I've been considering my next mod since I have several in mind and I've decided to go lower. I have separated the car into suspension mods, drivetrain mods, and then those mods that purely change the look ie. tint, carbon fiber wrap, etc. I decided to tackle the suspension first and work my way toward the drivetrain.

I talked to Waylen of WMW for about 15 minutes the other day and we decided the best approach would be to use a set of NM Engineering RS Alpha springs and a 19mm Hsport rear sway bar. I went back and forth between the 19mm and 22mm bar but the way I figured and what Way recommended was that I could always go stiffer down the road if need be but that he's found the 19mm bar to be more than sufficient for most needs, especially with lowering involved. It seems when looking for opinions on bar thickness people simply love what they have and therefore recommend it. So.... 19? 22? I went with the 19mm but we shall see. He also mentioned the NM engineering torque arm insert and for the price (and since I'll have the car in the air anyway) I went with it.

The parts should be here tuesday and I'm hoping to have them all on the car by the end of the week. I'll be taking pics and measurements before and after as well as a month or so down the road to see how the car settles. I'll post them here of course.

Really looking forward to getting on this. Something about these cars just makes me want to do more with it than drive it to work and home everyday. Too much fun!

 

Good move working with Waylen...really knows his stuff. My guess is you'll find the 19mm to be a good set-up. I'm really interested in your thoughts on the NM springs, as well as the insert. I've got a Roadster on order and plan on doing these same mods. Did your Coupe come in on the standard suspension? Stayin tuned to this thread, thanks!

 

can't wait to see it.

I just put in the Torque arm insert a few days ago, changed the shifting so much (in a good way) that I killed it a few times after the install.

Super easy to do, vibrations are very small while at a stand still. overall way way worth it.

I'm thinking about a small drop as well, but hate to think about the install..the only thing that is holding me back

 

Thanks Jibber, torque arm insert is on the the absolute to do list then.

 

Bluetoy, I ordered my Coupe with the "Sport" suspension. Why the factory JCW's don't come standard with the "JCW" suspension is beyond me but I suppose they have to have something to sell you once you've bought the car!

Jibber11, ya, I had just gotten done reading about the torque arm insert not too long before I called WMW. It was something I hadn't given much thought but everything I've read about it and the fact that Waylen was singing it's praises not to mention the low cost to benefit ratio I had to get it. Really looking forward to how the Coupe is gonna feel when all this is done. Lowering the car does have me a bit shy since I haven't really dug into a car project like this in at least 15 years but everyone says it's not to troublesome. Luckily my nephew is a mechanic so he'll be there to help and better yet, I can use his shops lift and tools.

I will be updating this post as it comes along for sure.

 

Completely agree about the JCW suspension. I also have my Roadster coming in with the Sport Suspension. When I test drove the Coupe, both cars("S" and JCW) had the SS and it felt good to me so I figured I would start there. Having access to a lift and proper tools is essential, the spring swap is straight forward, the sway bar a little more work. Standing by for your results

 

Agree on the SS Suspension! My dealership had an S coupe and a justa Coupe on the lot and I drove both just to get a feel for the cars. The justa was justa that! No frills, including the suspension. It really wasn't terrible but there was a noticeable difference between it and the S coupe which had the sport suspension so I went with the sport knowing all along I was most likely going to tinker with it at some point. Like you, I felt it was a good starting point.

I can't imagine you won't love your Roadster! I love the looks and these two seaters drive great!

 

Looking forward to your project updates! Since I ordered the JCW suspension on my JCW coupe only to find no parts yet after it was built I have the plain suspension. :(

Good luck and keep us updated.

 

The 19 mm bar you will notice less understeer right away (assuming you've driven the car on some real twisty roads stock). The problem with the 21mm bar is that it becomes much easier to have the car swap ends if you aren't careful. The car can oversteer if you get into trouble in a corner. That's why WMW recommends the 19mm: the car still wants to understeer, just less than stock. Because the SS has slightly thicker front bar as well as rear bar and they should counteract each other theoretically. I think that's why noone sells a front bar, only rear, because it corrects understeer (and front bar makes more understeer). If you lower the car an inch (or more) you'll hit/scrape the bottom lip of that front spoiler on stuff, so be prepared to cut that off of there (it should be easy). The JCW only lowers the car about 0.4" so that's no big deal. I think that's why they do it that way, they don't want people complaining about hitting stuff.
WMW did my bar in Vegas at a Mini event there. No lift. They did it in less than an hour, the nuts and bolts were flying from under the car lol. Whole job was only $300.

 

I thought I would post this here, it's a good reference, showing the possible Mini suspension set-ups.



As you can see, you would be increasing the rear sway bar by 1 mm over the Sport Suspension set up. However, you will have adjustability with the H-Sport. From what I've experienced, the Mini rotates really well with the 19mm bar. I run mine on the middle setting. As BigNewt stated, too mush rear sway will have the car rotating perhaps too easily(swapping ends), which is not what you want. Hope this helps.

 

Bluetoy, thanks for the info! I'd looked up something similar last night and found that the sport suspension was indeed only 1mm less than the Hsport bar I'm installing. Kinda bummed me out at first since my American inclination is to always think "bigger is better" lol. After doing more reading and remembering Way's great advice I chilled a bit. Like you said I can toy with the settings as well.

Mostly, for my case, I think I''l be ok with the 19mm bar since I'm going to want to get used to the car driving differently and I'm afraid if I put a real thick bar on from the start I might push what I'm used to too soon and end up *** first going around the twisties. If the 19mm bar does what you and TheBigNewt have said then it should be more than enough to even the coupe out.

