sway bar?

[SecretAgent420]

what would be the best sway bars for autox.

[O0oSKAMo0O]

i put the suspension techniques front sway bar and its awesome i autoX alot so its tested and proven call sam strano at stranoparts.com he will set u up he a avid AutoXer.

[Dominic]

There are no best bars, its just a way of tuning a myriad of things using a cheap torsion spring :D

Some people like 32/21, others like 35/17... It just depends. I don't know anyone who thinks a smaller front bar is good though :D

You must remember we have a live axle so our camber doesnt change in the rear in a corner. The idea is to allow the rear to move as much as possible to deal with body roll. I personally like my roll rates in the front and rear to be about the same, but others like the rear to roll a little more since it seems to add some cornering traction.

[ July 11, 2003: Message edited by: Dominic ]</p>

[SecretAgent420]

ok this is were im coming from. i want to get sway bars, sfc and stb i will be getting h&r springs and a adj panhard rod later. so i was wondering what are the best sway bar. from what i have read a lot of people get 1le and others get a large front sway bar and leave the rear alone. so the point of all my little speach is what happens if i get the suspension techniques front and rear sway bars (35mm/25mm) and would that be better then the 1le sway bars with where im going with suspension mods

[V6Bob]

Swaybars need to be matched to springs. _No one_ can tell you what bars are best without knowing what springs you have.

You can go too big on swaybars, particularly at the rear. Too big a rear bar will cost you rear traction. It will drive OK at slow speeds, but let you down when you need rear traction most (accelerating hard off corners in autocross, wet weather, emergency maneuver).

The purpose of the rear bar is mostly not to prevent roll. 95% of that is handled by the front bar and the springs. The purpose is to prevent the front suspension from being overloaded by transferring some of the cornering load to the rear. Use too big a rear bar, and the rear suspension just gets overloaded.

With a V8 on stock V8 springs, which loads the front end heavily, most people think a 19 rear is right and a 21 rear is too big. So a 21 rear is definitely too big for a V6, on stock V6 springs.

The only people who (properly) use a 25 rear are V8 folks with very stiff (500lbs/in or more) front springs. Generally these are folks who roadrace and need the stiff fronts to handle very high cornering loads on a heavy front end.

There's more to it than that. Sway bars are a complicated deal and the advice to call Strano was the best advice.

[SecretAgent420]

im starting to get this, but 1 last question is there a sway bar "too big" for the front.

[V6Bob]

Like I said, it's complicated, but...

It's harder to screw up the front than the rear. A bigger swaybar on the front puts more cornering load there, but, it also improves the ability of the front to handle it with improved camber control.

Some manufacturers handling packages (like GM's 1LE) just increase the front bar (or add one if there was none) and leave the rear alone.

Drawbacks of a big front bar include that it stiffens the ride over one wheel bumps. Also, if you have stiff lowering springs, you can get too much total antiroll stiffness and make the car twitchy. Not too likely with stock V6 springs.

[firstlove94]

Well i got the BMR set and they are awesome, my car flattened right out in the corners and turn in is much more predictable. and it was really reasonable. check out www.bmr.com