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Stiffness of swaybars

2K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  trickyazn 
#1 ·
Scenario:

You have coilovers, 9k front 11k back springs, the car is oversteer happy.

You want to slap on some swaybars, while keeping the oversteer tendency as is essentially (or not make it worse) while reducing the sway of high speed turns.

Do you:

A) rear bar only
B) rear + front same company
C) rear + front mix n match (different stiffness rates)
D) front only


Why? How stiff would you go?
 
#2 ·
From a performance stand point you want to upgrade the rear bar before the front. But since your car is already oversteer happy, I assume turn-in oversteer. I suggest you check your rear alignment settings or corner weights first before going any further. A twitchy car at the limit is hard to drive fast. Good Luck!
 
#9 · (Edited)
The goal is slightly oversteer, if I didnt have that option I'd opt for neutral steer instead of more oversteer, as I can use brake induced oversteer decent enough to give myself a better turn in angle.

The only reason why changing the alignment isnt in my interest at this point is because after a full session of hard driving, the temperatures of my tires are even all around the tire (even contact patch)

But then again.. Im just hypothesizing that this problem is due to the sway. It might be aero-related, as the problems dealing with turns + hills at high speeds. Someone suggested that a big wing would be able to hold down the chassis so I would get more grip (and not oversteer even more)


p.s. i think i only have like 3 choices for swaybars.. and they have a big difference in thickness so ill just call it soft med and super big
 
#11 ·
The basic idea is you stiffen the front and the rear bar in equal degree is you wish to maintain the current front/rear balance.

As far as whether you use the same company's front and rear bars, that would depend on to what degree they do that. In most cases one might expect that they would stiffen in approximately equal degree, but being a member of any one manufacturer's kit does not dictate the stiffeness of any one bar or bars. If you have any question of the affect of any particular kit on the balance of the car you need to make specific inquiries of the makers and/or users of that kit to ascertain its exact properties.

I find that increasing swaybar stiffness increases the effective stiffness of the car's springing in addition to reducing body roll and lateral motion of the car on the suspension. I can't help but think that with springs as stiff as what you are running you might well wish to stop short of the stiffest bars possible if this is a primarily a street car.
 
#15 ·
i suggest mixing and matching until the desired handling characteristics YOU want are acheived...first start with a bigger rear sway and compensate with a larger front sway which will offset the stock R.C.D...trying different ratios is the only way you'll find out what setup will work for you...
 
#21 ·
skunk2 pro-s are valved up to 18k. the spring rates are 12k f/10k r

Tein SS comes with 6k f/7k r.. your telling me those coils are only valved to 7k?????

Koni from Redshift comes with 500/600 but custom springs are tested effective and available as an option.
 
#22 ·
The lower end Tein coilovers like the SS have a very narrow adjustment range, and IIRC you can only go 1k up or down in spring stiffness. Konis are made to handle a wide range of spring rates from stock to around 600 lb/in for the OTS units, and around 1000 lb/in for the race units.
 
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