2007 Mini Cooper S with the JCW package. 19mm rear sway bar seems like such a nominal upgrade, but is the 22.5mm bar overkill for the street? The car has very nearly 100,000 miles and likely won't ever see track time.

 

25.5 hollow, set on the softest setting

 

I'm also running the 25mm hollow bar, which is equivalent to a 22 mm bar. The nice thing about all of the aftermarket bars is that there are multiple mounting points. This means that you can adjust the stiffness of the bar to fit your driving style and preferences.

I run my bar at the middle setting. I do not hesitate recommending the Hotchkis 25.5 mm bar for your car.

Have fun,
mike

 

Yes go with the Hsport Comp bar. It's the same stiffness as a solid 22mm, but much lighter and been used for so many years we know it's hands down the best.
Since you have a JCW you very likely have an 18.5mm so going to a 19mm just wouldn't be worth the time and money.
FYI you may be able to resale your 18.5mm to recoupe some cash for the new bar.

 

I run hsport 25.5 mm on full stiff all year round and absolutely love it 😃

 

Same here, 25.5mm RSB just recently set to stiffest setting, what a world of difference. I don't know why I waited almost two years to try the stiffest setting, I can go faster on those looping on ramps to freeways without my face up against the window!

The stiffer the RSB the better mid to high speed corning.

 

I have a 19mm H&R, maybe I need to upgrade to a 25.5 hollow

 

I would and ya systenlord I don't even know what the softer settings feel like lol

 

Think of the softer setting as the limiting factor of how fast and how flat your car handles in corning. The stiffer the setting the faster you can take a turn without body roll.

 

I always thought going stiffer would create more possibility for SNAP oversteer coming out of corners.

Have you experienced any of that?

I definitely have experienced the more more gradual or "roll" oversteer with my 19.

 

I oversteer like hell at auto x with my rears at 40 psi but never push hard enough on the road to get it oversteer that's just me I did have it happen one time on the parkway somebody cut me off when I was driving way over the legal limit and I lost it a little was pretty scary but as long as u don't drive like a complete *** won't be to bad

 

To spinout you would have to take corners at absurd speeds, I push my corners at high speeds accelerating until I reach 70 to 90 miles per hour. I have tried to cause a spinout on a private road and was unsuccessful, then again I've lowered (.7" inches) my MCS with Ohlins.

 

ya that's what I mean you gotta drive like an idiot to spin out idk about snow because I got a 4x4 for that lol but I put it on full stiff and never looked back espicially with my 140 tread wear tires

 

It's extremely important to have a set of top rated summer tires with a really stiff RSB. Use a poor quality tires (run-flats) and you might lose traction.

 

How do you think Ultra High Performance All Seasons would hold up?

Don't have the bar yet, but tires are next for me. Most likely ContiExtreme DWS or Pirelli P Zero All Seasons.

 

I had the Hotchkis 19 and upgraded to the 25.5 on my JCW. What a difference! I'm currently running the 25.5 at the stiffest setting and, wow it added a huge amount of oversteer. I compensated for it by running a couple PSI less in the front tires.


Grem...

 

That's exactly what I did, run all tires, at 35 psi and it's not so squirrely when you have a crease in the road. I'm also on the stiffest setting on my 25.5mm RSB. I no longer have a rear independent suspension because that bar makes it almost a solid axle! Also set my Ohlins to setting 7 in the rear when setting 10 is considered soft.

 

+1000 for real. This car needs as much help as possible to rotate the rear around. Perfectly manageable in the hands of a capable driver on the street.

 

Running the 25.5 hollow rear bar. We tried both middle and stiff settings during autocross and we are quickest with it set in the middle. The stiff setting makes the car twitchy. Its almost like you can feel it quickly lift one of the rears and its hard to be smooth. Even with it on the middle setting I just about spun last week in a high speed slalom section with the rear tires at 38psi. Dropped the rears to 34 and flew on through it. We are leaving it in the middle. Overall it works great.

This is with 235/40/17 Dunlop Star Specs, Koni FSDs and Eibach springs

 

well I'm on the stiffest setting and I still can't get my mini to rotate as much as I want it to. could be the rest of my settings (shocks) though. very stiff all around. it's loose in the cold and wet, but in the hot and dry I don't get as much lift to rotate as I'd like

 

22mm H&R set on soft.

I have plenty of rotation!! Anymore would be overkill.

 

I had installed an H&R 19mm bar, and didn't notice much change on my car. The 25.5 hollow bar is about the same stiffness as the 22mm bars out there. I'm running it in the middle setting and am very happy with that. There are 3 adjustment points, so you can adjust it to suit your taste.


I don't hesitate to recommend the 1" hollow bar. Oops, I mean the 25.5 mm bar.


Mike

 

The 20mm from Whiteline HERE has great reviews from MINI owners. The bar is a 3 point adjustable sway bar = more grip = better handling = outright performance. I started at 20 and worked my way up to 24, but do a lot of track driving.

 

Can anyone confirm they are running the H-Sport 22810R 25MM on a 2012 or 2013 R56?

 

Mines an 11' and I'm running it