Hello all. I have been debating whether to go with factory Sport Suspension or JCW Suspension on a new R56 I'm planning on purchasing. I'm a total newbie to the suspension world and don't understand most of the posts here on the Suspension Forum. In reading though I'm starting to think there may be aftermarket suspension solutions which would work better for me.

This car is going to be my daily driver, mostly country highways, town, some freeway, and a good number of windy, twisty roads (driving these is my passion in life). I've never tracked a car and although I plan on getting into it, don't see doing more than a few track days a year (at least in the beginning). I'm not getting into auto-x.

Handling is top priority for me, ride comfort is second. I do not care about lowering the car. I would have chosen the JCW Suspension over the factory Sport right off the bat but I wasn't sure how much ride comfort I was willing to give up for a daily driving car.

If there are options out there with JCW grade (or better) handling, but better ride comfort than the JCW or Sport suspension, that's probably what I'm looking for. Price is not an issue; I'm not buying this car to save money.

Thanks very much for the help. Cheers!

 

i have a set of brand new H&R coils never used for 850 and ALTA rear Control arms for sale

 

The H&R coils are probably the best way to go until cross comes out with a system. You are able to corner weight the car and adjust for daily driving or a track day etc. and buy them off ninja boy so he stop posting everywhere

 

First you say...
Then you say...Huh? Ride comfort is second priority, but now you're concerned about the ride of the JCW over the Sport?For what it's worth, IMO (and many others) the JCW suspension is the best compromise between handling and ride. In fact, many people considered the 1st Gen version of the JCW suspension to be the best of both worlds... in other words, noticably improved handling over all of the factory options and a smoother ride, at the same time!

My understanding is that the R56 JCW Suspension exhibits the same benefits.

For a street car, the JCW suspension is fantastic. By the sounds of your post, especially your concerns about the ride, you would be very well suited by the JCW suspension... especially since the cost isn't an issue to you.

Take a look at Gabe's 2-part review on MotoringFile:

MotoringFile >> MF Review: R56 JCW Sport Suspension
MotoringFile >> MF Review: JCW Suspension at the Track

Update: And now Gabe has added a 3rd part:

MotoringFile >> JCW Suspension One Month Review

 

Sorry to make that confusing Edge. When I was compiling the list of priorities I should have listed 10 instead of 2 to make comfort seem a close second to handling

As far as saying I would have chosen JCW over Sport but comfort is a priority, I am just confused, having read so many hyper-subjective posts on these boards, and having read people who find the JCW a more refined ride over the cheaper Sport suspension. Of course, opinions here vary widely, and it's hard to find a definitive answer. Particularly so as there is a huge lack of Sport suspension cars at dealerships for test drives and zero JCW cars, so I'm largely forced to just take an intuitive average of the opinions I read here.

In any case, sorry to make that confusing.

Ultimately I'm just wondering if there are after-market alternatives to the JCW Suspension that have equal handling and better ride comfort...?

And to ninja_van1sh, this is an information-gathering only thread for a car that I'm hoping to take delivery of in 2-3 months. Best of luck in selling your equipment.

 

Hey Brad,

I can appreciate where your coming from. I'm a relative newbie to all these suspension terms as well. But I'll give you my 2 cents.

When I bought my MCS in May of this year it was suggested to me to skip the Sport Suspension because I already had aftermarket 17" wheels and tires to switch over from my 05 MC. I did and now 6 months later I'm trying to decide between the JCW suspension and aftermarket coilovers with a rear swaybar. I want to improve the handling and response of my car as well as lower it a bit (everyone agrees the car sits too high). I'll most likely go aftermarket because I'll be able to get the ride height I want and also get the response and handling. Not to mention it will be cheaper.

If I had to do it over again, I'd go with the sport suspension and then over time add a swaybar and springs to improve the handling and lower it to the height I want.

I'm not sure what the roads are like where you are, but from what I've read the JCW suspension rides quite firm for a daily driver on anything but smooth roads. It is supposed to be awesome on the track though.

As I said, just my 2 cents.

 

Based on what you're looking for I'd actually recommend the JCW Suspension. I've had mine for a month now and don't find it uncomfortable in the least. And the performance is fantastic on and off the track. If you want to go a little more aggressive in lowering the car and want more customization, take a look at a full coil-over system for about the same cost.

 

I drove the sport when I test drove my car in April. I couldn't tell the difference (which is mainly the sway bars, no links, no lowering, probabaly the same dampers/springs). To me the major thing if you want suspension mods is to lower the car, and the factory sport does not. As an aside, I notice in reading posts like this that you better not lower the car more than an inch no matter what you do. There's a reason the JCW kit only lowers it .5". You mess up the geometry.

 

Go for JCW suspension like me.

 

The factory sport suspension has different shocks, springs, and sway bars.

Says who?



This car looks pretty low. And I bet it handles pretty well!

--Dan
Mach V
FastMINI.net

 

Hey, looks like the ride height of my car with the Mach V springs and JCW shocks and sways.....and like he side, mine handles reeeaaalllly well

 

This guy didn't like his susp. mod much it sounds like to me (too low). I don't think the factory sport susp comes with upgraded dampers/springs. They don't quote any specs/model numbers if it does. They only quote specs on the sway bars. I'd be interested if anyone has actually inspected them to see if you get different model coilovers. Think about it: you think they're gonna give you upgraded dampers AND springs AND sway bars for a measly $500? I don't.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=114425

 

They are upgraded dampers, springs, sways. You can go to your parts coutner and ask for parts printouts of all the setups, the JCW, SS, and the regular for MCS. how much stiffer and how much better are they is up to you. THe SS sways are withing 15% of the JCW sway stiffness.

