recommended sway bars??

[dmw319]

i am going to be putting on blistein HD shocks and the eibach pro-kit springs (1.4" drop) this weekend. what are good sizes for sway bars that i should get??

i believe stock is 30/19, correct?

http://www.lmperformance.com/541/13.html <<-- i was thinking about those. does that include the front/back? or possibly this - http://www.lmperformance.com/1543/13.html

what are good places to get this stuff? and what do you reccomend? thanks.

[Dominic]

A 35mm front and 19mm rear will be a really nice setup, stranoparts.com sells those. If not that, go with a 32/19 (1LE front, V8 Rear). It's cheap and will work well.

I run a 32/21 - but it is controversial to run a big rear bar. Do a search or email me if you need more help [img]smile.gif[/img]

[95Batmobile]

yeah the 32mm front is nice.


"If you take it to the outside, you CAN hold!"

[dmw319]

so pretty much, upgrade the front bar.. the back isnt as important since its the same size?

also, what about panhard bars..??
and where is a good place to find a 1LE 32mm front bar???? thanks!!

[ June 09, 2005, 11:46 PM: Message edited by: dmw319 ]

[dmw319]

anyone?

[1DangerousV6]

i have the Spohn sway bar set from www.fasttoys.net ..they are 32/22 and KICK @SS

[V6Bob]

There's a reason you're not getting much here. Swaybars are a complicated and tricky mod. If you don't know what you're doing you can really screw up your car, even make it unsafe. Taking some recommendation off the Net (like mine) is really risky business. How do you know the guy knows what he's talking about?

Here's what I think. The front bar mostly controls roll, and has less effect on the handling balance of the car, because it also reduces camber change. It starts out pretty big so +2mm is not a huge change.

The rear bar mostly controls handling balance and has little effect on roll. It starts out small so +2mm is a big change. The stiffness increases as the fourth power of the diameter. (See what I mean about complicated?) In my opinion really big rear bars like the 21 or 22 are a very bad idea, on stock V6 springs. Most of the fast V8 autocrossers don't like them either.

The bars interact with the springs, a lot. It's the main reason why V6s have different bars than V8s. Any specific recommendation based on experience with different springs doesn't mean much.

[ June 10, 2005, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: V6Bob ]

[FirebirdGT]

Originally posted by dmw319:

i believe stock is 30/19, correct?

That is stock for a V8. You're 28/15.

[dmw319]

thanks.


so i guess what my main question is. what is a good setup for the eibach pro-kit springs and blistein shocks?? and where is a good place to buy? also, what is a panhard rod, and the advantage of getting a bigger/newer one..?

thanks.

[V6Bob]

The Panhard rod is the suspension link which handles all of the side to side cornering loads on the car. It's not the bar itself, it's the rubber mounting bushings. They are a bit soft and so the rear end is a bit sloppy in turns. The 1LE Panhard has stiffer rubber, and most aftermarket Panhards have polyurethane.

[dmw319]

ok. so what a good idea for me to do would be the panhard rod, front and back sways, 32 and 21? where is a good place to get them? i cant find a place that sells the front 1LE.

[V6Bob]

"so what a good idea for me to do would be the panhard rod, front and back sways, 32 and 21?"

I'm going to risk being offensive, but I seem to have not gotten through to you. I think the 21 rear bar is a really bad idea. Do ou know how stiff that bar is? Do you know what you hope to gain by using it? Do you have any idea what it's for? It's not to provide roll control.

Bigger is not better here. The rear bar wants to be the _right_ size. That's not easy to do (which is why I'm don't suggest any specific rear bar to anyone), but I think I know what's a bad idea. I think 21 and up rear bars are a bad idea for anyone (except maybe a road racer with huge front springs), and especially for anyone who doesn't _really_ know how sway bars work and is just going by what they see from some stranger on the net.

[95Batmobile]

If I remember, big rear swaybars make the rearend want to come out more in turns.

I would get a 32mm front bar and new Panhard bushings. Maybe a strut tower brace. I've read the strut tower brace really complete to effect of the swaybar and shocks/springs.

[PiLOTLiTE]

Everytime this question comes up, me and Dominic are about the only two that chime in with support for the 32/21 setup. Of course, this support is based on nothing but personal experience. I don't have numbers, charts, or graphs to show you why this setup works better or worse than any other setup. I've run it for over 3 years on the street and autocross track with no adverse or dangerous effects and believe it works well in my suspension setup; your mileage may vary of course. Here's what I have done to my suspension in case you plan on doing anything similar:

Hotchkis springs
Bilstein HD shocks
GM 1LE 32/21 sway bars and bushings
Energy Suspension polyurethane endlinks
Energy Suspension poly torque arm bushing
BMR tubular lower control arms w/ poly busings
BMR adjustable panhard rob w/ poly busings
BMR strut tower brace
BMR boxed weld-in subframe connectors
Sumitomo HTRZ tires 275/40-17 front, 315/35-17 rear
Custom alignment spec'd to -.5 camber, +4.5 caster, 0 toe

[FirebirdGT]

Originally posted by PiLOTLiTE:
Everytime this question comes up, me and Dominic are about the only two that chime in with support for the 32/21 setup.

Yes, but you also do not have stock springs.

I agree with V6Bob.

I have a 35/21 with stock V8 (NOTE not V6) springs and will either increase the front spring rate, or go to a 19mm rear. The 1LE/WS6 cars only used the 21mm bar the first year, then stayed with the stock 19mm and increased the front to 32mm..