Have seen the Jcw strut bar and others for sale-both for engine area and rear. wonder if anyone has put these on and found them to be effective and what benefits. thanks robert

 

Hi robert, I am pondering the same question. I just ordered a 08 S with quite a few extras. I added the Strut Bar for the front. It is an after market add on option. I'll keep my ears to the ground on your post. Peter

 

Most people will tell you the JCW front brace is just bling. I suspect on tintops that is the case. Cab's are much more flexible and I noticed a pretty significant difference when I got mine. It apparently does not stop mushrooming (not that I have any) - fixed camber plates seem to be the accepted fix for that.

 

I suspect a good strut brace makes *some* difference on a cabrio, though most strut braces are designed such that they can't *really* stiffen anything... the brace would "give" before it would actually resist the kinds of loads generated by the chassis. The biggest improvement comes from a more substantial under-chassis brace, like the M7 USS or the TSW X-brace...

 

I have a 2006 MCSC and I drove it for a while pretty stock (except for a rear sway bar that the dealer installed for me). Then I added an M7 engine strut brace, and later on added the M7 USS. Each made quite a noticable difference in the handling and feel of the car. They were definitely worth it.

I've been hoping that M7 finishes the cabrio version of their brace that goes behind the rear seats, but I doubt it'll ever happen.

 

+1 more for the M7 USS, and a definite +1 on a rear sway bar.
But I got nothing out of the engine strut brace (I would still recommend the M7 strut tower plates to prevent mushrooming, however).

 

i am sold-i think i want to add the M7 USS--but is there any difference between the JCW an M7 strut tower brace? i have a 2006 mini is convert with JCW factory- so jcw would be more bling--but i want the best for the car

 

Yes, JCW is more expensive and will not give any protection against mushrooming.

 

i will go with the M7

 

don't cabrios already have some kind of torsional bracing, to the point that a sb would be unneeded?

 

There is an extra cross-brace on the underside of the car that the hardtop does not have. It makes exhaust installation a little bit more interesting but it makes the car more rigid nonetheless.

 

There are also the extra short braces on the front of the forward strut towers - that some folks have added to their coupes... I suspect that those braces provide much of the benefit that could be gained from an STB if they weren't there... in other words, they're why many cabrio STB purchasers claim they could feel no or little improvement from the STB (though there certainly are some who claim the STB made a difference for them).

 

I got the JCW brace figuring it was bling only. But frankly it does make a different in handling. I drive the same twisties every day to and from work and I can feel a noticeable difference in that it doesn't push as much. I was surprised and happy.

Rich

 

^ it might make a difference . . . but I don't see why it would make more of a difference than other third party bars. My comment you quote was more about mushrooming -- which from the JCW design, I can't see how it would provide any benefit . . . but I may be wrong about that.

 

A lower frame brace, like the OMP, will do more than an upper strut brace.

 

i am a noob at all this-can you tell me what OMP is? do i have it right-you are suggesting lower frame brace like M7 USS is more effective thatn the upper strut brace? why not both-seems that would really do the trick?

 

OMP is a mfg of a lower frame brace - others are the M7 USS and the Texas Speedwerks X-brace. An upper strut brace would *in theory* make a difference - but the way most are designed, they can't truly "triangulate" the towers to effectively stiffen anything, at least not appreciably... they can only stiffen in compression or tension (i.e. keep the tops of the towers from getting further apart or closer together) but there are many ways you can move around the strut towers while keeping the tops equidistant. And many of the designs can actually flex under compression... so the strut tower tops can move together and apart anyway, in spite of the STB. The USS and the X-brace tie together multiple points on the underside of the "arms" that protrude from the front of the chassis... and are much more effective IMHO at actually bracing these arms from moving and limiting their overall motion vs. the rest of the chassis.

 

STB are designed to prevent the movement of the towers during change of directions, not during acceleration or braking. So the forces being applied are lateral to the direction of travel. That is why you will see STB being used on just about every other brand of car out there that gets any kind of hard driving. This is because the towers are located much farther away from the firewall than the MINI's is. The MINI will not benefit from a STB as much as these other cars will. But the lower brace would benefit the MINI as it will brace the tunnel section of the car.

But those STB sure do look good !

 

OMP products can be found here: http://www.mini-madness.com/index.as...S&Category=209

You'll see a strut-top bar, a lower frame brace, and a variation on the lower brace that may add further stiffness over the simple bar.

The Cabrio diagonal braces (from MINI - ~$50) also add front-end torsional stiffness.

All taken together, these braces can make the car noticeably stiffer, which assists the suspension in doing its job.

 

Im a little disappointed to hear that the strut brace doesn't do much but it sure looks nice! Im not sure If I'd spend the $$$ for it now...