Since I swapped my old R53 for an R56 JCW last fall, I've not been overly impressed with the front-end precision of the new car - too much movement on full throttle, way too much wiggle under heavy braking, and sometimes alarming bump-steer. I let it be for the winter, but now that spring (and track / autoX season) is about to show up, I'm itching to dive in and get things sorted...

My plan thus far:
I'll definitely be swapping the stupid all-seasons the car came with for some lighter wheels and extreme-summers, which should help steering response and feel. I'm planning to do TSW springs to get the CG down a bit and help balance (had them on my R53 and loved them) and a bigger / adjustable RSB to fine tune things. I'm also thinking that biting the bullet and doing poly control-arm bushings and lower engine mount inserts while I'm in there is worthwhile, but correct me if I'm wrong.

What else am I over looking? Would a front strut bar be worthwhile? How about the under chassis cross bracing products from TSW or M7? Any other bushings worth swapping out? Should I look into messing with the alignment for reasons of precision / feel? I do autocross and track the car on occasion, but in reality it's mainly a spirited daily driver - and while I don't mind some compromise on the street, I don't really need a heavily track-focused setup.

 

The front strut brace is mostly bling. The TSW X-brace is nice, but I would consider doing the suspension first. Make sure you consider the new Swift springs. Also, some adjustable camber plates would definitely do a lot for your front end.

 

I just had alignment done properly at a suspension shop and it made a pretty big difference. My rears were really out of whack with lots of toe in and only one side had a lot of negative camber. I also did the free camber mod, so now I'm running -.7 up front with a little bit of toe in in the rear that zeros out under load.
The cars is much more freed up and rotates much nicer. Under lateral load the car is more predictable and reacts better with steering and throttle input. It don't mean to make it sound like a miracle and its not better then coil overs but its worth looking into.

My suggestion would be to find a shop that's familiar with Minis because the rear is really tricky to get right.

Cheers

Oh my car is 100% stock with the base non-sport suspension.

 

Are the Swifts linear? I absolutely must have linear-rate springs, and the TSW's are the only ones I know of short of some higher-end coilovers (which might be in the cards if I can nail a few good trades this month...) I've got a few local shops I could check around with on alignment tinkering.

 

I'm not sure on the Swifts but i to must have linear spring rates. I was told to hold off on all sway bars and bracers and go straight to coilovers and camber plates, oh and the rear lower control arms for rear camber adjustability.

Yeah it's starting to get expensive real fast.

 

Yes, absolutely!


Read toward the bottom: http://www.swiftsprings.net/advantage.html

 

I have what I think is the perfect daily driver R56 suspension set up. I did not change the basic 2011 MCS springs because you need clearance for speed humps and driveways in your daily driving. I did have the bump stops cut to give me even more suspension travel. My Koni Sport shocks are set at one full twist up from softest setting since adjustment does not affect how hard it rides, only rebound. I may go 1.5 in the future, but one full turn took all the jiggle out. The IE fixed camber plates yielded 1.4 degrees of negative camber on the front and I had the rear set at one degree negative. At the moment, my H-Sport 19mm RSB is set on its hardest setting for a spirited club run in the mountains on the 31st and an HPDE first weekend in April at VIR North Course.
This setup has a much better ride quality than stock. The stock shocks are junk. With the Rf tires, all you do is hop from bump to bump. Even with the OEM Brigstone RFs, this car rode Soooooo much better.

 

good luck with that around here!

And because of the lack of any Mini shops around here I could spend more money to get it right by going to MINI in Des Moines to have them install the JCW red spring suspension .

 

Interesting. A cursory search on the Swift springs looks promising - super linear rates, higher rear rate vs front, and even a little more drop than TSW... My original plan was to throw TSW's on until I could afford coilovers because they're cheap and I know they work well, but I'm starting to like the idea of these Swifts with something like the Koni yellows as a permanent setup.

 

Yes the TSW springs are Linear rate springs. The 3/4 inch drop we use was very specific because more drop than that looses too much shock travel not allowing the shocks to do enough work. We will offer a TSW race spring setup if there is enough interest, the current TSW setup has shown to be a good middle ground for MINI owners without causing a harsh ride.

 

+1 on the Swift Spec-R's. The linear rates (f250/r307) make for strong performance while still being livable for those of us who have to drive the car to work the day after the track. I've got a set that I just put on and have been impressed.

I just posted some pics that should be up shortly.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3467461

The beefy RSB + the Swifts is a great feel. Track wise its a great neutral set up.