thought id try in here, too. Posted in the JCW forum as well.

Hi,
First post, so be gentle. TLDR below
Ive searched this site high and low, and have several questions for the experts:
At 109K, think its time for new struts. Handling isn't where it should be, IMO. So i start to look into upgrades. Seems as far as i can tell, 3 versions of the suspension. Ive done the VIN check and i don't have a JCW suspension, or a sport suspension. That means I have the same suspension as an MCS. Tonight crawled under the car. 17mm rear sway bar. so its confirmed.

Id like to upgrade to the JCW kit. easy, right?
I call 4 different mini dealers trying to get the right spring numbers:
the first is: Fronts 31336782729 Rear is: 33536782732
So i web search, find a decent price, but i calla nd want to confirm. They give me Front 31336795144, and 33536772781 for the rear.
So now I'm confused. I call my other local mini dealer, and i tell him this convoluted story. He gets my vin and starts entering numbers.
Nothing is showing. Clicks on whatever it is, and nothing. He claims that means I have the JCW suspension. i don't. I asked both these places if the JCW Sport kit (33500429708) fits, both say no. So i do some sluthing, and find the strut in the JCW Kit fits my car, and has a different part number than just a strut for my car.
I know i could do coilers, etc, but I'm just perplexed by this.
Any advice and help is great.
TLDR: want JCW kit for 09JCW. nobody knows wtf parts i need.

 

The MINI parts advisor needs to Log into BMW's DCS-net and access the "spring table" and enter your vin #.

The springs are specific to model and what options are on that model...things like transmission type, and sunroof add or lessen the weight of the car.

Its not a case of one kit fits all.....

Was the "decent price" and diff part numbers from a MINI dealer or outside source ?

 

After purchasing my MINI, I went to the dealer and scheduled the JCW Suspension installation. The reason why I wanted them to do it is because this suspension "Requires" a JCW alignment afterwards. Those alignement numbers are found at the MINI dealer..... not Meineke or Sears, and quite frankly they havent a clue what to do on these cars.

If you want the suspension system, see your Service Advisor and tell him/her what you want and ask for consideration on the cost of the kit. These kits have huge markup, and while its the parts department that takes the "hit" with respect to parts discounts, the service dept is what floats the dealership's bottom line. Right now guessing they are eager for the work.

I've got over 200K miles on my JCW Suspension installed when the car had 43K miles. It's my second complete kit and on my third set of struts. It's worth it and worth having it done right.

PS: The springs will be coming from Germany....so expect a bit of a wait before that appointment to install.

 

Thank you for the reply, the First part number information that I provided above was sourced from a local Mini dealer. The second numbers were from using those part numbers in the google. A mini dealer elsewhere had a cheaper price.Both used my vin number.

 

Spoke to the mini dealer here again, and he can’t find the spring number for my car just yet. Has to send a not above to his group. Odd. The beat goes on.

 

PM'ing you....

 

This is the sorta crap that pisses me off almost reaching a point where I leave retirement and go back to being a MINI parts adviser......jeeesh.

 

Looks like the JCW suspension is no longer available. Anyone have any leads for vendors or dealerships that might have old stock?

-nels

 

The optional JCW Sports suspension for the R56, when ordered as a “dealer installed option”, was made up of 3 basic parts - springs, shocks and front and rear sway bars. Because MINI has moved on from the R56 model is probably the reason that package is no longer available. However, I would suggest that you can put together your own package that will come reasonably close to that package

Springs - Just this year I was able to order a set of the red JCW springs from ECS that were matched to my VIN. I would suggest trying them.

Shocks - Speaking from experience I can say that the MINI shocks are really poor quality, particularly in the ride department. On my R56 I replaced the shocks with Bilstein B8 shocks. By far one of the best improvements you can make to any MINI to improve ride quality and have an improvement in handling. These will match well with the JCW springs. Again, ECS has the B8s for this car.

Sway bars - The optional MINI JCW sports suspension came with both a larger front and a rear swaybars. I found that both of these are a big part of the handling improvement you get with this suspension. However, the front sway bar is a royal PIA to change out; a really expensive adventure. I know the cost as I replace my front sway bar with a 27mm bar to go with the hollow 25mm rear bar I put in. Plus, I don’t know if you can buy the JCW sway bars any more. So, for this I would suggest that you can do reasonably well by just installing an aftermarket 19mm rear swaybar.

Hope this helps...

 

I couldn't agree more with this excellent advice.

I'd like to add that the 24 mm front sway bar is still available as it's also been used on some Minis
(convertible, Clubman) along with the factory sport suspension. That said, very most parts of the
JCW aftermarket suspension kit are still available at European BMW/Mini dealerships. However,
that doesn't mean they're still made. Contrarily I too think - sadly - they'll be sold out pretty soon.

Personally I plan on doing the following:

- Bilstein B6
- factory sport suspension springs (no lowering, similar spring rates as JCW kit > ~35 N/mm)
- JCW kit anti roll bars 24 mm + 18.5 mm
- IE fixed camber plates + slightly tweaked strut towers
- Meyle HD LCA solid bushings
- custom alignment (~-1°00' fr + -1°20' r camber, factory toe in)
- and keep the Michelin PSS of course

As this Cooper just has run 30 kmls and most probably won't see any track use I'll retain the rest.
This is not a race car. This is the car my wife is driving daily. So I guess it's somewhat overdone
anyway.
.

 

I have the IE fixed camber plates on my R56. On that MINI the result is -1.5 deg front camber with them set full inboard on the slot in the strut tower. So I would expect that to be your target as all of that is “fixed”. Also, there is no need to be less camber than that. The -1.5 is really nice on the street and no increase in tire wear. As for the rear camber, I would stay with the factory setting. I think your planned -1°20' is less camber than factory setting. Again, there is nothing to be gained by going with less camber in the rear and it could result in less traction in the rear (guessing the wife would not appreciate having less traction in the rear of the MINI, and it swapping ends).

 

Thanks for your comment, Eddie. Well, yes, I'd love to get -1°30' on front, I'm just a bit sceptical still to hope for that much camber.
Something like -1°20' would be about perfect on front and I'd guess about the same on rear. I had good results with equal camber
on both axles on previous cars (e.g. GTI), however I wouldn't mind a tad more camber on rear if that's better suited for this little car.

 

If memory serves me correctly, the spec for the IE fixed camber plates is -1.2 deg. There are slots in the top of the R56 strut tower that proves another -0.3 deg. Depending on where yours starts from, you should hit between -1.2 and -1.5 deg.

The MINI is quite a bit shorter wheelbase than those cars, which makes it a little less stable. So a bit more in camber in the rear is good for a MINI. As for rear alignment, I couldn’t find my records, but I seem to recall the factory specs are about -2 deg. Unless you are doing something like autocross, that will be fine for the car.