 

Absolutely, and the real cost to them is probably very close to nothing. These are not "upgraded" parts in the sense of cost or quality, just tuned stiffer. They are assembled with the car and you don't receive an extra set of components.

 

Cross setup is out. No, lowering more than .5" does not mess up the geometry, my car is on H&R springs and is pretty low and is just fine, the control arms are still below parallel so all is good. I'm looking forward to some more camber one of these days... debating getting IE camber plates.

And whats wrong with oem bmw shocks made stiffer? What do you think you're buying when you get the jcw setup? Penkses? Ohlins? Motons? I don't think so. OEM suppliers I believe are boge, sachs, and bilstein. Pretty good mix right there. You really think bmw is going to skimp on longterm quality? Think of how many miles these cars are supposed to be driven. Besides, for $500 i'll take upgraded sways shocks and springs. Oh wait.. I did! And I dropped it on those shocks and guess what, rides fine, handles great, and I didn't spend $1500 on jcw suspension. If I spend $1500 its going to be on something like Cross coilovers w/ camber plates or some other real suspension setup.

My $.02,
Josh

 

Let me preface this by saying that there will never be a consensus on suspension systems, because how it "feels" is very much subjective, and because suspension means different things to different people.

It's relatively unrealistic to think that you are going to make considerable gains in both handling and ride quality. Heres why:

Improving handling will require stiffer springs. Keeping a car flat as it takes a corner is a big goal of handling. It's important to keep as much contact patch of the tires on the groung as possible, and also to control unneccesary body motion.

Improving handling generally means a reduction in ride height. A lower center of gravity is always a plus for handling. Keep in mind that there IS such a thing as too low, though. You must keep the car's suspension geometry intact, or handling will suffer. For a MINI, the limit is about 1" on the R50/53. Not sure how much testing has been done on the R56.

So, if you take those two points into account, you'll see that improving handling requires lower and stiffer springs. And to back this up, you'll find that every aftermarket system on the market for the MINI and any other car for that matter, uses these design features for their suspension.

Now, here's where subjectivity starts to rear it's ugly head. We'll start with the JCW suspension, which I have on my R53. It uses springs that are stiffer than the factory sport suspension, lowers the car 10mm (less than 1/2"), and new struts. To me, the car turns in to corners better and stays flatter, with reduced body motion, not surprising as it's a little stiffer and a little lower. As far as ride quality, some people have said that it rides "better" than factory. To me, this is misleading, as it gives the impression that it is softer or more compliant, which is not the case. IMO, because the springs are only slightly stiffer than stock, and becasue the new dampers are well matched to the springs, the car still does a very good job of soaking up bumps and does so quicker, and with perhaps a little less bounce than the stock setup. And a lot of people, myself included, like that feeling. But it's not softer....

Next, we'll talk about aftermarket springs on factory struts. I've been down that road before, and it's a bumpy one, pun intended. By lowering the strut rod into the housing by 1" or more, you're immediately giving up that much travel, abd there's not much to start with. This will hasten the demise of the strut. The stiffer rate is not well matched to the factory strut, so you do get some bounciness. Now certainly, lots of people will come on and say that they've done this, and that it rides great, and again, subjectivity comes into play. Who I am I to say that a poorly damped, bouncy, stiff ride is not what they like? Also, this is a good time to throw in the fact that if you happen to live in an area where all the roads are completely smooth and free from expansion joints, potholes, frost heave, etc, than this type of setup would actually be quite comfortable, as would a 600lb race setup or no suspension at all. But in New England, we have to deal with poor road conditions, and so that is a big factor here.

Coilovers. Many advantages to coils. First, the dampers are designed to work with shorter springs, and the body of the damper can be shorter. The damper is properly tuned to the spring, and usually has some adjustment for further fine-tuning to the car and or personal taste. Also, good ones, Cross/JIC for example, have the ability to lower by making the body shorter as opposed to dropping the strut rod further into the body. But, these systems tend to cost more, and typically run much higher spring rates, often double the rate of stock setup. Again, you'll hear that they "ride great", but 400lb springs will never be mistaken for a comfy ride. It will boil down to road conditions and personal taste.

For me, the JCW setup is a tremendous road suspension; unlike a lot of aftermarket setups that I've tried, it keeps the tires planted on the road instead of bouncing offline if you hit a bump in mid corner. It offers better control of the body, less lean, better turn in, with little sacrafice in ride quality. Lot's of people want "more"; more MUST be better. right? Lower stiffer.....not for me, not on New England roads. It's perfect for me and if it was any lower, it would have to be even stiffer, and some of its' magic would fade. It was obviously designed by someone who took poor (read real) road conditions into account, something that is missing in many aftermarket solutions.

YMMV..................

 

Very nicely summarized, thanks.

 

I agree, nice summarization. It's helped me in my choice.

 

I have decided to go with JCW Suspension. Thanks to all who contributed their experience and knowledge, and special thanks to LannyMCS for taking the time to write such a clear, simplified response to my initial question.

 

I had mine installed by Morristown last week and am very happy with them. Ride just like Lannymcs explained. Whole job cost $1495 plus alignment. Great service too.

 

 

$1500 sounds like a pretty fair price for what you get. Just springs will run you probably $500 installed. How's it handle the freeway bumpies back East?

 

That's for the JCW Suspension?! Wow, seems like a great deal! I was under the impression it would be around $2500.

 

yes it's the jcw suspension

 

Man, just when I think I've got it figured out what I'm going to ...
I wish I could get a price out of my dealer. He still can't get any info on the JCW Suspension (I'm in Vancouver, Canada). Maybe I'm just too impatient (lol).