So I have a 05 Cooper with SS suspension (not SS+), I all ready have installed the omp upper strut brace and I'm waiting for my lower omp brace. When I install the lower front brace I will install a rear sway bar, I'm unsure of a 18mm or a 19mm. Any suggestions on my future set up?

 

if you're gonna go tracking or autoxing, then a 22mm would be a good decision. but if you're just gonna do some enthusiastic street driving, then a 19mm would be the best decision. 22mm for street driving is not necessary. go get a 19mm rear sway bar. the ALTA 19mm rear sway bar is very popular and recommended by a lot of people (or so i've read). a rear sway is my next mod for my R50. but if not the alta, then research on hsport or h&r. i'm sure you'll be satisfied with any 19mm bar you decide on.

hope that helps!
good luck!

 

Look in the classifieds for a used bar and get which ever one you can get the best deal on.

 

yeah look at the market too. there's a few there on sale.

 

Thanks Guys, I'm prety sold on H&R, the only thing is how much difference is there between a 18 mm, and a 19 mm? This is my first car that I haved owned were there are so many choices, I love it

 

I like the 22mm.

It gives the car a really good turn in feel, almost as responsive as my Miata was.

 

19

 

We have the Alta 22mm adjustable. If it is too much for you then you can run it on the softer settings

 

Yeah IMO get something adjust able, if you've never tinkered with it before you can start soft and easily work to the harder settings to find how it changes the dynamics and where it's most comfortable for your driving.

 

I have the SS suspension with a 19mm rear bar on the stiffest setting (have some TSW springs from AutoXCooper.com in the mail arriving next week). With my current setup I still have some understeer but can make it oversteer with trailbraking. Getting the 19 won't make your car unstable unless you do something stupid like brake mid turn when the cars at / near the limit. Even then if you have DSC (like I do) it'll catch you.

I don't have experience with the 22mm bar on a SS suspension.

 

Here are the numbers on swaybars, from Whiteline in Australia: http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/bulletins/010barup.pdf

And my analysis: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...57-post30.html

 

Thanks for the spread sheet thats great! I think I will go with the 18 mm which means 60% stiffer.

 

im pretty set on getting me a 19mm. like oldrick's analysis, 22mm on soft is still too stiff for a street only car. 19mm on stiff is perfect for a day-to-day enthusiastic drvier. and im not gonna be autox or tracking my car anytime soon. it'll be purely street/daily car for the next few years.

 

I don't think that you will find any 18mm bars available for the MINI. The upgrade choices I've seen are 17 (an S bar), 19, 20, or 22mm.

 

I run an Alta 25mm tubular (22mm effective) set on medium. Turn in and throttle steer on the track are phenomenal.

Street ride is fine for me but I'm kind of hard core...

 

? ? What is the difference between the OEM "Sport Suspension" and "Sport Suspension + (Plus)". I have asked this before here but no one could say.

 

SS+ has thicker front and rear sway bars and slightly stiffer springs than SS. SS comes stock on R50, SS+ is stock on R53 and an option on R50. I think dampers are different between the two.

 

oh.....Thanks much.

 

Anyone have a cooper front bar they want to unload. I am trying to find one.

 

H&R makes an 18mm rear bar for the MINI, I have one on my MCS. In conjunction with stiffer dampers, the 18mm is adequate and I prefer it to stiffer rear bars I’ve used. I find range of motion/independent suspension travel in the rear more practical in street use than the characteristics of a very stiff bar.

 

I believe the struts are the same, but I could be wrong

 

I've heard both ways which is why I didn't sound as confident on that point as I did on the springs / sways.

Side note: SS rear sway is 16mm, SS+ is 17mm; I think difference in front sway is ~2mm; I've read spring stiffness difference is only 5-10% (but numbers aren't published so not sure how accurate that is)

 

While this is a nice attempt at helping out, it has no bearing on anything other than this companies products. They have to be of the same material and production technique for these numbers to mean anything.

 

i did some searchng around after I posted that on realoem.com. And it looks like if you are a R50 owner, there is a non sport strut as well as a sport strut. Guess I was wrong.

 

Bigshot, I think that the Whiteline numbers are useful, given that:

a) All the solid bars are mild steel. No manufacturer would pay for a more costly alloy, as it is simply unnecessary expense and would add nothing to the product except a less-competitive higher price. Note that all the bars are about the same price, which would not be the case if higher-priced alloys were used. As a result, the steel used won't vary much in springiness.

b) All quality bars have forged ends, and are bent in the same shape by necessity - they have to fit in the same place to do the same job. Even if el-cheapo welded bar ends were used, the difference in stiffness of the bar would be trivial.

c) A size change of the bar makes a to-the-fourth-power difference, while any difference in likely materials would cause much less percentage change in stiffness.

d) I'd be quite surprised if any of the vendors actually bothered to make up a jig to measure the stiffness of their bar. I expect that their quoted specs are calculated from the size and hole position, not accurately measured.

So I think that the chart is useful for decision-making, since the quoted figures from several vendors are within a few percent of the calculated figures in the Whiteline chart, thus validating it. It's close enough, and even if it was off by a handful of percentage points for a bar, the difference would not be significant.