Hello everybody,:smile:

I've had my 05 cooper s now for about 2.5 months and have been enjoying the car tremendously. What suspension change would you guys recommend to make the car more fun to drive. I've been reading the forums about rear sway bars, springs, strut tower braces, etc.. I originally drove an 02 cooper s which felt more dialed in, or tossable to me. I use the car for work, so I don't want to make the ride too hard. Also, I like the ride height of the car as is, and kinda don't want to lower the car much. I'm not going to use the car on a track, but I do like the push the car on corners or some canyon driving. I can tell that this car has way more potential to handle better.

By the way, a quick review of the 05 cooper s. Very nice. The overall fit and finish of the car is great, feels like BMW 3 series quality. The low end power is better than the earlier cooper s's I had driven, but with the new gearing you have to change gears more frequently. The exhausts now pops. I think the exhaust sound is ok, could be a little lower or more masculine sounding. Shifting is a joy, very smooth. Overall, I think a very good value for the money. This car gives the owner a sports car driving experience that you could in the past only find in a $40,000+ car.

Thanks all for your imput.

 

I think an adjustable rear swaybar will give you the best bang for your buck. Check out the Rspeed or if weight is important the hollow H-sport bar.

 

Non run flat tires, get a nice performance tire.

 

I second the rear sway bar. I have been playing with the suspension on my 05 S for the last few weeks. The first change was a H Sport Comp rear swaybar. This transformed the car. I set it on the middle setting and was very happy with the cars balance. Not to much oversteer. Then I installed Koni shocks and Mini Mania springs. The car handled great on smooth pavment, but rode like crap. Also was way to low. Scraped on driveways. Mini Mania said these springs lowered the car .5", more like an 1.5". Today I installed Tein High Sport springs. Ride is as good or better than stock. The car sits about .5" lower than stock. The wheels sit even in the wheel wells. I have not had a chance to hammer on it yet but it feels good. I am going to try the H Sport front sway bar next.

 

If you dont want to lower, and dont plan on tracking it, then your best bet will be the swaybar. Since you have a MCS, you are gonna want to get a 22mm swaybar instead of the 19mm due to your larger weight compared to an MC. You really cant go wrong with what company you choose, lots of people have h-sport stuff....some people have the Alta sway bar. The differences are minimal, they boil down to weight or adjustability, which wont be big factors unless you track the car. Thats really the only suspension mod you need if you arent serious about handling and dont want to lower it. My only other suggestion would be to look into non-runflat tires, those will help you get a much less violent ride for your drive to work, it will improve grip as well

 

Hey guys thanks for the feedback on the rear sway bar. Does the new rear sway bar effect the car's ride adversely? Is the ride stiffer, or uncomfortable?


Thanks all:smile:

 

Luckily there are different settings...so you can choose...stiffest settings will give you better handling while they make the ride a bit stiffer. I have the h-sport rear sway bar, which has 3 holes for adjustability. Right now i have it in the middle hole and i dont feel that the ride is stiffer at all...i actually plan on moving it up to the stiffer position to see how it handles...havent tried it yet

 

After the sway bar, get some street-oriented springs and new shocks, or at least shocks. Maybe rear lower arms and dial in a bit of negative camber, just for more fun.

 

By the way, I had the H-sport competition rear sway bar installed on saturday. My cooper s does stick better. The ride is slightly, slightly, stiffer. I have the bar set on the middle setting. You really notice how better the car handles when you push the car. On normal commuting you barely notice the change in handling. Throw the car in a corner hard, and the rear end is well planted and follows you along fine. It's a good mod. :smile: Next is a set of performance tires.

 

Good work! Yep, tires next and you should be happy for a while......that is, unless, you catch the mod bug!

 

ahhhh, the good ol' mod bug, the one reason i am dreading to buy something

 

been lurking in this thread-- And Thanks for the input on the rear sway bar.

Since we have many twisties near my MINI d'ship, I noticed a difference in cornering and ride with my 05 MCS compared to the 04s I demo'd (hard): the 05 is definitely a more comfortable workaday ride (I use R84s) but feels loose and roll-ly on the curves.

To me a sway bar will bump this car up to the next level. It will be my only mod (not inc. conv. tires). yup I like 'em stock :smile: Jimbo

 

Thanks for the thread. I have pretty much wrapped up my engine mods and was thinking of suspension. This is what I needed to hear.

Oh... and the mod bug? I don't believe it exists

 

paul's s,

Aloha and welcome to NAM.
For an 05 MCS owner that likes the stock ride height the two things to change about suspension would be:

Wheels and tires- this is part of the suspension- the heavy stock rims and stiff run flat tires can easily be upgraded to light weight rims and stick non runflat tires of 15" to 18" sizes. You can choose stiffer low profile tires from 35 series to softer 55 series depending on the tire size. For best performance the 35 to 45 series tires do well and for comfortable ride quality the 50 to 55 series tires work well.

Rear sway bar- 19mm if you want softer and 22mm if you want firmer. The H-sport 25mm bar is hollow and lighter in weight but has the same firmness as the 22mm bar. Each maker has different color bars and most have three adjustment holes. Rear sway bars don't usually stiffen the ride quality much for street use but do reduce understeer when cornering. The rear swaybar is a cost effective upgrade and benefits both MC and MCS owners. Always try the softest or middle setting first. Too firm is not always the best for street driving. You don't need the front stock sway bar upgraded. It's stiff enough.

