hey everyone, i was wondering if upgrading the front sway bar on the 06 MCS will do the same thing as adding a under strut system to the car? or does the under strut system do something completely different? are there any recommendations for a under strut system? will adding a 27mm front sway bar help out a lot for normal street driving( i drive on a lot of twisties) or is it not need? need all the info.

thanks josh

 

Completely different purposes. USS aids in stiffening chassis only felt in more extreme driving situations ie: track & auto-x use. While front sway bar mitigates body roll, but do note that a front swaybar by itself may increase tendency to understeer, a negative handling charchteristic. Unless that is mitigated by much larger (22mm or 25mm) rear sway bar to compensate for larger front bar and bringing it to a more nuetral charchteristic.
Most people prefer only a 19mm rear sway to minimize body roll and decrease understeer, inherant by design on MINIs.
Other "under strut systems" besides M7 are Texas Speed Works and some have done the OEM "uss" on the MCS convertible, but thats more expensive and a PITA install as well.

BTW: I always drive from Laguna Seca on Laureles Grade Rd to Carmel Valley Rd (left) all the way to Arroyo Seco Rd all the way to City of Soledad. Very fun roads, give them a try, but remember to gas up cause Chevron in Village is the last gas stop till Soledad.

 

HOWSOONIS1985- i am a student at csumb and i like drive those roads all the time. would like to go to laguna seca and have some fun with my mini.

would a "uss" be good to have and make my driving experience more fun or should i use the money in other places? i am going to buy a rear sway bar, a rear upper strut bar, and a front upper strut bar. would the "uss" be a good addition to those suspension upgrades? are you the one i see driving the GP around here or is that someone else? thanks for your help

josh

 

If you are looking for better handling in the twisties, get the Hotchkis Sport 25mm hollow rear bar, and keep the factory front bar as is, at least until after you have replaced the rear one and taken a few of your favorite corners....

Replacing the front bar can be very expensive as the front subframe needs to be removed for installation.....labor intensive.

The HK Sport hollow rear 25 mm bar is the best one out there, and this mod alone will put a very HUGE grin on your face.....

 

25mm rear bar without a bigger front one? Isn't that a bit too much? I have the 22mm Alta bar (but it is full I think, not hollow) and the stock front bar and it's already much, much less understeering

 

The H-S Comp. bar is 25 mm, hollow and has effective 22mm rate. Of course it is lighter than a solid 22mm bar which is a plus. The H-Sport bar also has 3 end link holes for adjust ability.

 

Maybe, I'm always at the Borders in Sand City and CHOMP main hospital, upper ragsdale road and hartnell street offices. Check out this track day, at Laguna Seca by hooked on driving on Dec 14 its only $345. BMW Golden Gate usually has a track day at Laguna Seca between Dec 28 and Jan 1, but before enrolling into BMW HPDE you gotta complete a Car Control Clinic on Oct 10 at Marina Airport. I would go with a 22 or 25.5mm rear sway bar, Kumho XS/Dunlop Star Specs type tires and camber plate and thats it. Also, check out Marina Airport on sundays, between bmwcca, pca and scca there is an autocross nearly every sunday there. Anther fun ride is the 1 south toward cambria. Also alot of great roads in Santa Cruz Mountains.

 

With a bigger front bar, you will increase front roll stiffness at the expense of some front end grip. Given how well the stock MINI suspension handles slaloms and other heavy transition elements in autocross situations, I'd say that there is little to be gained in exchange for the extra push.

If I didn't care about staying legal for an autocross class that mandates stock springs and rear bars (I do) I would start with springs, looking for something at or close to stock height but with higher, linear rates, appropriately valved dampers once I was happy with the spring rates, then leave the anti-roll bars for last. They're meant to be subtle force modifiers, not the major players (e.g. they're tiny on F1 cars). As it is I will be going in the direction of upgraded struts and, possibly, a smaller front bar to help the front end put power down.

 

I'm stock in the front, and a 25mm HK hollow sway in the rear. I was over at Buttonwillow autocross track a couple months ago. And it was amazing, E92 M3 (beat) C6 corvette (beat) Audi RS4 (beat it). So I have no complaints. But Do wish the front has the 27mm for more aggressive and abusive driving. As mentioned before, having the stock front and 19mm in the rear is great. But if you want to move on to ultimate driving 25mm in the rear is preffered, and a 27mm in the front if you want.

 

^^^^Very aggresive driver AZ Region ST Champion, 27mm H-sport front, Alta 22mm rear!

 

Kavs, this is not how a larger sway works at all. When you put a larger sway bar on you are tying the wheels together more. When you put a larger sway on the rear there is a tendency for the inside wheel to lift when cornering hard. A larger sway on the front will not lift the inside wheel when cornering hard but it will lighten the load on the inside wheel. If you don't have limited slip you will more likely spin the inside wheel when accelerating out of a corner. A larger sway also increases understeer, not a desirable handling characteristic.

Keep the stock front sway bar or go smaller, your car will handle better.