Marc K wrote:My Mini is now out of its extended warranty so I plan on wrenching on it myself. Is there a good shop manual or do you google what you want to do ? Shop rate at Flow Mini is $195 an hour ! I did look after we talked and several web blogs said the best single cheap thing to improve handling is add a rear sway bar.
The Mini upgrades are finished and passed their road test - no more wrenching for a while - SUCCESS YAY!
Back when I bought a shop manual for my Mini the only thing available was the Bently which is huge and IMO, just about worthless. Now there are Haynes manuals so that's what I'd get now.
Pelican Parts has a fantastic list of detailed service, upgrade and repair articles for just about anything you'd want to do for a Mini.
https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/MINI/MINI_tech_index.htmYoutube is also a good source.
Fast twisty driving exposes that the stock Mini has a lot of understeer so yes, it needs a stiffer rear sway bar. I also installed negative camber plates on top of the struts for the same reason. My Mini no longer has understeer.