Are there any advantages of installing sway bars on a street car?
Does it improve handling?

My experience and it is limited is: Yes on the front; rear - only if you have a locked or posi- differential.

My transmission differential is not a locked or posi- type. I had a stock sway bar on the back and it put me into some very bad situations. Wanted to drive left with very little effort to steering; wanted to drive right when turning with a lot of steering wheel and effort. To me very dangerous.

My experience and thoughts.

Steve

Yes, best bang for the buck on a 914.

I would install a stock bar (15mm) or an adjustable 19mm with the arms out all the way.

Stock bar on a street car is divine.

Agree w/Steve. Front bar only. Maybe 140 springs in the rear.

HI all -

I've got both front and rear 'stock' sway-bars, but I also have 10" wide rear wheels and lots of rubber on the ground. I've done a few AX's and have found that the car is nicely balanced, and that while I can induce oversteer - it is controllable. I cannot speak to running rear sway-bars on skinny tires....

Prior to fitting both front and rear sway bars, I ran without either on skinny tires...and found that the body roll was more than I enjoyed....

so, having been at both extremes, I think I'll keep both front and rears....and perhaps upgrade to the limited slip diff when I get the chance....

thx

td

I agree with Eric. Rear springs 140# which is what I have changed to. No sway bar in rear. Just need to get the rear end higher for clearance and better tire clearance.

Front has 18mm torsion bars, 21mm sway bar (this is what I had available without purchasing a new one), and Koni shocks set soft. This large of sway bar in front is set to soft position.

Handling is starting to come into it's own with the front and rear suspensions working together. Just a little more tuning and raising the rear end for more road clearance.

I am running 7 inch 17s in front and 9 inch 17s in rear; car has every known brace installed (no roll bar) and does not have any body flex; suspensions all rebuilt with brass mountings and zert fittings. Plus other numerous improvements.

Major accomplishment was to get my front and rear suspensions to work which means I did lighten the suspension pieces going from 22mm torsion bars to 18mm; rear springs changed from 180# to 140# and eliminating adjustable perchs. Koni shocks on all four corners and set soft.

Starting to be a happy camper!!!

Steve

Since the sway bar topic has been addressed... When I bought my car it had the tendency to turn in one direction a little better than the other also. The difference was very slight but noticeable as I drove the car every day... still do.

Turned out it had been in a not-to-serious accident and the right front suspension had been tweaked. The car would align properly but the wheelbase numbers were off.

Once that was corrected by a body shop the handling was fixed and the right and left steering effort were equal again.

If that or something else (like corner balance from a weak spring etc) is causing your asymmetrical handling a sway bar won't fix that. Just a thought.

Good luck

Go with the front bar.

My 75 did not have any (base model) it now sports a 19mm oem from sway bar with poly acrd bushings and stock torsion bars. the rear has 100 lb springs and no rear bar. This set up works great on the street and a BIG improvement over base. Steetable too. Just drove mine 700 miles (1400 round trip) will post on that when I get back.

Note: Poly bushings are great for the track and handling but sound like a hamster on a squeeeky exercise wheel. Get the rubber ones!

Factory front and rear bars work great on a mostly stock street car.

I really like a rear stock bar on a street car (with the front also of course)

I don't lift tires in the corner on the street..
and even if it did I wouldn't worry about loosing acceleration since I'm not racing on the street.

Steve, your experience with the rear sway bar sounds like it may have been installed upside down and contacting the trunk floor causing infinite spring rate... I've seen that once and it made the car undriveable... but with it installed to clearance the trunk, the rear sway bar helps the handling.

I bought a stock set off the classifieds years ago. I was excited to see the difference between with and without the front bar. . . Didn't really see much improvement at all with just the front bar. I added the rear bar the next weekend and WOW, totally changed the car for the better. I'm using stock springs on my car.

I now have Koni yellows front and rear w/ stock springs and the factory front/rear sway bars. I love the way it handles. I've never had an issue running the rear bar. The car just sticks.

I dis-agree. For a street car, both front and rear sway bars are beneficial.


However, if you plan to run AX you should consider disconnecting the rear bar for the event (simply pop out one of the droplinks), unless you have a LSD in your transmission.

+914 ..... I agree ........ when I had my LE way back in the day. It had both front and rear 'stock' sway bars and the handling was fantastic all the way around. It felt solid and predictable no matter what I did. It was a HUGE improvement over my previous 914 that had no sway bars at all.

Many over/under steer issues can be dialed in with a 'for purpose' alignment.

On my new teener build, I will be reducing unsprung weight as well as overall weight. I will be running stock Front and Rear sway bars to start out with ......... and maybe down the road get a clutch type LSD.

Stupid hijack... ... but what about for a stock 1.7 track day car? If there's barely enough power as-is, would I need to worry about installing a rear sway bar at a DE? I doubt that even if the inside rear wheel lifted I would have to worry about it spinning.

Edit: Already has a stock front bar and adjustable red Konis in the rear.

I would run a rear bar. My car handles great. It has a clapped-out 1.8L with over 300K miles (that's no joke either) so it's a slug. However, with good shocks, tires a good alignment, F&R sways and smooth driving, I can keep up with most guys through the twisties (that is unless I'm following Kelty360 and Greenie through off-camber stuff, but that's another hi-jack story ). These are true momentum cars if there ever was such a thing and since you have a big lack of power, you need to improve everywhere else. I cannot tell you how much the handling improved by adding F&R sways and Koni yellows!! Worth every dime!!

I might move up to a bigger adjustable front bar, but a rear bar is good.
Remember - loose is fast.
One caveat: Don't ever get nervous and lift in a corner!

Thanks for the reassurance guys, again sorry for the hijack. Chris - Chumpcar docks points for fancy adjustable stuff, so the goal is to keep it looking as stock as possible but squeeze what we can out of it

I promise I'll do my best Cole trickle.

Regarding lifting: see my signature.

Brant, thanks for your possible solution for my problems with the rear sway bar and will certainly check it out. Had not thought about it and it could be my problem. I seriously would like to use the rear stock sway bar.

Steve

look on your chassis and see if there are two small dents under the trunk floor where it might have hit.

it should leave markings if that was in fact the problem.