What are the purpose of Endlinks,Sway bar and Control arms?

 

In the simplest terms, a swaybar will help improve your handling. Endlinks are used to adjust the preload on the swaybar, which is really only useful if you're corner balancing. Control arms are to adjust your camber.

 

Do you need all the three if you are installing coilovers?

 

You need them on the front with coilovers. The stock rear swaybar endlinks work fine with coilovers. The stock arms are too long and will bang into the front control arms. You'll need rear adjustable lower control arms to set the rear camber back to it's factory setting.

In my mind, you're better off doing all the suspension components at once. Swaybar, coilovers, camber plates, end-links, rear adjustable lower control arms, and corner balance. These suspension mods are so much better than trying to chase more horsepower with the MINI.

 

Thanks Countryboyshane and Maverickgun for the inputs!

 

...hmmm...control arms are partially repsonsible for controlling roll center location and migration and therefore weight transfer. Control arms are conected to the body or sub-frame and to a knuckle up front (mac strut) via a ball joint. SLA setups have an upper and lower control arm - upper is shorter, hence short and long arm supension - SLA.

Anti roll bars/swaybars control weight distribution - balance. The side affect is flatter cornering. Unfortunately this is the predominant reason these are upgraded.

Endlinks connect the swaybar to a portion of the suspesnion that forces weight transfor across the car - diagonally. Typical these are connect to the control arms. On the mini the front endlinks connect to the shocks. The shocks spin as the wheel is turned, this in combination with a suspension that moves up and down places a lot of articulation requirment on the front endlinks...about 50 degrees from memory. Ball joint type endlinks have about 53 degrees of articulation. Heim joint types about half that and for this reason hiem joint endlinks should be avoided up front...and adjusted in the rear with springs removed.

 

When you say, need them, what are you referring to? End links for the front setup? I'm on ST coilovers and the only other parts I needed were the rear control arms. I suppose, I might need new endlinks for the fronts if I were to go crazy low up front, but I'm only down 1.2" , and I have no rubbing, vibrations, nothing up front.

I agree with you in that you should do it right the first time. But doing it right depends upon what your goals are. If you're looking for a great track setup, then yes, by all means, get all of the parts that you've mentioned. BUT, if you're only going for looks, then you won't need all of that -- with a caveat. If you're not going extremely low, you may be able to get away without anything for camber adjustments.

The only extra part I think is "necessary" is the rear lower control arm to adjust the camber settings. BUT, some people run crazy camber settings and don't have too many issues. Those same people say that as long as you have toe adjusted to 0, then you can run any camber settings you.

For instance, in my situation, I wanted a mild drop (~1.2) for looks. I wanted coilovers in case I change my mind in the future. For now, all I needed were the coilovers (ST) and the rear control arms. I also needed 5mm spacers for the front to fix some clearance issues. Also because I'm not inclined to do any track days, I didn't need front camber plates, rear sway bars, endlinks, etc...

As far as corner balancing is concerned. That's a rather large expense if you're not tracking the car. That's the ONLY reason I can see to do it. If you're going for looks, just adjust your coilovers to where it looks right

My camber settings up front are -1, my toe and caster are within factory spec. My rear camber is -1 -- I didn't want an aggressive setup, because all I'm doing is lowering for looks. If I want more performance, maybe I'll dial them in to around -1.7 or 2, but for now I'm happy. My rear toe is 0.

Anyway, just my opinion. Feel free to disagree

 

Does the OP understand whatt endlinks, swaybars and control arms are and how they function? This was a fairly basic question...

 

Does no one actually study, research, learn any more?