Thanks again folks. The big brown truck is on track to be here tomorrow!

 

Glad to help. Keep in mind, from what I've read about the Coupe, is that it has less understeer dialed in to the chassis from the factory. This is going to be interesting to hear your thoughts on how it changes the driving characteristics of the Coupe. My thoughts would be try it on the middle setting and see how it feels.

Did Way recommend rear camber links with the springs?

Thanks for including us on this, you're paving the way

 

One of our former esteemed NAM enthusiasts put a 21mm rear bar on his MCS and promptly ended up with his car on its side after a spirited drive (overcorrected swapping ends). Like I said you should notice a difference right away with a 19mm bar, I know I did. Cornering difference was akin to putting nonrunflat tires on the car in the ride department.

 

FWIW, I read that the Coupe with SS has a larger stock sway bar than the R56 (by 1mm)

 

I did discuss the rear camber links with Way and we decided to hold off to see for sure. This was decided in no small part because of my wallet. I figure 2-3 weeks after driving with the new suspension changes I can put some more dough into it (unless the camber is just horrid) in which I'll get on it right away. If it doesn't look like it's going to chew through tires great, however if need be I may go that route regardless to get the most out of the new setup. Way did say that this is the first Coupe that he knows of personally that will be having this done so it'll be a bit of a learning curve for him as well. I'm keeping him up to date as well. Great guy to do business with!!

BigNewt, Exactly my reasoning for going lighter for now. Like Bluetoy said, I believe the Coupe has a bit less understeer as is and with the adjustable Hsport 19mm that should give me enough. Hoping so anyway. I'll start with the middle setting and see how much difference it makes.

I know the SS is listed as having an 18mm bar. I haven't read that the Coupe SS has a larger one but that may be the case. I haven't been under there to measure it. I do know it isn't adjustable though so either way having two extra settings should make a difference.

Fingers crossed! As it stands now I'll be doing the mods this friday. I received the bar and torque arm insert from UPS today but the spring are coming in a separate package thursday. I'll keep everyone posted!

 

Here's where I read it. Would be interesting to see if any R56 to R58 owners noticed.

"However each suspension on the Coupe is slightly more aggressive than the equivalent on the hatch. While MINI didn’t divulge every detail we did get out of them that the rear anti-roll bars are 1mm larger on the Coupe versus the hatch. Additionally the Sport suspension felt slightly more aggressive than the hatch’s set-up in terms of damping."

From this article:
http://www.motoringfile.com/2011/06/...ini-jcw-coupe/

 

Terminal, thanks for the update. Way is the best!

Take as many pics as you can, I suspect a lot of us will be following this path. I would also love to see before and after measurements of ride height, perhaps taken from ground to wheel well opening(bottom of the arches)? Thanks again

-Steven

 

Wondering if that applies to the Roadster as well. Guess it's time to get my caliper out and crawl under the car...

Don

 

I've been wondering the same thing. I haven't been able to find anything definitive on this.

 

I just measured! Calipers say 17.92mm! This is my JCW Coupe with sport suspension. Of course that's not a Roadster but I'd be willing to bet it's the same for a Roadster JCW.

 

Hmmm. Measured my S Roadster with base suspension and got 16.1mm for the rear swaybar. From other threads, I'd gathered these are the expectations :

Rear swaybars on an 'S':
Standard: 17 mm
Sport: 18 mm
JCW retrofit: 18.5 mm

Rear swaybars non-S:
Standard: 16 mm
Sport: 18 mm
JCW retrofit: 18.5 mm

If there was measurement error (due to an angle between the calipers and the bar, dirt, paint) I'd expect to read artificially high, not low.

So instead of thicker as expected, mine looks thinner?

Need to crawl under there and measure again.
Also need to try and get at the front sway as well.

Don

 

Get the H-sport 19mm and you'll never have to do that again. You'll love it too!

 

Ok, measured the rear bar again and the front bar as well.

My S Roadster with base suspension:

Front: 22.5mm
Rear: 16mm

So the rear bar seems to be 1mm smaller versus the "expected" numbers.

If anyone has numbers off of their Coupe (or Roadster) I'd love to hear them.

Woud like to determine which of these is the case:

1. The "accepted" numbers are wrong.
2. The Roadster has a smaller rear bar by design.
3. They grabbed a bar from the wrong bin when my car was built.
4. I'm making a measurement error.

#2 seems unlikely since the story seems to be that the Coupe has less understeer dialed in.

#4 seems unlikely as well, since I've measured both ends of the rear bar and my measurement for the front bar is spot on to the accepted value.

Don

 

Don,
Thanks for going through the trouble to verify what size SB's are on your Roadster. I was just looking at the REALOEM site to do a parts check. If you enter the Roadster, they are showing:
Rear -16mm (non sport) and 17mm (sport).
Front -22.5mm(non sport), 23.5mm (sport).

On the Coupe, they are showing:
Rear -18mm for the "S" and JCW. It doesn't show a sport designation.
Front -22.5mm (non sport).

So, comparing the Roadster to the Coupe, the Coupe definitely has less understeering built into it. Going up to a 19mm rear sway bar should really have an effect on the way the car will rotate, especially on the Roadster(non sport sups.), since it has a smaller front sway bar.

-Steven

 

I can't wait to see and hear this mod. I have thought about going in the same direction.