We purchased an 09 clubman S with std suspension
The sport suspension was written up as overly stiff and our MA indicated the same, so we opted for the std. suspension
I had just sold my father's stealth which had overly stiff sport suspension and did not want the same situation

I have noticed, as an example, that when changing highway lanes the car darts once the center is crossed
My question is if the combination of direct acting steering with std (softer) suspension results in a bad combination?

I just got back from a 500 mile round trip to Quebec and back and the darting was very noticable whenever the pitch of the road changed the car would follow

For those of you in the snow belt: the car is okay in the snow but realize that the lack of weight leads to the car being pushed sideways by the snow / road condition of the road; caught me by surprise trying to pass the 1st time on the highway; car is equipped with Nokian Hackapilltta 4's (studdable); otherwise okay

 

Congradulations on your new Clubman S.

I have 1G with Sport Plus suspension. And still using the harsh run flat tires. Personally, I prefer the stiffer ride as a trade off for the added fun factor. Mine too has a tendency to dart at the crest of roads, esp if the lane has worn tire ruts up the middle like Rt 2 to Boston........wait until you travel that stretch before Gardner / Leominster. It's worn like the way old chuck wagons did on dirt muddy roads....
I was told by my MINI dealer I needed new Control Arm Bushings, and that was the cause. Personally, I beleive the design of the car's track, wheel camber and other factors are what's to blame. I am getting the control arms done, but don't expect any changes in that regard.
I drove last week in some snow/ice with my Goodyear all season runflats.....and had no problems at all.

 

The old mohawk trail eh?
From where I live it's the mohawk trail or the molly stark biway ( what's a biway anyway?) if I travel east

 

i have an'08 mcs with sport suspension. i believe that the darty handling could be attributed to the "runflats". i(probably foolishly) changed my tires at 14000 miles to non-runflats. what a difference!!! i bought some all-season 205/45-17(same size) and my car is tremendously better in terms of handling and ride.

 

I have the same setup and I guess it could be described as a bit "darty". I don't think it's a bad setup however. Rather - I'd attribute it more to short wheelbase and narrow track. The short wheelbase is going to make it that much more responsive to steering input/road input and I think the narrow track makes it act differently when in the tram-lines on worn roads.

The one thing I've noticed is on certain concrete sections or tarmac where there's obvious wear - my runflats will set up a strange "interference" type noise that's really loud.

Also - not that I'm in the snow belt or anything but the Clubman isn't really all that light...

 

We have a 08 Clubman S with sport suspension, limited slip differential and snow tires and it tracks wonderfully. We have had several storms this winter here in Germany and the Clubman performs like my 4x4 in the snow.

S

 

Yep, I'm with Scott...

'08 Clubbie S with Sport Suspension and LSD. Got my Blizzaks on and it tracks like a little tank...

 

The MINI w/ snow tires is AWESOME in SNOW for sure. Yes the S suspension is stiff....Thats why its Sport Suspension, you wouldnt want softies in the corner would you?

 

OP consider putting a JCW rear sway bar on yr car, I have an 09 MCS w/out SS and it was "darty" until the rsb got thrown on last week. much better in the curves as well, less roll/lean. kind of the best of both worlds.

The bar is very reasonable, under $100/parts and about 1.5 hours of dealer labor if you get it done there

 

remember the SS is just a mm thicker sway bar...much better products for much less than $500 out there...and the tires are going to make a difference getting rid of run flats on handling.

 

My 07 MCS has sport suspension. I also noticed darty handling especially on the expressway. However, that went away when I ditched those worthless, crummy, lousy, brick-riding ruin flats.

 

Has this been confirmed? And how?

I thought that the dampers (and maybe springs) had different part numbers for the Sport Suspension?

 

Hey it's a MINI - "darty" ~ "go-karty"... If it didn't have these handling traits then would be the time for some serious belly-aching

 

I believe the stock suspension rsb is 15mm, sports suspension is 16mm, and I know the JCW rsb is 18.5 mm. Plus the JCW bar is cheaper than the SS rsb, for some odd reason.

 

Yeah, that's weird.

I think it's pretty clear the SS comes with a thicker RSB, but what about damper changes? As far as I knew that was kind of still up in the air.

 

My dealer installed my JCW rsb directly on my non-SS equipped 2009 S, no extra parts that I know of (or was told.)

 

OP: Are you talking about switching lanes when there's the little upgroove from snow in between of lanes? If so, the sudden darting is caused more by tires than by your suspension. You'll obviously notice this more apparantly at highway speeds than 15mph zones. Switch to snow tires and it goes away.

As for the JCW RSB: I would just get the 19mm RSB from Alta and DIY. Dealer labor at $115/hr is gonna be quite costly.

 

I've got the standard suspension with 17" Continential AS (run flat) tires on the Mini Pace Wheels and haven't noticed it being darty. I do plan on changing to standard tires when the stock RF's wear out hoping that ride will be a little quieter.