I have recently rejoined the MINI family. I had an '03 R53, which l loved dearly, but sold a couple years ago. I bought a Clubman for my wife last July, and I liked it so much that I bought myself another MCS. I've now driven it for around 3000 miles. On the (sport package-equipped) R53, what I mostly remember about the suspension is that it cornered well with very little body lean but was pretty harsh. Anything less than a very smooth road felt like driving over boulders.

It could be my faulty memory, but the R56 seems to be much smoother and more compliant. While that is nice, it also seems to not have nearly as 'direct' a feel to it, and it leans a lot more in the corners than I remember from the R53. I understand that there is a price to be paid for flat cornering, and I would rather not go all the way back to the rawness/harshness of the R53. But, I wouldn't mind getting partway there. My cyberfriend Ryephile advises me to replace the lower control arms with the Alta PSRS to get the more direct/linear feel back to the steering wheel, which I plan on doing in the next month or so.

So my question is this; would a larger rear anti-sway bar help flatten out the corners without adding additional harshness to the ride? This is my daily driver; almost always only one or two people in the car at a time. I did not get the sport suspension on this one; seemed to be a pretty high price for only a modest improvement at the time I was placing my order.

Thanks in advance,
Phil

 

Your observation about the R56 feeling smoother and less direct are absolutely correct. I think the rough suspension and NVH was complained about enough that BMW choose to appeal to a wider audience with this latest generation. The springs and shocks are generally more compliant, and also the bushings used throughout the suspension are much softer leading to the detached feel compared to an R53. Ryephile is right, replacing the front control arm bushings will help. I have the Mini Madness Poly bushings and they definitely improved steering feel. I've heard the Alta PSRS is even less compliant which equals more direct at the expense of maybe a little more NVH through the steering column.

Installing a 19mm adjustable rear sway bar will reduce body roll and understeer, keeping the car flatter and improving turn in.

I do strongly recommend if at all possible, riding in a car with the mods you are considering. I learned the hard way that I didn't always achieve what I was hoping for by taking the advice I got on the forums, sometimes at great personal expense.

If you're ready to act though, I'd recommend doing the rear sway first. It will help address the shortcomings with no compromise to ride quality and low cost. The control arm bushings are great but quite expensive once you factor in the labor if you're not a very serious and well equipped DIYer. It's a tricky install.

Best of luck with your tinkering . It is very rewarding when you get the car dialed in the way you want it.

 

I agree Phil, the R56 trades two helpings of "sportiness" for two helpings of comfort. Add in the bit of extra weight of the Clubman and you have probably a bit more comfort and inertia then you expected. I still recommend front control arm bushings, even though, as FugitiveAI notes, it's not a cheap or easy installation. Adding a stiffer rear anti-roll bar would indeed improve body control without adding any harshness to the ride. If you drive on extremely broken pavement or have lots of pot-holes, the added lateral stiffness of the suspension will make the ride a bit busier, but it won't be harsh. How much busier depends on which sway bar and what setting. If you added a 19mm bar and kept in on a soft or medium setting, you may not notice any difference in ride at all, but the handling and body motions will be tighter for sure. Another option is to find someone that has taken off their sport suspension dampers and springs and install those...or go straight for JCW suspension [or KW Variant 1 if you want to lower your MINI, as I installed on my daily-driver R56.]

I hope that helps!
Ryan

 

Yep, sway bars don't affect the ride of the car, but improve handling a ton.

 

Thank you all for your timely and relevant replies. Your suggestion to test a car before doing the work seems obvious (now), but I hadn't even thought about it. I will definitely try to locate a car to do that. My brother has volunteered to do the suspension wrenching - he's an actual mechanic, though his experience with British cars is limited mostly to old Jaguars and TR6's (his first job as a mechanic was for a Triumph/Rover dealer; he says they didn't sell too many cars, but the ones they did sell were always breaking down so he stayed busy). I will pay him of course, but he won't charge me nearly as much as it would cost at a commercial shop. And I'll get the added benefit of helping him and working (sort of) on my own car.

 

I have been reading about suspension for so long that I really didnt know which setup to go with because of information overload and too many varying opinions on setups! I finally went with KW V1 Coilovers mainly because there is very little negative comments about them , everyone that has them loves them, and they just look good! Your opinions and writeups about the coilovers, Ryan, really pushed me to get them. I cant wait for them to arrive and install them!

-chad

 

If you're ever in the bay area I'd be happy to meet up and give you a ride. I have the JCW suspension, 22mm rear sway bar, and all the Mini Madness poly bushings on my car. The ride rocks and is still very good for a daily driver.