This is the 25.5 mm hollow bar. Bought it from Way Motor Works - delivered in a couple of days. Everything I was expecting, great shipping and price.

Texas Track Works in Fort Worth completed the installation in about an hour.

Very impressed with the results. I have the GP coilovers in my 2009 fJCW, and this mod really makes the car.


I've tried to find every curve possible to throw this car in to get a feel for the sway bar, and the handling is fantastic. I agree with everyone else that suggests the sway bar mod.


Finally, if you are anywhere near Fort Worth, don't miss an opportunity to swing by Texas Track Works. These folks are phenomenal. They installed my GP coilovers, have done a few alignments for me, and now have installed the sway bar. If you are extremely OCD about your MINI, this is the place to go.

 

Did you start in the middle position?

Glad you are happy, it makes a nice difference in the turn-in and general handling.

Have fun,
Mike

 

Yes - I've got it in the middle position. Went out for spirited drive today and love it. Saw another post where someone thought it was a bit squirrelly, but I haven't noticed that at all.

 

Which front sway bar have you?

 

I have mine set in the middle also and it handles so much better. My only suggestion to compliment the new found handling is to replace the stock front sway bar bushings with poly-urethane.

 

Just installed this bar (bought from Way) last weekend and set to center hole on my 2009 R57 S. Wow! Should have done this long ago!

Turn in is much sharper, much less body roll, and car turns and corners much more readily. The heavy oversteer is gone but in middle hole the rear end stays put and the car is not tail happy at all. Perfect for everyday driving.

This bar has grease fittings to allow bushings to be regreased if necessary. The ride quality and road noise are completely unaffected by this modification but a movement of the steering wheel will produce movement of the car. It is not twitchy - just more responsive.

The R57 convertible has an additional center rear suspension subframe mounting bolt (total of 5 bolts on R57). I was able to loosen muffler mounting bolts, lower the muffler a bit, and remove the heat shield mounting nuts above the muffler. I then pulled the muffler heat shield to the rear and used a socket with extension to remove this center bolt without damaging heat shield.

The install is not difficult but took me about 3+ hours and I took my time.

I feel like I have a new/different car with much better handling!

 

I bought the Hotchkis 25.5mm RSB as my first upgrade after buying my 2007 MCS 2 years ago, transformed my Mini into a sharp turning Go-Kart. I set it to the middle position and haven't felt the need to make it even stiffer until now, together with my Ohlins R&T coilovers is a dream car when it comes to fast, sharp turns and the steering response is race car like.

On another note is there anyone with knowledge or experience with setting for the inner most hole in the RSB? I bet it turns even easier, want to know if it's safe. I don't want my rear-end spinning me out.

 

I set mine there in the summer, never spun out, but have real sticky summer tires

 

My suggestion is to take your MINI to an autocross and drive it fast and hard in a controlled environment. This is the only way to know where your limits are in a safe manner.
Personally (22mm solid), I run full stiff during the summer and autocross season with my stickies . In the fall I run either on the middle or soft setting with my all-seasons and depending on the weather outlook for the winter.

 

Running the stiffest setting in wet weather was my main concern as it's been raining here a lot, I'm running super sticky summer tiers year round because there wet traction is very good. I need to find the limits of my Mini traction wise, once I know the limits I know how far to push it safely, definitely under a controlled environment.

 

Definitely autocross you will learn the limits fast I run my 25.5 full stiff rain sleet or snow

 

minivinnie couple questiions,

I am running my Hotchkis Competition RSB in the middle position. MINI turns super sharp and very responsive. Not really feeling like I've reached the limit. Should I go full stiffness, which is the last hole toward the tail end, correct?

Also, my install went great. All seems correct, no noises, or vibrations what so ever. One thing I noticed, was that when reinstalling the Bar, there was no real way to ensure that it was even on both side, I.e. no landmarks. Just the onvious location of where to put the bushing mounts. I noticed that before tightening it could slide left or right. I prettry much lined it up by eye as best as possible, tightend the Zerk/mount/bushings to the top of the subframe, and then to the end links. As I stated above all seems great. However, is it possible to install the bar uneven from left to right, vise versa? Or doess it all allign it self out once on the ground after full install complete?

