My 2005 MCS came with the factory Limited Slip Differential, which is intended to improve cornering performance. I am wondering if an aftermaket swaybar, such as the 19m Alta, would make a noticeable difference in cornering performance for (spirited) street use only. Any advice on this... or should I save my money?

 

I second that; The Zoomness has the Quiafe LSD from the factory and I have considered a sway bar.

 

I've got factory LSD on my MCS, and just added an aftermarket sway bar.

The sway bar does entirely different things to the car than LSD:
- it removes much of the sense that the car has to roll slightly (taking up slack in the suspension) before it actually begins to turn,
- it takes a lot slack out of the steering - the car turns more quickly and precisely,
- it greatly lessens the sense that the car wants to 'plow' or "push" with understeer in every turn and corner. The Mini has a lot of built-in understeer from the factory.

After of lightweight wheels and tires, it's the second-most important upgrade to an MCS.

I bought a 22mm bar from Mini-Madness.com It has three adjustment holes, and I am using the the 'softest' of the three. For my street and very vigorous blasts through hair-pinned roads, it feels just about right - it retains some understeer near the limit, which is a safe way to go for public roads. It also doesn't transmit excessive bumps to the car or harden the rear spring rates much on this setting.

Note that the diameter of the bar is meaningless - different materials have different torsional stiffness, and the radius of the 'short-arm' atachment position determines stiffness as much as the bar itself. Judge the stiffness of a sway bar by measures such as x% stiffer than factory. Mine, set on the softest setting, is about 225% of factory stiffness.

 

you dont even know the differnce you will experience. Ask around and see if any one has a sway bar thats close to you. I drove my friends S, its bone stock, of course it handles well but nothing compared to my MC. I have the H&R 18mm with prada spec 2's and i handle him in the cornes. It makes driving the car so much easier because you do not have to fight it in the turns. I highly recomend it to everyone.

 

I have the 18mm H&R on my MC with SS (not SS+) as well, its excellent. Still on the safe side for street use, its only when you trail brake hard or lift off the throttle while in the middle of a very sharp corner that the rear end will slide out, otherwise there is always just a tiny bit of understeer to make driving fast easy.

 

Ok, I'm stupid....what's an "ss"?

Thanks

 

a. solid state
b. sick springs
c. steam ship
d. sport suspension
e. All of the above