If your looking for drop...it aint happenin' with TSW's...but they work great....that's what it's about

 

I want a slight drop, nothing more than an inch. Not even that much. Remember, PA roads and winters here. And because of the pricing, that's why I've been thinking JCW. If I could get it sans rear sway at a slightly lower price, it's perfect. Better ride, better manners in the turns, very slight drop (which is all I want), and factory quality.

 

My recollection is the JCW suspension for the r50/r53 has no rear bar upgrade. As for clearance for snow, JCW and Dinan have the smallest drop. Call Morristown and Classic to see what kind of deal you can get for the JCW.

With JCW, one thing to watch out for is spring clearance inside the strut tower. With the standard IE fixed plates and the bee hive shaped spring, there might be some rubbing with a reinforcement rib. Nothing that a little persuasion with a body hammer can't fix (TSW mentions this in their install pdf). You can request IE modify the plate for a wee bit less negative camber (or even to stock) to be sure. Though, with the stock beehive spring and IE plate, there is no rubbing through out the steering range in my Mini.

 

That's what the guy at Morristown told me today. What he didn't know is why the R53 kit is $200 less than the R50 kit. Any takers?

 

Ah yes, my bad. the R50 JCW kit does include upgraded sways (to r53 spec's). hence the r53 jcw kit has no sways. I seem to recall you mentioning an h&r 19mm already installed on your r50. So, an extra 200 puts the JCW closer to Dinan's kit. There, I'm not helping at all. Plus putting the thread waaay off from the OP's intent. Isn't sorting fun?

BTW, with just the IE fixed plates (front camber at -1.8 on both sides), I notice a wee bit of oversteer intent on the Mini's part in hard cornering. So try the h&r at full soft for the first few weeks. I have a stock r53 rear bar. Others have posted similar findings after an increase in negative front camber.

 

Actually, it's a Hotchkis bar but either way, it's the same thing. And the Dinan kit is about $400 more than the JCW kit. JCW is $825 and Dinan is damn near 1200. That's a bit of an easy decision maker to me. I'd love to go Dinan. It's the suspension equivilant of say, BBS wheels or something like that. But, damn that's a lot money to drop on springs and struts.