I have engine and intake mods in mind, but other than a rear sway bar, which other suspension mods are worth the loot?

Thanks!

 

IE fixed camber plates. Cheap and effective, durable too as they are brutally simple. If it wasnt for the fact that I am running 225/45/17 tires I would have already puts some in.

 

A set of springs from either TSW or H-Sport is a great mod that is worth the $$

 

+1 for the IE fixed camber plates. And you can minimize mushrooming of the tower to boot.

An '03, eh? check your struts, only a 50k mile lifetime. Thus, get koni yellows or bilstein SP if you must do lowering springs. Keeping the stock springs, Koni FSDs or the Bilstein SPs will do.

 

+1 on all the above.

BTW I have a set of lightly used IE camber plates and h-sports that I could make you a deal on

* Now back to topic *

 

kinda depends on you I reckon?

they vary from cheap to rather expensive, and from mild to wild - one person's answer can be undriveable for another individual

we've folks here that don't like a hard ride (not TOO hard anyway) and some that drive on rough roads, and some that like lowering, and others that are disinclined to dodge speed bumps to preserve their undercarriage, and still others that road race, and certainly those that autocross...

so tell us please? what are your goals for spending your hard won cash?

that would probably influence the advice you receive in return...

i can tell you how to get your mini to out corner a stock Ferrari, but I assure you there are significant trade-offs involved... my wife will not drive the car any more...

 

Fair question.....

I'd like some better handling..... but I don't intend to be hitting the track every weekend, but a track day here and there with my club may happen

This is my daily driver.... but my ride is 3.0 miles of curvy backroads

Sooooooooooooo, does that help?

 

yep - sure does... and not surprisingly it puts me in agreement with many of the preceding posts (though folks are quick to prescribe their own medicines I find)

just for starters, your mini is more than a match for any back road as is. pretty much any further chassis mods will produce improvements that you should NOT notice much on a public road ('nless yer a bit daft )

Minis will tend to plow if they are pushed past the available traction - also described as understeer. Most folks tackle that as though it were a bad thing, but outside of competition is isn't - it's safe. The reason is just that for most of us it's easier to deal with a car that wants to go straight when things get crazy, as opposed to a car that wants to spin.

The camber plates will reduce understeer, the rear sway bar will also. The combination taken together can turn the understeering Mini into a car that will spin if you lift your throttle foot as a response to a corner that unexpectedly tightens. Mine is now so balanced on that knife edge that I can change from understeer to oversteer by altering tire pressures slightly.

Aftermarket shocks can help control roll and pitch, but at the price of a stiffer ride. A car that will hold the road at 100mph on an uneven surface will also rattle your teeth over a railroad junction.

In another thread someone offered a great piece of advice on this kind of question, and I'll re-use it....

Try other Minis if you can - if you can get a first hand impression of the effect of some of these mods then you can spend your funds with confidence.

It will keep you out of the closed loop phenomena that besets some of us, which is essentially a two step: (1) part with a lot of cash, and then (2) convince yourself that it was well spent after the fact!

My own course was to find a reputable tuner, and essentially use them as "crew chief" to matchc mods to the behaviors I needed. I used Turner Motorsports but there are many folks that are experienced and a pleasure - indeed quite a few of them are on NAM.

So try before you buy if you can, and remember what you have is already damned good, and be conservative.

Of course opinions are like noses...

 

Thanks Charlie, a lot of good advice and things to consider before jumping online and spending.
I do have a great speed shop not too far away that I was going to have do some exhaust and intake mods, so I will ask their advice. They are great for not trying to sell you stuff you don't need, and will let you know if something is a waste.
I will also try and get in the cockpit of some of my club's minis (if they let me) and see what some of their mods have accomplished.

Thanks again.

 

IMHO, camber plates are silly for a mostly-street and highway car. They will transmit more noise and harshness to the car, and there are other places in the MINI suspension that need work first, assuming that your goal is to go faster while retaining street comfort.

In order by price, I'd suggest:

- Adjustable rear swaybar,
- OMP lower frame brace and MINI cabrio diagonal braces,
- non-runflat tires,
- Lightweight wheels,
- Koni FSD shocks (some prefer other shocks, or coil-overs for racing)
- Camber plates and adjustable control arms - neither is needed until you get to the point of corner weighting and dialing in your suspension settings for to be competitive while racing

 

true for all but the IE fixed plates. From their construction, a factory top strut mount from a heavier car is bolted to a sturdy plate a wee bit inboard to give a 1.25 degree increase in negative camber (at least for the r50/53). the mount itself looks like it's from an e46 or an e36. the bushing holding the bearing (how's that for alliteration) is thicker than stock. NVH should be on par, if not less than (my experience), with the stock top mount. and the pair of plates is under two c notes, to boot.

an improved rear sway bar by itself will not improve front grip through the turn. In my experience, the limited stock front camber (-0.5 or less) will contribute to excessive wear on the outside shoulders of the front tires in spirited cornering. well, I guess my driving is causing the excessive wear.

that being said, like everyone, I have an opinion.