Front Sway Bars Options

[wndsnd]

I'm see prices of $150, 350, and 500+ for new sway bars

Just wondering, once on the car will there be a difference in feel?


I really only want to spend $200.00, want adjustability, and 19mm for road only.

Your opinions please. Make some sense out of this for me.

Thanks
John

[scott_in_nh]

Hi John, I think I gave you my 2 cents on this when we were on your boat, but I will post here for other comments (if any).

I put a stock front bar on my car last fall and have a rear bar that I have not installed.

Before installation there was a fair amount of body roll and if you lifted mid turn the trailing throttle oversteer was substantial enough to require a noticeable decrease in steering input.

After installation there was substantially less body roll and the trailing throttle oversteer was gone!

It made a huge difference and I was very happy!

Jump forward six months to this past spring when I started autocrossing.

No matter what I did to the tire pressure (Goodyear Eagle GT's great street tire, substandard AX tire), the car plowed and the body lean was substantial!

IMO, for the street the right thing to do at this point would have been to add the rear bar, but this doesn't work for AX as you will unweight the inside rear tire and spin it losing grip coming off of corners.

So I went in search of used 140 lb rear springs, but found 165 lb progressive springs instead. These also ended up needing no helper springs or adjustable perches as they had about the same ride height as the 100 lb springs I removed!

I was afraid of the way they would ride on the rough roads up here, but ended up improving the ride - firm but not harsh! I really like this setup for the street.

On the AX course the car was so much flatter it was like a different car! In fact other drivers noticed the difference and asked what I changed. I could use the throttle to steer and tire pressure could actually be used to fine tune! If anything it has a touch too much oversteer right now that I am going to tune out by adding adjustability to the stock bar and stiffening it up a touch, but it sure is fun to drive this way! With 140 lb springs the stock front bar would probably be about perfect.

So a big bar in the front without stiffening the back will result in an understeering car. I would suggest either stock bars at both ends with the 100 lb springs or the stock bar (or adjustable slightly larger bar) in front with 140-165 lb springs. I would only go to a big bar if I was going to go with 180+ lb springs and I don't think that is what you are looking for.