I've had a bit of a search on here and got mixed results so I'll ask directly , is it worthwhile fitting a rear sway bar to a mini ? I aquired a new one with it's fitting kit recently as a freebie with some other stuff but have been told they're good and work best without a front sway bar , I've been told fronts are the only way to go and also that they must be fitted as a pair for best results . Who has a rear sway bar fitted only and what sort of improvements did you notice ? Is it worth fitting a rear only or find a front to go with it ? Considering putting it on a mini with dry suspension by the way .

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Improving the handling of the rear only will increase the amount of understeer, and minis have enough of that already!

but I have never driven a mini with only a rear sway bar (don't think I would want to)...

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Too many cars, and too little time.

putting a rear sway bar on a mini does not increase understeer but fitting a front one sure as hell does, for a road car you are better off fitting some decent shockies and getting the geometry right on the front and rear

Jon

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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van

Look you don't need a rear sway bar...just pass it my way..I had a front one as I did not need it

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Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

I seem to remember hearing that fitting a rear only will help keep the inside front wheel on the road during high speed cornering but not sure f that was only for hydro or not . Might as well fit it for bling factor anyway .

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i've been told street minis don't need 'em....

just adjustable arms to dail the geometry in right, possibly

not even hilos.... just cut the trumpet to the right height

so that's (kinda) what i'm doing..

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I don't know what the feal is like when these are fitted to minis but the theory is the same for all cars.

A sway bar adds roll stiffness. Putting one on the rear gives the car more roll stiffness at the rear. That means that the outside rear tyre gets more heavily loaded in cornering. This increases oversteer/decreases understeer.

The opposite is true if you put a sway bar on the front only. More understeer and less oversteer.

If you put a pair of sway bars on then the relative rates between them determines the under/over steer characteristics. The pair will reduce total body roll and this keeps tyre contact patches more even on the road as it reduces roll-induced camber change. On smooth roads, this increases total grip. It does not change the total amount of weight transfer from the inside to outside. That is fixed by the centre of gravity height and the track width. On rough roads the suspension is no longer independant and you lose grip.

The stiffness of a sway bar is highly dependant upon the diameter of the bar. I can't remember but it is either proportional to the diameter cubed or forth power. So a small change in bar diameter has a large change in stiffness.

So, if you have a car with sway bars you can't keep the same balance by uprating both bars by 4mm say.

M

I've raced with only a rear sway bar. They make the car oversteer. You can get the same kind of results with adjustable rear suspension brackets.

It you've got it already I suggest bolt it on and go for a drive! They will oversteer at the limit which could be good for a road Mini to lessen the understeer.

HRS

Thank's guy's , that's the type of answers I was after , I'll give it a go and see how it works .

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I've been told that swaybars actually make minis 1-2 secs slower around Mallala....that you're better off without them.

That said, i have never personally tried them, and a rear swaybar made a huge difference to the turning abilities of my starlet.

give it a go....

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1962 Morris 850.....with a 1310

1998 Toyota starlet.....161.1hp atw

Listen to Mokesta - he knows his stuff!

Modern cars love roll bars as they make the car sit flat thru a corner, but you can still have soft springs with long travel to soak up the bumps.

Sure it might make a race mini slower around a track, but they are effectively sitting on th bumpstops anyway, so a rollbar won't do much good.

I will definately be fitting front and rear bars to my car when I rebuild the suspension. It allows best of both worlds with a mini - suspension travel and handling.

Roll bars basically transfer weight diaginally across the car.

A rear bar loads up the outside front wheel thereby reducing understeer.

Roll bars increase spring rate during cornering and Minis are generally pretty stiff but a lot of quick Minis use rear bars so there must be something in it.

Never used one myself but woudn't mind having a go.

Cheers, Ian

Hmmmm - should have got some back from the US for us Ian...

Hooroo

Rob Forsyth
Miniot!!

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Rob Forsyth
Miniot!!

The front bar on a mini will lift the inside wheel during a corner. This causes that wheel to spin and this will slow you down. If you want to go slow fit a front bar.

Not all racetrack heroes use a rear bar. Greig Malaure's Nb car (one of the quickest) has no rear bar.
OK, so he CAN drive.....

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.