wakebord1999

Hi, Newbie here ! I understand Swaybars, especially in the rear. My understanding of swaybars is to help the left and right sides of the suspension maintain uniformity throughout cornering ( aka keep the car flat rather than .. well.. swaying ) And this all makes great sence to me in an Independent setup, because there isn't anything tying the left and right side together other than that sway bar.

My comprehension is lost however, when it comes to a solid axle. You have a 4" wide steel tube tying the left and right sides of the suspension together. So what exactly is a swaybar assisting with, that the axle isn't doing?

LarryS

Even with a solid axle you want the load equal as possible on both rear tires. The anti-sway bar attempts to do this.

Seen those piscs where the drivers side tire is off the ground at launch while the passenger side is much lower? Those are solid axles cars but don't have the proper or strong enough rear bar to keep them level.

hottymustang

Does anyone have a part number for this one yet? Or has it even been released yet? I would like to get this one while I am underneath the car installing the other suspension components this weekend.

CrazyAl

The rear axle might be a solid steel tube, but it can still "tilt". Imagine this example: you back your car onto a speed bump. Suppose that the "bump" is under the right rear tire, but the other tires are all on normal, level, pavement. Your rear axle is now tilting. The left side is on the ground, but the right side is raised up.

...that is one situation in which your solid axle can tilt with respect to the body. There are others. When cornering hard, a similar thing happens. The axle might be solid, but the body can still lean to one side or another if one spring is compressed more than another. The sway bar fights this. As you said in your first post, it keeps the car level by keeping the suspension loaded similarly on both sides of the car.

Virgule

Remember that changing the rear sway bar alters your vehicles cornering dynamics. Sometimes, this is good -as in, less body sway - but all that rotational energy has to go somewhere, and nothing is free. Other times, this is bad - as in, oops, we are now oversteering and I didn't expect that.

classj

Right, but so far my impressions are that the car is pretty much neutral/understeering. Throttle on, you can get the rear to rotate exiting a corner.

Most companies build cars that push for saftey reasons. A stiffer rear bar will eliminate that to some extent. But you are right, it can also result in a car that oversteers badly.

Another note of interest is that bar matirial has a large impact on bar stiffness. You can bet a ford 24mm bar is stiffer than a ford 20mm bar.

But I wouldent be 100% sure that a brand X aftermarket 24mm bar is as stiff as the factory 20mm bar.

In torsion bars, have seen aftermarket mopar torsion bars that are 1.04" have the same spring rate as an original mopar 0.940 bar.

MBDiagMan

classj is correct in the explanation, except that these cars have enough understeer that I REALLY doubt that you could put a stiff enough rear bar on one that you could get any oversteer. Even if you did, an oversteering car in the hands of an experienced driver is more fun to drive than an understeering car.

Many people think that they need enough sway bar on both ends of the car to eliminate body sway. The devil with body sway! It is NOT about body sway. It is about understeer/oversteer! As mentioned, an understeering car is much less likely to get most drivers in trouble. When MOST drivers start driving hard and find that the car won't turn as much as they are telling it to, they will back off and not be as apt to get into trouble. That is why most all production cars have a certain amount of understeer.

Stiffening the rear sway bar transfers some of the weight to the inboard rear wheel AND takes away a PORTION of the understeer. Stiffening the front sway bar ADDS understeer.

If anyone is interested, I have found a 24MM sway bar made by PROGRESS in the Summit Racing catalog for $149. Yes the materials do vary some in stiffness, but not much. A 24MM aftermarket bar will DEFINITELY be stiffer than the 20MM equipment bar.

Thanks for your responses.

rsx factor

That progress sway is going to be hard to come by. I just tried to order one, and there's a 4-6 week wait on them.
I haven't looked up summit yet to see what they say though.