What does a stiffer sway bar do to the traction in the front of the car? The stiffer you go does it reduce acceleration traction out of a turn?

Overall does the sway bar function to increase lateral traction in the front and that was gives you oversteer capability, or is traction in the back being lost?

 

Other things being equal, and assuming the usual slight understeer that most cars come with, a stiffer front sway bar should increase understeer. If the car is already oversteering, however, a stiffer front bar should help reduce that oversteer. In general, soften the end that's not gripping as well and/or stiffen the other end. Thus, with most street cars, if you stiffen the front, you'd need to stiffen the rear even more to get balanced (neutral) handling. This applies to springs and shocks as well.

 

It sounds like you are talking about a stiffer rear sway bar. Is that true?

 

Yes, I ment to add rear to the subject. So a stiffer rear sway bar. I have an H-sport comp bar and am running it on medium right now. I am trying to determine what it will do overall to the handling of the car on the stiffest setting before my next autocross.

I know it will make the rear loser, but is it because the front has more traction or the rear has less? What about traction out of the corners?

 

Traction out of the corners is not an issue since the mini is front wheel drive.
If the tail comes out you can just step on the throttle to drag the rear back in shape. The only way to find out is for you to try it. Look at it this way the faster you can get the wheel straight again the faster you can accelerate out of the corners. So I little lift off over steer is good on certain corners. Turn a bit and lift off and staighten wheel while squeezing the throttle. The loss of traction is caused by the shifting of weight of the car and affecting the contact patch of your tires at the limit. It lifts the rear inside wheel more like a kart.
Correct me if I am wrong I am not expert but an enthusiast

 

Joke's on me.

As you suggested, making the rear loser means you've given up some rear traction, but it's all for a good cause. When the fronts are pushing and scrubbing off speed, that's the end that's costing you speed and time. Bringing the rear around a bit more should help the fronts get through the corner quicker and get the whole car pointed straight quicker.

As 00m said, a little oversteer is often handy at AX, although it can be a bit scary on track at higher speeds. How much oversteer is enough (or too much) depends on the driver, so you'll need to discover that for yourself.

My guess is that the sway bar adjustments don't cover a very wide range of stiffness, so you might start with it set at either extreme. The middle setting would be right for you if it's still pushing on the softest setting, yet you get too much oversteer on the stiffest setting. You may not be able to feel a significant difference between one setting and the adjacent setting. If you're wanting more oversteer even at the stiffest setting, you'll need to get a stiffer bar.

It may take some practice to drive quick using available oversteer, so you may find a softer setting quicker for you initially, but a stiffer setting quicker for you later.

 

Additionally, in autox, I find it easier to adjust tire pressures at trackside to get the desired rotation.

 

Do you have other suspension mods?
How the dampening is set and the springs you are running will affect the response of the car as you change the bar stiffness. Same with with running street tires vs R-Comps.

 

The car is a stock JCW with only the h-sport competition bar. I think I am going to try the stiffest setting at the next autocross in two weeks.

 

I was at a local Auto X event and a fellow MINI driver was there having huge understeer issues .
we did discuss tire pressure and chalked the fronts . ... he already had quite a bit of rollover.
He was certain that a stiffer bar up front was needed. ... I on the otherhand was trying to explain that his REAR needed to be stiffer or front softer.
after the days runs we had free time .
At that time I was able to talk him into letting me disconnect the front bar (at end links)
he improved on a 60 sec run by over 1.5 seconds. little to no understeer and some nice rear rotation

To my point and when I hear of folks going stiffer front and rear they really tend to cancel eachother out (yes all said stiffer but not tuning front to back) .

 

I was thinking that doing both the front and the rear sway bars would be a great way to stiffen up the suspension around the turns while maintaining ride comfort of the stock suspension. Instead of going with really stiff springs. Then just put the rear 22m bar on stiff all the time...

 

You do not improve handling by overdoing one thing. It is a system of things you do and tweek constantly. Springs, dampers and dampening, camber, toe, bracing, tires, height adjustment, Tire types and pressures, etc. If you have not read, many track people think that putting a 22mm on full stiff all the time is a potentially dangerous idea.

The stiffer sway bar cannot take the place of better springs.

And you really need front negative camber.

Good luck to you. Hope you listen to the people who know.