Lastly, if I want to change the end link position to make it stiffer, do I need to unload the bar by removing the wheels, of can I just jack up one side, reposition, then same on opposite side?

Sorry for all the questions, first time suspension mod on the MINI. Hoping my luck with this install was'nt to good to be true LOL.

 

Well you definitely want to atleadt take the wait off the sway bar otherwise removing the end links will suck lol

As far as alignment goes eye ball it than when attaching the end links they should be pretty parallel with each other and your good

It kinda hard to test the limits on full stiff will driving on the road. I do not like to because there are to many unknowns . Could do 60 around a corner than boom a pothole or traffic and all hell breaks loose.and yes full stiff is closest to the front of car let me know how it goes

 

Just to emphasize the stiffest setting is the hole closest to the axis of the swaybar.

 

i autox on the stiffest setting - if it's in the colder months (mar-apr, oct-nov) i usually spin on my first run lol. after that the tires are warm enough to stick.

 

Before my motor mount all I did was spin lol

 

The bar will center itself. Just get it close by eye and as it rotates in the bushings it will center itself.

You have to jack both sides of car (both rear axles off floor and axles hanging loose) to change link position. If you jack only one side the bar will be twisted and under way too much tension to safely allow the link to be removed from hole.

As others have said hole closest to sway bar bushings is stiffest setting. This is hole that is toward front of car.

 

Thanks for all the replies, good info to know.

So just to clear up any suspicions, I'm not trying to reach the limits on public roads Its just that some of the threads I've read, a few felt that the H-sport Comp bar might be a little over board. But since yesterday, I've hit all the roads and turns I've been on since I've bought my MINI and my suspension seems tuned to perfection. I might turn it up and see if there is room for more improvement.

Also, sorry for the amateur mechanic question, but I'm hearing: get both sides jacked up to relieve the weight and tension, does this include removing wheels also? not a big deal, just trying to gauge amount of work involved.

I am dying for this NC weather to clear up so that I can enjoy this set up even further

 

Well it might be hard to get to the bolts with wheels on I forget but if u can get to them than it wouldn't matter if wheels were on or off

And that's ok everyone has to learn and start somewhere.

And ya this nj weather is ridiculous

 

As he said the leaving both wheels on would leave the bar in a neutral or non twisted state. However the access to the link bolt is much easier with wheels off.

I too wondered if this bar was too hot for a daily driver. I asked Way at Way Motor Works and he felt this bar in center hole position was fine and would improve handling dramatically but would not be tail happy. I trust him and will leave it in center hole. Stiffest setting would be for track for me.

 

Ya I run stiffest setting no issue at all

 

That's a good point. Im going to do this when I have plenty of free time. That way if it gets too squirrely, I will have time to set it back. I know the old adage, if it isn't broke don't fix it. But if I had that attitude, well I would probably not be such an enthusiast.

Bottom line up front. RSB is one of the best Mods for our MINIs, hands down.

 

100% agree but you will love full stiff and not want to switch back lol I never tried anything other than full stiff

 

Agree there is no "right" answer. For those that want even more neutral (less understeer) handling the stiffer setting will probably be better.

As others have posted the tire grip can make the difference in the tail coming out when provoked. With the factory bar the MINI is obviously biased towards under steer - more so than I would have though until I experienced the improved handling from this mod.

 

Funny, I just posted on another thread recommending to start at the least aggressive setting. When I put mine on I started with the stiffest setting. Car seemed great goofing off in a parking lot to test it out. Then I got it on an autox course and spun the car on 3 of my 6 runs. It would get loose when at the red line shifting into second as well as going over any imbalance in the lot. I did have an RMW tune so the car had more torque than a stock S. When I set the bar back to the middle setting it was much more predictable. Just my two cents.