My wife bought the JCW suspension kit for my car. I currently have an h-sport competition rear swaybar with standard suspension everywhere else.

Should I install the JCW front swaybar or keep the standard? I think the h-sport rear is great. It's a hollow 25mm bar and equivalent to a 22mm bar. Would going to the large JCW front swaybar produce the understand that I had before upgrading to the h-sport?

Not sure what to do with the bars right now... I think going to the 18.5mm JCW rear bar is a step on wrong direction. Anybody have any thoughts?


Also, are the spring rates of the JCW stiffer equally front to back compared to the standard springs? Or are the rear possibly stiffer percentage wise?

 

I just put in the JCW front bar. I only did it to comply with SCCA D-Stock rules since I am putting on the JCW springs. It took 6 hours to do and that was with a friend and a lift. I would not ever do it again unless I *had* to. From the base 's' suspension, the JCW bar is 1.5mm thicker.

Here is what I would do in your shoes: Install the JCW springs and shocks. Then, if you find that you have too much oversteer, put the rear sway bar in the softest setting. If that still doesn't help, either change the front sway bar or get a smaller rear sway bar - And I think both options should be considered (how much is six hours of your time worth?)

Bob

 

As I had the SCCA Solo rules explained... if you put one piece of the JCW kit on, everything must go on, otherwise you are breaking stock class rules.

Since you are thinking of sticking to street tires, now might be the time to move to STX and not worry about it.

 

You have to put on the whole JCW kit, but, you can replace one sway bar (for us MINIs, we replace the rear bar) and you can replace the shocks.

Thus, if you want JCW springs, you have to put on at least one JCW sway bar. Most will put the JCW springs and front bar and a large rear bar.

Also, it is possible to be in the new SCCA RTF class which is just like Stock except on street tires.


Bob

 

Thanks for clarification Bob. As much as I love autocrossing, following Solo rules doesn't make it easy for someone also looking to 'mod' their DD.

 

I agree. Our local BMW club autocross has just broken MINIs into a separate class based on our observation that when we broke MINIs into separate classes based on mods, there wasn't really much variance in times between highly modified cars and showroom stock cars.

We also instituted a PAX based class for anyone who wants a more competitive class to compete in. I am not sure if I will go for the 'run what you brung' MINI class or the PAX class. But, I am building my car for D-Stock anyway just in case. I find picking a class before the season focuses your modifications and helps with the budget.

My winter build: Hotchkiss Comp rear bar, JCW springs and front bar, and Koni FSD shocks. I really spent a lot of time worrying about whether to go with Koni Sports or not, but, in the end, the huge success Per Schroder (from Grass Roots Motorsports) had with a first gen MINI on FSDs plus the fact that my car is a daily driver pushed me towards the FSDs.

Bob