For those on a larger budget you can get a one inch drop or less with coil overs or with Tein suspension products. Most of the lowering springs are about 1" drop or more. Once you drop your MINI you may increase negative camber (inward tilting of the tops of the tires) which can be OK up to a point.
You will not be able to adjust negative camber with additional suspension parts- rear lower control arms for the rear camber and front camber plates for the front camber. These are costly about $260 and $550 respectively for parts alone then several hours for labor and an alignment once all is installed.

 

Thanks Minihune for the message and the detailed info on the suspension and tire upgrades. I did have the h-sport 22mm competition bar installed 2 weeks ago. The bar is set on the middle setting. I have noticed that you can feel that the handling has improved, but the rear suspension is now stiff!! You can definately feel the bumps on the road more, especially in the rear. The rebound from the rear suspension sometimes gives you a good jolt after going over a dip in the road. I think I should set the bar on the soft setting, or maybe just put the stock rear sway bar back on. In southern California some of the roads are rough. I do drive my car for work. I'm think if I would do this again I would get the non run-flat performance tires, and not even change the rear sway bar. By the way, I have the 16" wheels and Dunlop run flats. What tires size and brand name do you like? I hear Goodyear F1's are good on the cooper s. What do you think?

Thanks,:smile:

Paul

 

Paul's s,

OK, Maybe your roads aren't the smoothest and that is why you feel the rear is stiff now. I'd suggest simply changing the rear bar setting to softest first. Drive around and keep to the smoother roads.

Next step is to get rid of the run flat tires. This will help alot to decrease ride harshness. 16" wheels are fine but the stock tire size really limits the selection of tires. Talk to alex@tirerack about options. There are quite a few really good tires for the MINI to choose from. The Goodyear Eagle F1 DS-G3 and the Bridgestone Potenza Pole Position S-03 are great performance street tires. Prices are a bit higher and the S-03 is heavy but the rubber is sticky and can be used for light track, street and autocross. Consider 205/50-16. Tirerack also has the more comfortable/quiet and good dry/wet performance Avon M500 tires- also worth a look. Other NAM owners really like the Yokohama AVS ES100, Toyo Proxes 4 or the Falken Ziex ZE-512.

If after changing tires/wheels and adjusting rear swaybar you feel your ride is still too stiff then another idea would be to adjust alignment a bit. Normally you cannot change rear camber unless you add adjustable lower rear control arms (RDR, H-sport, alta). The stock settings in the rear are -1.0 to -2.0 degrees camber. Once you lower your MCS the rear camber usually goes more negative to about -2 to -2.4 degrees which results sometimes in quite a rough ride. If you have the upgraded lower control arms you can adjust rear camber to a bit smoother -.7 to .9 degrees. It's not as good for being aggressive in corners but the ride quality is good. I had my rear camber adjusted to -0.7 degrees for about 6 months after installing H-sport springs and that worked pretty good for me. Use the factory settings for toe front and rear. Front camber cannot be adjusted without front camber plates and is usually between -0.1 and -0.9 degrees. For street driving that is fine. Good luck.

 

I second the change from run-flats to standard tires and have been VERY happy with my new Pirelli P-Zero's. The ride is quiet, the handling much improved and I won my class in Autocross using them this weekend against 25 others in class. Best of both worlds

 

Sorry for jumping into the middle of this discussion; however, I am curious...

Are there any emprical data available on these or similar components that show benefits in terms of improved handling; any sources for test data and such?

Thank you very much for any information you may be able to share.

 

We have several items to improve the handling on your vehicle. From lowering springs, sway bars, adjustable endlinks and control arms.

Three products I would recommend (regardless of whether you buy them from us) are the springs, adjustable rear sway bar and control arms. (Side note: we have lowered the prices on all of these items per requests from the NAM community! Springs are under $170, the rear sway bars are also under $170 and the control arms are under $199!)

The springs will lower the center of gravity and improve turn in (as well as appearance).

The control arms will correct for the camber value going out of of spec from the springs, as well as firm up the rear suspension.

Finally the swaybar in either form (19 or 22mm) will eliminate understeer and increase the contact patch of the tires.

If we can ever help answer any questions about our products or competitive differences please just let us know!

 

I put the M7 springs on this weekend and was very surprized how much the lowered appearance can live in harmony with smoothness on the street. I haven't yet had the opportunity to test the extreme cornering but my wife and I were impressed with the ability to have the lowered look AND a smoother ride than stock. We also added a 22mm rear sway bar from R-Speed with the middle setting (of three) being used and the ride is still pleasurable.
We did have lowering springs on our last MINI and the ride was not as compliant on the street as these springs from M7. We are using 205-40-17 Toyo Proxes 4 tires instead of the run flats and that change will really smooth things out for you. The 40 series tire is even a lower profile tire which gives a more harsh ride than the normal choice of a 45 series tire. It is truly a pleasure to be able to have the improved appearance and much more precise handling while actually improving the smoothness of the ride (wife's requirement) in a car that will be running the track next weekend in South Carolina at the Phil Wicks track days.

 

I myself was looking into making my next mod the rear sway bar from either Rspeed or H-sport- can't decide which, they are both resonably priced, with a $5 price difference. This part is to go onto my stock '04 MC (no current suspension mods). I really dont want to lower or plan on tracking it and from what I've read this seems to be the way to go for all out fun ride. Somehow I get the impression that this gift to myself will improve the smile factor in regards to handling of my car. Do I assume correctly, and if so, which do I go for the H-sport or Rspeed?

I'm looking for a "fun factor" mod, could this be the mod for me ??!?!