Because we can't touch the rear bar lowering the front bar diameter will help with the over steer. The STX people change the rear bar with the H-Sport "comp": 22.1mm effective (25.5mm hollow), which is equivalent of a 5 mm increase.

Stock front bars are 16mm (too small?) and 22.5mm (not small enough?). Has anybody changed his or her front bars? If so, with what, and how did you like the change?


Front Bar:
One 16mm 31 35 6 757 071 w/ bushing 31 35 6 757 069
One or Cooper with SS 22.5mm 31 35 6 757 072 w/ bushing 31 35 6 757 146
Cooper or MCS with SS+ 24mm 31 35 6 758 301 w/ bushing 31 35 6 758 302

Rear Bar:
Cooper or MCS with SS+ 17mm 33 55 6 754 819

 

I was at a school this weekend and took the front bar off, I got much better handling out of turns. I could actually use the power instead of spinning my wheels.

 

I was actually thinking of doing this, as I'm moving back to GS next season. Has anyone tried this yet? My plan was to get a front bar from a Cooper with the standard "sport" suspension. Seems like an effective way to get the same overall effect of stiffening the rear. Has anyone tried this yet?

 

Knew of a Sentra SE-R that disconnected the front bar during wet autocrosses where he was more likely to plow. Removing it entirely slows the transition reaction time as the car has more travel. Go with the small front bar with the SS rear and you should have an improvement without losing the transition response.

 

Did you remove the bar entirely or just disconnect one side drop link?

 

We put the "Sport" front bar on our "Sport Plus" HS MINI last year. We like the results; it's more neutral in sweepers yet still transitions well. An added plus is the reduced wheel spin on corner exit. I think it would be very effective on an open-dif Cooper S.

 

i've also tried the "no swaybar" approach. At a practice day, my co-driver and I each ran two runs, then disconnected the sway bar (removed and endlink) and ran two more runs each.

The difference was dramatic. The car wouldn't slalom for beans, leaning from one bump stop to the other. You had to turn in realllly early, taking away the biggest strength of the car.

It did perform better in sweepers and had less wheel spin on corner exit. Over all our times were about the same, with or without the sway bar. But car was not as fun to drive. If you like body roll, go without the sway bar.

Personally, I have gone the other way and have a giant front bar.

 

Keith,

For us newbies, can you enlighten us on what you mean by "giant" front bar, as in source, size, cost?

Jim
'05 MCS on order

 

Stock size for MCS is 24mm. H&R makes a 27MM solid front bar with no adjustment points. H-Sport makes a 27MM hollow bar which they claim is a 16% increase over stock that has two adjustment points.

I personally haven't spoken with anybody locally that is just using a stiffer front bar, but in theory it should keep the the front tires flatter durring hard cornering. I guess it would also cause more understeer.

I would be really interested in hearing from some people that have actually tried this.

$248 shipping?
http://outmotoring.com/h_r_front_sway_bar.html
$217 plus shipping
http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html...ODUCT_ID=70416
$210 shipping?
http://www.minituner.com/products/?productID=224





H Sport now offers its tubular front sway bar for the Mini. Two-position adjustable, this tubular front bar is perfect for those who want to dramatically decrease front roll while at the same time, transforming the initial steering input from fairly vague to very precise. H Sport recommends one of its two rear bars for this application if your Mini sees track day time. The kit comes complete with polyurethane bushings, bushing brackets and zerk fittings for easy occasional lube. The sway bar itself is brilliant black powdercoated.
1 1/16" (27mm) Hollow
Rate Increse Over Stock
Front: +16% & +27%


Retail price: $130.95
http://www.h-sport.com/cgi-bin/EDCst...talogno=22800F

 

I run the H Sport bar on the stiffest setting. But mine is bright blue not black.

 

H Sport has changed their paint scheme from blue to black, at least on the
anti-sway bars.

 

I also run an H-Sport 27mm front swaybar. I ran it on the softer setting the first half of the season, then switched it to firm for the second half.

Everyone told me that a stiffer front bar would increase understeer but I have not found that to be the case. I find I have better grip on corner exit.

Now, since I'm in STX, I also have the stiffer rear H-Sport bar, so I'm not stiffening the front while leaving the rear stock like GS has to do -- I'm making both swaybars stiffer.

David

 

Is changing the front bar a DIY proposition? If not, how much to pay a dealer to do it?

Jim

 

I did mine myself - it took me a good part of 8 hours - (I'm slow and thorough)

It was the most difficut DIY I've undertaken with my MCS. Doing the rear swaybar is a piece of cake by comparison.

Randy Webb has a very good "how To" on his site that I followed.

I'm not sure what the dealer would charge, but I'd guess $400 to $500.

Changing the front sway bar is only for the truly afflicted. I'd estimate that only about 1% of us have done it. I personally only know of 4 of us.

Happy Turkey Day

David

 

i've changed mine twice, first to the smaller standard Cooper bar and then to the H sport bar. The first time with the help of an experienced mechanic friend it took 3 hours. The second time it took 4 hours by myself. Having the car on a hoist would greatly increasae the ease of the job but not the time to complete...

One more thing about the sway bar swap, you should probably get your car alligned afterwards since it is hard to get the subframe to line up exactly the way it was before, and that will change your alignment.

Randy's step by step instructions were fantastic.

 

For those of you with the H sport front bar? Any downsides to running this bar over the factory 24MM? Does it make the car noticeably stiffer for daily driving? Also, does anyone know how much lighter the H Sport bar is compared to the factory 24MM.

I just bought one of these bars but after reading some of the posts regarding installation I'm wondering if it's worth the hassle? I can just imagine myself lying underneath the car 7 hours into installation

Stuart

 

I didn't weigh them but I have a 24mm bar sitting on the shelf, and have a good scale... I went from the small bar to the H sport so yes there was a noticeable difference. But I don't think you will really notice the difference between the H sport and the Plus bar.

I'm not much of a mechanic and it took me about 4 hours. Print out Randy's instructions and follow them through every step... To make it easier get the car as far in the air as you can, if you have access to a hoist use it.

It really comes down to driving style... I like the big bar, Chiles runs the small bar, you choose. It is hard to test front bars on the MINI unless you have two identically prepped cars, it just takes too long to change.

 

Forgot the daily driving part... No difference. Except maybe over big potholes, but you want to avoid them anyway.

The only downside is on courses with big camber changes (cross slopes, dips etc) it is easier to spin the inside tire.