Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

[OneEightSeven]

So I ordered a new round of upgrades for the camaro:

- 32mm 1LE front sway bar
- 19mm rear sway bar
- Founders Performance LCA
- Founders Performance shock tower brace.

I got all the parts in but the front sway bar seems damaged:

http://rootit.org/1le.png

It's supposed to be 100% symmetrical right? I haven't looked at my stock one in a while. Guess this came off a front end wreck...

[transamtom1]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

It could have been bent wrong in the jig?

[whitdog54]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

ahh man, why not 21 rear? having a little bit over steer I thought was very nice and once I got used to my 32/21 set up I loved pushing it through corners.

[OneEightSeven]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

@whitdog54

It should still do that in the corners if you hit the throttle. It just wont tend to do it as much when you come into a corner at low or zero throttle. You should still carry some throttle through a corner in all cars, you should never coast through corners unless you're at low speeds. If i do get bored with it, it's a 10 min swap and rear bars are dirt cheap. Ill prolly get a 21+ bar if I start to dabble in auto cross.

[OneEightSeven]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

Hmm the more i look at pictures of other bars the more it looks like maybe it's normal? The seller told me it's actually a brand new bar, which makes sence since it's completely clean with 0 wear marks.

http://www.umiperformance.com/catalo...11213a_LRG.jpg

I would think it should be symmetrical, but I can't tell, i guess maybe they're not? Guess ill just have to look under the car tomorrow.

[ssms5411]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

ahh man, why not 21 rear? having a little bit over steer I thought was very nice and once I got used to my 32/21 set up I loved pushing it through corners.

Yep , I love my 32mm/21mm sways I had the ST35mm with the 21mm and it was a mean cornering machine, but a 34lb sway vs. a 10LB so the choice was easy.LOL Even with the 32/21 like said it corners very well , I just have the rear end come out too much on me if I give it too much gas, its fun like drifting, but I don't want to put it into a wall.LOL


The sway in the pic looks fine if you have trouble bolting it on then I would say its warped.

[OneEightSeven]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

Yep , I love my 32mm/21mm sways I had the ST35mm with the 21mm and it was a mean cornering machine, but a 34lb sway vs. a 10LB so the choice was easy.LOL Even with the 32/21 like said it corners very well , I just have the rear end come out too much on me if I give it too much gas, its fun like drifting, but I don't want to put it into a wall.LOL


The sway in the pic looks fine if you have trouble bolting it on then I would say its warped.

Yea it just doesn't seem perfectly symmetrical, but then again I'm not sure our front sways are supposed to be perfectly symmetrical.

The 19 in the rear should still provide reduced under steer with a 32 front. The front is being increased by ~14.3% (28 to 32) while the rear is being increased by ~26.6% (15 to 19.).

[OneEightSeven]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

So everything went on fine. The front sway bar is not perfectly symmetrical on our cars. I think I really like the 32/19 combination. It definitely under-steers less and the rear starts to come out, but its soooo manageable you just adjust the throttle and/or steering slightly and it comes right back in line. The new LCAs did make the ride harsher, but they fixed my rear ride height and I noticed the car stays more planted on rough road surfaces when losing traction. My right LCA was damaged and that's why the car sat lower on the right rear side than on the left rear. I see a lot of posts saying the car sits an inch or so lower on the right rear side, maybe this is a common problem. It seems perfectly even now.

[truekoa]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

I believe the right side sitting lower is to compensate for the driver's weight - in order words the driver side should be a bit higher than the passenger side so when the driver is in the car, the rear is somewhat even.

My car sits dead even, if anything it seems the driver side is a bit lower.

[OneEightSeven]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

I believe the right side sitting lower is to compensate for the driver's weight - in order words the driver side should be a bit higher than the passenger side so when the driver is in the car, the rear is somewhat even.

My car sits dead even, if anything it seems the driver side is a bit lower.

I've heard ppl say that, but I don't think it's true. Considering this is a car without IRS and that it handles like a wagon when stock I think it's unlikely GM would bother. It's only recently that GM started to focus on handling since people started to realize how much better everything from Europe (and some from Asia) handles and rides.

Ride height is controlled by physical geometry, springs and weight distribution. The factory and aftermarket springs are the same rate and size for both front sides and both rear sides. The geometry is also even between the sides in height, so the only other way to compensate for driver weight would be redistributing weight.

On my car the front ride height was always identical, but the rear was lower on the passenger side by about an inch. This is the exact condition I see on TONS of 4th gen f-bodies on the road. After replacing the LCAs the rear ride height is dead even. The factory stamped right side LCA was slightly warped. It didn't look like it would be enough to make the car sit lower, but after the swap the car sits even, so I guess a small amount of warping makes for a big difference as you extend the angle.

*Thought: We do all ride on the right side of the road. Maybe coming out of turns more people clip the rear right wheel on a curb coming out. I never do that, but I'm the second owner and my car had that ride height issue since I got it.

[ssms5411]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

Mine sits level after installing 1LE springs and QA-1 adj. shocks. From the fender to ground its about 27.5-28"s.

[OneEightSeven]

Re: Sway Bars, LCA & Brace

the springs did even mine out a little bit, but the LCA's finished the job for me.