LSD was the only option.

 

so is my DSC switch not related to the diff? I find the car undrivable with it on - it will just cut power erratically....

 

That's correct, DSC is not related to your diff. DSC is triggered when wheel slippage is detected, or when the car's motion doesn't match the angle of the steering wheel. You might be able to improve it by getting better road traction with grippier tires or suspension upgrades.

 

As far as Diff's go, yes your's is mechanical and under most conditions is as good as anything out there.

I agree with Collin, if you're getting wonder from your front end you should look into other things like lower control arm bushings & ball joints. (most likely bushings)
I have an '05 with the same diff. as you and considerably more power & torque than stock, and unless I have a complete loss of high speed wheel spin (wet conditions),even with my traction issues it still wants to go fairly straight, so much so that I have to be very cautious of loosing traction in a curve.

 

I am sure a lot of this is my ignorance of these issues and how much a good LSD can really do...But if I am at a standing stop in dry conditions, I can VERY easily get one wheel spinning if I am dragging another car. I feel like I have to modulate 50% of the cars power with the clutch to prevent that ..... I thought a good LSD would allow me to "modulate" a lot less and get more power to the road (to the non-spinning wheel)? Am I missing something here?

 

You may simply be expieriencing the woes of light weight FWD w/ power while you're "at the drag strip". Best way to see if your LSD is working properly would be wait for wet conditions, turn off your DSC and get them to spin from a stop, if the front end feels very light & seems to want to wander, then yes it's working.

That being said, back to lower control arm bushings, if they're worn, you're getting excesive movement that will absolutely effect traction from a standing start. I went from a worn out set of PSRS's to new PowerFlex's and it made a world of difference.