Anybody running without a rear sway bar?, How does it corner? Options

[stephen7]

I read that the early cars didn't have rear sway bars - do they make a difference?

I bought expensive weltmeister sway bars for my 911 and all the PCA racers said take them off and it will corner better. How about 914s? Should you have beefy sway bars for AX and DE or run with stiffer springs, dampeners and thicker torsion bars?

thanks

steve

[Dave_Darling]

First, I don't believe that early cars had sway-bars. And I think that when the factory fitted the bars, they were front and rear both. (But no, I'm not certain about it.)

I loved the factory F&R bars on my car when I had stock springs. Now that I've got 140s in the rear (still stock front torsions!) and a 19mm bar up front, the rear bar was too much roll stiffness in the rear. I removed it and am happy with the balance. (For now.)

It's all a question of balance. You can increase the roll stiffness directly with sway bars, or indirectly with stiffer springs (which also increase the overall stiffness). Either way works, and to some extent you can trade off between the two.

EDIT--When I had the stock suspension, I tried a little autoX with the rear bar disconnected. Not a huge difference, but I liked the way the car felt with the rear bar connected better than with it disconnected. I put it back on at the first opportunity! Until I upgraded the rear springs, that is...

--DD