Hi. New member here. Picked up a used 2012 Mini Cooper S (Royal Grey) with the JCW aero kit. Love it so far and it will be my daily driver next to the M3/F80 (staying in the BMW family)!

I'm tempted to get a stiffer rear sway bar. My use will be 80% highway driving and occasional weekend or autocross. I feel turn in is a little slow and body roll is more than I'd like to and the car would benefit from a stiffer bar to make it more neutral. The (very reputable) shop I'm taking the car for service in the SF Bay Area seemed negative about it. They said the car will be more twitchy and jerky on the highway and will develop more noises, rattles, squeaks, etc. They strongly recommended stock.

I wanted to ask for people's experience. I was thinking about a 22mm bar in the softest setting (Madness, or H-Sport, etc.).

This forum is very informative, glad I found it. Thanks in advance.

 

Stiffer RSB is the best bang for buck mod you can make to an R56. I have the Alta 22mm, there's lots of options, search this forum section.

 

 

A rear sway bar should have minimal effect on the highway driving manners of a car. I certainly wouldn't expect any rattles (not that you'd hear a difference, the mini is pretty noisy as is).

 

+1

I'm also in the SF Bay area, my R56 is my daily commuter. In my experience, there are no downsides to the stiffer RSB - highway manners are unchanged, and understeer is greatly reduced. I have had mine on the softest setting since installation, haven't felt the need to try the stiffer settings.

BTW - welcome to the forum! Great looking R56.

 

The larger rear bar won't have a neg effect on your daily drive, but make it better when you throw it in a corner.

Check out our WMW hsport bar as it is perfect on the middle setting. It has the proper bushings with a grease channel to hold the grease in the bushing and keep it reliable and quiet for long term use with the steel bushing brackets and zerk fittings. It is physically 25.5mm diameter hollow bar, but same stiffness as a solid 22mm without the weight and the highest quality powdercoat.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-rear-sway-bar.html

 

When you unbolt and reattach the rear subframe to replace the rear sway bar, do you need to have an alignment done? It seems like any time you unbolt a suspension part it might be a good idea, but I haven't seen anyone mention this so I thought I'd ask.

 

I re-aligned mine afterwards. (Did it myself as I work in the field.) Found it was only slightly off, but still in specs.

 

Commuting puts you at the mercy of idiot drivers. You will find that a stiffer rear sway bar will put you in the adjacent lane and out of trouble before the idiot has a chance to blink. Do it and you'll love it. Spoken from a good friend who ziged, zaged and zuged out of trouble..

 

You don't need to realign it as the subframe lines itself back up on the pins coming off the body will line it up.