Hello,
So, i got new wheels and tires as a christmas present from my very generous mom, and have decided to sell my stock X-lites (if anyone wants them, please let me know, I'll give you a good price). With the money i plan on getting some parts to upgrade my suspension. So there's two routes im considering going at the moment. The first, which is what im leaning towards, is to go with some IE fixed camber plates, and a rear sway bar (can't decide between 19 or 22mm, kinda thinkin 19), or to go for some lowering springs, and maybe a sway bar too. I don't mind the stock height, although lower would be nicer. I am also going to be doing the work myself. I drive very aggressively, never in the snow, and plan to do some autoX sometime in the near future. I also run 15" wheels, so the car is pretty low at this point.
Which way should i go? oh and with either one, i'll need an alignment, right? how much should i expect that to cost me?
Thanks!
-Austin

 

Nice looking car, and what a great gift too!

A hell of a long time ago, my mum put four Michelin XAS radials under the tree for me, for my Triumph Spitfire. Too cool.

If you are going autocrossing, make sure you know what class. The mods you discuss will put you in one of the Street Touring classes. I hear the Bay Area SCCA folks do a very nice job, so I'd urge you to fall in love with the sport.

That being said, I'd use the following priorities:
1. rear bar
2. more camber at the front

And then, if you've truly lost your mind and found a wad of cash...
3. coil overs

And by the way there's 18" of snow outside, and I wish I were back in Mill Valley...

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Start with the Hsport comp rear sway bar that will be perfect for you.

Then think about the other stuff, the best thing to do is install the bar and drive it for awhile then decide what you want to do next. This way you'll also see how much the bar by itself gives you.

 

I have that bar and love it! No more understeer

 

I would also do the rear bar first on your budgt. Also think about endlinks for the front and rear bars, they are easy to change out and improve the bar responce. The H-Sport COMP rear bar can be a little much to handle for some people (ESPECIALY ON THE HIGHER SETTINGS), they also make a great street bar which I think is a 19mm. WAY has what in my opinion is the best endlinks around (ASK HIM ABOUT THE OLD TSW LINKS) they will not flex under load and realy tighten things up.

I have no experiance with the IE fixed plates but havent heard anything bad about them.

If you decide to lower the car in the future keep in mind that it is wise to do rear controll arms at the same time, (AT LEAST THE LOWER ONES) for camber correction.

Hope this helps.

 

One thought....
The swaybar is awsome, but you will need the big swaybar less once you get front camber plates...so if you go huge now, you might have a less than ideal set-up once the camber plates are installed. It is all about balance...and if you have never driven a neutral balanced car, get a few track/driver education days in...it will be an eye opener...better on the track than on a wet ramp...The swaybar is great, but you must know how to use it, and do it safely!! Spun out in the median is not good motoring!!

 

Thanks for all the replies guys! I think i might go for a 19mm sway bar and the camber plates at the same time, that way im setting the car up in the front and the rear. Later on i might get the V-maxx coilovers, or something similar (might go for koni yellows) but for now, i think that'll set me up!
Thanks again! if theres any other comments/ideas, let me know!
-Austin

 

Your from the Bay Area so a suggestion for the coming year would be to sign up for this:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...hunder-ii.html I did this years event and next years should be even better.

I think your right to add the fixed plates and a 19mm rear bar because together they work well together.
You should also think about a TSW X brace to stiffen it up some.
Then when you get more money struts or coilovers may be in order.

Hope this helps...

 

If you want to autocross then the first thing you need to consider is what class do you want to be in?

Typically the best starting point is to try autocrossing in a stock MINI. You can keep the stock wheels and upgrade the tires to either better summer tires or if you have a separate wheel of stock size then R compound tires but that's more for someone experienced.

Adding any suspension upgrades (except for Koni Shocks or any front swaybar) would put you into a more competitive class such as Street Touring or Street Prepared. If you don't care what class you are in then it doesn't really matter what you add.

For better handling-
Front fixed camber plates are helpful- you move from -0.5 to -1.25 degrees negative in front but you cannot adjust them if they are different right to left. You do need to do alignment after camber plate install or with any lowering.

Alignment can be more aggressive than stock. Front toe about 1/16" to 1/8" toe out and rear toe to 1/16" toe in. Early year MINIs don't have rear camber adjustment (2005 and on do) so you may need adjustable lower rear control arms at some point. You want front camber as negative as possible and rear camber same or a little less negative is good.

19mm rear swaybar is OK since you can use all the adjustment holes for street use or for performance driving. More stiff will increase oversteer and reduce understeer. Try the middle setting first then adjust if the back end comes loose too easily. The H-sport comp bar is also OK but geared more for competition with less weight due to hollow construction and you'd use the softest setting first then adjust. I think either bar would be OK for you.
The H comp bar is pretty stiff.

