Bigger front sway bar on a roadster
 

I found my rear end too be a bit loose this weekend, it was fun chasing a lotus on track
But felt I needed a lot of extra track width to keep on top of things

I Already have a superpro 20mm rear bar, droplinks
Bilstien B16 pss10 with the blue progressive springs and only the "free camber"

Consider it to be a daily driver with a couple of light weight track days per year,
So far that means Silverstone, and dunsfold (top gear)
Number one priority is comfort and compliance on poorly surfaced roads

I'm having to drop the front subframe anyway to fit a quaife LSD ready for some future power upgrades

My car only gets a front 22.5mm bar from the factory, I'm struggling to rationalise if it's a good opportunity to upgrade to a jcw 24mm front bar ?

Not many here it seems have gone down this road, please post if you have, or indeed gone even bigger up front...:popcorn:

The "factory approved" approach is to match the 24mm front with a 18.5mm upgrade to rear, so I don't feel I'm pushing way past the tried and tested yet it appears to be frowned upon as worthwhile upgrade for any fwd :confused:


Nb.. my r53 came with a 24mm front bar, on SS+ Suspension and whiteline 20mm rear and handled well on both stock and Bc/swifts
But I'm not sure if that's a reason to upgrade or stick with the 22.5mm
As I know many reduced the front if/when they increased their spring rates
With the early minis :confused:

I know this is 6 months old but...

I 100% agree the 59 is incredibly tail happy compared to the hardtop, and we're not alone, Edmunds, and Motortrend noted the same effect on the 58. The roof adds nearlynnothing to stiffness and the 59 has more bracing under it, so the 58/59 are essentially identical functionally if not visually.

I'm going down the same path, 24mm FASB, 18mm RASB, JCW red springs, vorshlag camber plates, rear arms, and Koni FSDs.

I like a car that transitions quickly and flat with huge lateral grip, so will dial in 2-2.5 degrees camber all around and tune rotation with tire pressure.

Note, there is a 23.5 and a 24 mm bar, many people/sites refer to the 23.5 as a 24. The 24 was never included with the 59, but the 23.5 on the 59 and the Clubman are the same part number so the 24 mm from a Clubman should fit the 59.

The R59 comes with a weird and limited selection of suspension compements compared to the 58 or 56 from what I've been able to find.

All 59s, from what I can gather have the sport marked shocks. The springs and bars are the difference between base (22.5/16) and sport (23.5/17) suspension.

​​​​​​There is no official red spring designated for the 59, but, the 58 does have them. Find a 58 VIN with the same options/trans and order the red springs for that car. The weight difference is the weight of a young child so no need for different springs (unless you can spot less than .1" of ride height difference).... The distribution is also more front biased on the 58 by 1.2%, so, if anything it'll add a slight rake benefitting from the end grip.

Sorry I forgot to come back…

in short short it works no regrets, chasing far faster cars on track days around the twisty bits,
as per earlier post also fitted the quaife lsd at the same time. So difficult to judge what has helped the handling more
have gp2 spec or better quality for every element of this car now.

just contemplating even more power for 2024

Nice! With a MacPherson strut suspension, there is very little camber gain from compression. So a big front sway bar will actually help with front grip because it will keep front camber in check under high loads, such as found on a race track.

https://car.msvtrackdays.com/Circuits/Bedford-Autodrome

So over just over 5 laps ( that’s over 20 miles on this circuit ) corner just as well or better and out-brake ( gp2 calipers discs + pagid rs 29 pads ) but loosing a little distance over the long back straights past 115mph to a Alpine 110S (300hp and 1110kg) in essence same overall track pace
although A chunk of that could also be down to Yokohama A052 rubber. And also proper geo-set up with the bilstiens B16 Pss10
currently only gp2 slots style camber so need a little more work here otherwise I’m over the moon with the comparative performance.

still have a gp2 under tray to fit and considering looking for more a bit more power.
14,000 miles in and yet to see any weakness in my 2011 Built N14 (Jcw perhaps are better built)


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@ Bedford on GT circuit
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