Optimal front sway for a 1.7 ? Options

[Literati914]

I believe, if I’m not mistaken, there was a 13mm front sway bar for the 912 cars.. and I was wondering if that wouldn’t be more appropriate for a 1.7L 914 rather than the stock oem 15mm. I’m not sure if anyone bothers with a ARB on a 1.7L, but the 13mm ones are fairly easy to come by, cause everyone upgrades to bigger. So that’s a plus. Thoughts?


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[914werke]

Ive done at least one 13mm Front/No Rear update with some 140# springs I though it handled pretty damn good.

[mepstein]

Ive done at least one 13mm Front/ No Rear update with some 140# springs I though it handled pretty damn good.

Yea, heavier rear springs can serve as a bit of a substitute for no rear sway bar. Like superhawk996 has said in the past, suspension is a combination of parts but the front ARB and stiffer rear springs is a great fix over stock.

[Superhawk996]

Ive done at least one 13mm Front/ No Rear update with some 140# springs I though it handled pretty damn good.

Yea, heavier rear springs can serve as a bit of a substitute for no rear sway bar.

Indeed, it's becase the 140# rear springs add to the rear roll stiffness. However, the stiffer springs come with a ride harsness penalty. Using a rear ARB with softer springs would yield the same hadling result without the ride degradation.

As stated, the suspension is a system. Nothing can be changed indepently without affecting something else.

Here's a fun fact. A race car may often be purpose built around a specific (spec) tire. All aspects of the suspension deign are tweaked to give that tire exactly what it wants. Sometimes that is more weight transfer, sometimes it is more camber, and so on. But the bottom line is the rest of the suspension is optimized to give the tire what it wants since the tire is the interface to the road and ultimately determines handling.

So how would you know what the tire wants? Via lab testing of the tires. Tires can be characerized on flat track machines to determine where they perform best. What is the normal load that gives the highest grip? How does the tire respond to the rate at which normal load is transfered to it? Characterization of slip angles vs. load, caster, camber, toe, temperature, on & on.