My 05 JCW MCS has finally run the length of its warranty and Im ready to upgrade the suspension. My plan so far is F/R sway bars, Alta PSRS, and the Bilstien PSS9 system w/new endlink to accomodate the drop.

This is my daily driver but I do drive rather aggressively and in the evenings go for drives through the twisty hills in the area so for most of the time I wont be running the setup at its most extreme.

My questions (finally) are, How much more tire wear should I expect with this new setup? Are there any other components that will wear faster with a setup like this? And finally what additional components will I need to add to make this setup work (like having to get new endlinks to fit the PSS9) and anyone have possible suggestions on if I want to do this in stages?

Thanks
sorry for all the questions, dont know alot of mini drivers with mods to ask for help

 

my .02 : absolutely no need for a front sway bar. i like my Alta PSRS very much. i don't know if it is the right application for your car/use, but it is nice (replacing oem bushings may be enough). PSS9's and new endlinks sound good for your use. you might want to add adjustable lower rear control arms to keep rear camber in check. i would also add some sort of front camber adjustment. fixed or adjustable according to budget. tire wear might even improve if you do things correctly. you aren't doing/suggesting anything radical, so you shouldn't expect any expidited wear on suspension components.

 

none if you get it right -- might even improve...

of course if you run the highway 100 miles a day with a few degrees of negative camber then you wear the inner edges, but

i run -2.5 at front with > 1.5" drop (-1.0 rear) and mix the backroads with a little highway, and my tire wear is quite even

and man does that thing turn...



Ps: LF wheel bearing at 95k miles, and RF wheel bearing at 120k miles. original CV joints. now 123k miles and still tight.

 

Thanks bean, Im going kinda all out since I wanna get into track events and be able to get the most out of my car.

I figured since I was having the subframe dropped for the bushing I would go ahead and do the sway bar, is it just unneeded or is it detrimental to the performance. Also what angle did you mount your PSRS?

 

I have my Alta PSRS mounted at about a 45 degree angle for added caster and the claimed anti-lift. I replaced my worn out control arm bushings with the PSRS, so the difference I felt was like night and day. They've held up nicely with 2 years and about 20k miles of driving, so I'm very pleased.

Ideally, adding a stiffer rear sway bar helps balance out your handling characteristics and prevents you from pushing (understeer) through sharp turns. Adding a stiffer front sway bar sort of cancels out the effects of adding a stiffer rear sway bar and your car will begin to have understeer.

I really like the Bilstein PSS9's, but for the price, it would be nice if they came with built in camber plates. For the amount of $$$ you would have to spend buying the PSS9's and camber plates, you might want to look into the JIC Cross coilover system that comes with built in camber plates. The Cross system is very highly praised on NAM, but I've never been in a Mini that had them installed.