Achilless said the rear sway bar would make a noticeable difference, and it looks and sounds like a good investment. Just wanted suggestions on brands? Best deal?

Could I get this moved to the modifications section? Still getting a feel for the site.

Mr. G

 

Moved.

I have a 22mm Alta bar set on full stiff. It has worked well enough. The paint on both ends has been flaking off for at least 2 years now, with surface rust underneath. 50,000 miles on the bar, it is 4 years old. So it started to flake at 2 years old, with about 25,000 on the bar.

If I ever get enough time I'll pull the bar, chip & sand the paint then use Rust Bullet on it.

 

I just got a H&R 19MM bar.....(it is German, and it is of the quality you would expect....got it new for $178.62....still available)
It has 2 settings, some aftermarket bars have 3. But is is very nicely finished, very well built, and the color blends in. The bushings are Urethane/Teflon coated, and will never squeak or need lube (only available on H&R).
The negative...it is only a 19MM...2 MM more than the stock bar, 1 MM more than a JCW bar....but it does not make the car so neutral that it is tail happy...a bigger bar might be batter for auto-x, but for the street, the 19 IMO is just about right. It is nice for turns, and when it gets slick, will not make the car so tail-happy it will spin in the rain or snow.....
Many folks say go HUGE...like the hollow 25.5mm or the solid 22mm...both about the same stiffness, and for the track it would be great, but for a daily driver, driven in poor weather, or until you get some serious track time/driver education days, you may want to start small.
As for should you get one....the short answer is yes!! Good bang for the buck mod. It will change how the car feels.....so be ready for it. When you first put it on, be careful on ramps etc till you learn the change....

 

Im with Zippy. For me I have found a 19mm is enough. With the 19mm set to full stiff the throttle lift oversteer is pretty unsettling on high speed corners, especially off-camber ones. I have backed it off to the middle hole which seems better for high speed use. For autocross a very stiff rear sway bar will help rotate around the really sharp turns but a lot of my hard driving/cornering is on back/mountain roads at 50+mph so a more neutral/very light understeer is better.

 

I went with a 19mm H-Sport bar & am very happy with the handling improvement it made. Later I added a set of IE fixed camber plates that gave me -2 degrees camber to the front. Those two additions have made my MINI handle in the sweet spot.

 

Another vote for the 19mm H&R bar.
I have had it on over 4 years and the bushings still don't make noise.
Gave my car nice balance for street driving.

 

We Recommend the Hsport bars all the way. We've used other bars and some had issues, Never with the Hotchkis bars, So we have to say they are number one. They are all one peice bars so they have no welds, the powder coat never flakes off, and their bushings are special made to actually hold the grease in a channel in the bushing. On top of that the brackets have zerk fittings to regrease the bar if you ever need to, which other bars pretty much require removing the bar to regrease it.
The Hsport bar comes in a 19mm
http://www.waymotorworks.com/h-sport...-bar-19mm.html
or the Competition bar which is a 25.5mm hollow bar, but it is the same stiffness as a solid 22mm bar. But being hollow it will weigh 9lbs less than a solid bar, and be just as stiff.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/h-sport...-sway-bar.html

 

I have an extremely steep driveway, how do the ramps feel so different?

Thanks for all the input everyone, much appreciated

Mr. G

 

he might be talking about freeway on-ramps? You don't want to lose it when you are going freeway speeds.

 

Ok, in Nebraska, all of the roads are straight. So I needed a 22mm on full stiff for steering response and all of the 90º turns. I have camber plates and 4 rear control arms + poly bushings everywhere. -2º front, zero toe, -1.5º rear, slight toe-in.

On highway ramps, the car will rotate quickly if I lift off the throttle completely, so I generally keep it planted. The car can basically be steered through the ramps with throttle alone. In inclement weather, extra care must be used, but winter is tons of fun.

I'd almost call this behavior similar to an old Porsche, but I've only heard about what those were like. I've yet to drive one.

I've been on many trips to twisty roads, including the Dragon and surrounding area with the car set up like this. As long as I keep my wits about me, the car is easily managed. There were a few close calls, and I know that the middle setting would have been perfect for the sweepers.

 

Go with H-Sport (Hotchkis). I had H-Sport on my 2003 and now have an Alta on my 2006. I got the Alta because it was on sale for 50% off but the H-Sport is much better quality. I added H-Sport greaseable bushings to my Alta bar.

The H-Sport 25mm hollow is good if you are not going to add negative camber to the front. If you plan to add negative camber to the front (fixed or adjustable camber plates) I would suggest 19mm.

 

Best deal? Eibach rear sway bars go for about $100 shipped. Got mine for JSC Speed a long time ago.
There's another popular bar that is considered a good deal because it comes with custom endlinks for it. I can't remember the name of it though.

I've seen a lot of raves for the H-Sport, even from a lot of the vendors here. Actually, I have the H-Sport bushings and brackets on my Eibach bar.

Of course, the type of sway bar (how stiff) you should get depends on how you want drive the car and what kind of roads you drive it on.

 

The Ireland engineering bars with the endlinks seem to have a reputation for squeaking.....
Remember, the swaybar is a hunk of bent steel...you are paying extra for longer life (zero welds, and better paint/finish) and better bushings...ones that never need grease, or ones that are easily greasable with fittings. There is a huge amount of tourqe tring to twist thses bars...and poor bushings results in squeaks and thunks...something you will remember with every added squeek or thunk. The stock endlinks are strong enough for even the huge bars...you generaly need an offroad excursion to break one!!

 

I have 19mm Eibachs. Got em from jscspeed.com back in 08. So far, no squeaks, no problems. And I believe the Eibachs are one of the cheapest options (in price, not quality)

 

I'm with bungi I have the eibachs front and rear tirerack was clearing them out for 230 for both.

 

NAM sway bar reviews at: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...cat.php/cat/69

 

I agree that a rear sway bar will make a huge difference in your car. Just don't buy one from ALTA. They suck and clunk!

 

I've had a 19mm H-Sport rear bar on for about 4 years. No squeaks or rattles. It is a nice handling upgrade.

I bought mine from Helix....

http://www.helix13.com/mini/products/suspension-chasis

 

My Alta bar is nearly 4 years old now, no clunking and no sucking!

 

I'm very happy with my H-Sport comp. Sway bar. I went with this one because Way recommended it. It's set in the middle setting.

 

The bars do not produce a clunk...It must be something else. Off topic...I know you were having issues with a control arm, I think we deduced the problem was that yes?

 

Could be an end link or could be a worn out swaybar bushing. Kind of hard to diagnose things on a keyboard.

One thing the H-Sport has that the Alta does not is grease fittings so the bushings can easily be lubed if that makes a difference to you. It did for me.

Motor on....

 

I have an Alta 22mm 3 way adj bar and it works great for me. I have never had problems with noises from it. I lubed it up pretty liberally during install. I usually loosen the bracket a tad and lube it again during seasonal wheel changes, never a complaint.

I changed my springs to TSW and got a more aggressive alignment. The bar was set at full soft and it prooved to be not enough to get the reat to rotate. I like the ease of adjusting the bar to middle to get the car to rotate again.

Alta also provides great customer service IMO.

 

I believe the general consensus is; putting a larger rear sway bar in the car will make it handle better, regardless of who manufactured it... It's a cheap, easy mod that will make a world of difference in the way your MINI handles...

 

Like Nike says.....Just do it!