Lowering your MINI helps with handling but try not to go too low since you want to still drive it on the street. One option is to go with just Koni Yellow shocks and TSW linear Springs which is a good combination with the rear bar and camber plates.

see
http://www.waymotorworks.com/tsw-min...e-springs.html
http://www.waymotorworks.com/koni-ye...rt-shocks.html

http://www.waymotorworks.com/h-sport...-bar-19mm.html
or
http://www.waymotorworks.com/h-sport...-sway-bar.html

 

Thanks for all the replies guys! I think i know what i want to do now:
-IE fixed camber plates (i may opt for some adjustable ones if the camber is different left to right)
-Whiteline 20mm rear sway bar (i figure its a little stiffer than 19)
-TSW springs
-Koni yellow struts (at a later date)
-H-sport or similar rear control arms

I think that will wrap up the suspension for how i want it. Oh and i'll probably do an under strut brace fairly soon as well, considering i have 71k miles. As far as the autoXing goes, im honestly not super concerned about what class im in. I already have aftermarket wheels, so that takes me out of the stock class anyways. I'd only be doing it for fun anyways, and an upgraded car would be more fun than the stock car. Im really only modding for fun, although i think its time to ditch the stock suspension as the springs are sagged a bit i believe, and the struts seem to be getting tired. We'll see where it goes. I dont really want to lower the car more than 3/4" as i already scrape the little lip thing under the front bumper quite frequently. Anyone know how much i should expect an alignment to cost? obviously at 17, i dont have a huge amount of money to upgrade with, especially considering most of my earnings go into the gas tank

 

I had a 4 wheel alignment at Bay Bridge Motors in Oakland for $93.00 dollars.

http://baybridgemotors.reachlocal.net/

They also installed my Ireland fixed camber plates, a JCW 18.5 rear sway bar and the TSW X brace.

Hope this helps...

 

so was the $93.00 for just the alignment, or did that include the installation of those upgrades?
and thanks, that does help

 

Yes, just for the alignment.

 

Just to let you know, there is a set of Yellow Koni's listed on NAM Marketplace.
They don't have springs but that's a simple fix.
Good luck.

 

I think you are going the right direction with camber plates and rear bar.

A 4-wheel alignment will be in the $100 range.
You will need to decide on your specific alignment specifications because you will not want the stock alignment settings.
- Make sure the shop will adjust to non stock settings.
- Make sure the alignment shop will adjust the rear toe because it is a pain (trial & error) without the BMW tool and some shops will not do it because they do not have the tool. The tool is not necessary to perform the rear toe adjustment.
- Make sure you and the shop agree on negative verse positive measure for toe-in and toe-out.

For example I use the following settings:
Front Left Camber: -2.0 deg
Front Right Camber: -2.0 geg
Front Left Toe: -0.07 deg (toe-out)
Front Right Toe: -0.07 deg (toe-out)
Front Caster is not adjustable.
Rear Left Camber: -1.5 deg
Rear Right Camber: -1.5 geg
Rear Left Toe: +0.00 deg (zero Toe or a little toe-in)
Rear Right Toe: +0.00 deg (zero toe or a little toe-in)

 

In my area alignment by specialty shops are about $90 to $120 and they can do full factory spec for MINI or any settings you want.

The above settings are aggressive but can be used for driving school, autocross or street use. Usually alignment will last about one year depending on your roads and how much performance driving you do.

Stock alignment has front camber about -0.5 and it is not adjustable.
When adding Fixed front camber plates you get more negative but it is not adjustable, so although you pay less than with a fully adjustable camber plate you get less camber. Ideally you want as much front negative camber as you can get- usually about -2.4 degrees with adjustable camber plates.

Front toe in stock settings is slightly toe in but for performance driving you want it to be zero toe or slightly toe out for quicker turning response up to what was mentioned or a little less if you want less wear on the front tires with street use. It's all a compromise.

Rear camber should be less not more negative roughly 0.7 to 1.0 degree less negative than the fronts if you use camber plates in front. About -1.2 to -1.5 degrees is OK and it is adjustable with adjustable lower control arms.

Rear toe in stock setting in slightly more toe in than the fronts, you can set them for zero toe or slightly toe in for more straightline stability and less tire wear.

Typically you want right and left settings to be the same but that is not always the case if you have worn suspension or an older MINI. Although the front adjustable camber plates can allow for even more negative camber than mentioned, your suspension parts may limit travel and determine what actual values you get.

Front negative camber is important for anyone that corners fast as the outer front tire will be able to use more of the full tire tread under cornering load. Using stock front camber settings you tend to excessive heat up and wear the outer treads fast which doesn't make full use of the tire and chews them up in a hurry. If you are going to pay more for good tires you might as well use them up evenly and make them last not to mention handling is much better when you are using more of the full width of the tire.

 

You sound like me when I first got my MINI, 16 years old... 5 years later and I my attitude has changed quite a bit. Keep some cash around to keep the car running, these cars can get very expensive very fast. Learn how to DIY everything, best money saver there is if you dont push it to far.

I would really say got to 2 or 3 autocorsses before you do anything else. These cars used to completely dominate G-Stock. You'll be in a modded class with the 15's though.

What year is the car?