joshetc

I've been considering getting a front sway bar delete for some time, and probably will soon. It is my understanding that not only does it allow you weight reduction, it also somewhat changes the way the car shifts at takeoff. I was also considering getting a strut tower brace, on a completely unrelated note. My question is mainly if it would be redundant to remove one and add the other. I believe from a weight perspective I would still save a few pounds. Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Edit: I should note my goals are ultimately, great straight-line performance. I'll never do autocross. I do of course drive my car around, and sometimes tend to hug the curves. If I have to slow down by 5MPH more before making a turn, I really won't care. This car, stock, already handles much better than any other car I've driven (kinda funny to say this, IMO).

Sam Strano

I realize you are looking at a lot of drag racing, but then you go on to say you do take some corners. Taking the front bar off is NOT a good idea for day to day driving and certainly not if you want the car to handle well at all.

It's not a matter of slowing down 5mph. It's a matter of balance and stabiliy. Slowing down 5mph won't help if you drive the car harder than an old man or woman would in the first place.

The stock front bar is hollow. It's also easily unhooked, or completely removed. Do this at, or before you leave for the strip. I urge you to NOT delete it for good.

joshetc

From people I've talked to that did remove it, they say they noticed no real issues with drivability. Whats the deal with the split in opinions on the matter?

Sam Strano

Why then do you think Ford spent the money to put it on?

I'm not sure how to argue with something so generic that amounts to some people say it's fine. It's not fine if you drive the car hard. It's there to control body roll, and bars also add wheel rate. Take the front bar off (and it's a BIG front bar on a GT @ 34mm), and you suddenly have a ton less wheel rate in front, but no change in the rear. The rear is then much stiffer. Not only will the front become lazy transitionally, but the relative increase in rear roll stiffness will make the car very loose when being driven hard.

The people should keep their mouths shut, and aren't noticing a difference because they aren't driving the car hard enough to find the difference. Sadly it doesn't take that much, and going straight won't show the effect. Bars work by twisting, the counter roll. If you just drive straight, or slow around corners the car doesn't roll much and the bars don't do much. And that's fine if that's how they drive, but they should NOT assume that what's good for them is for everyone else.

joshetc

The main issue at hand is whether or not it is redundant to use a STB and sway bar delete. If a sway bar delete improves straight line performance, that is what I will do. If it means I cannot "cut corners", so be it. The problem I am having is that I know I don't drive the car anywhere near its potential. If removal of the front swaybar and a lightweight radiator support improves rearend traction, it seems like a worthwhile mod to me.

I'll just remove it and try it out, and if it isn't bad I'll buy a lightweight radiator support, if it is bad I'll buy an aftermarket sway bar. The worst I ever do is taking on-ramps at high speed. I really don't see how the car will become a brick, with just the absense of the sway bar. I of course realize it will make some difference, but it makes no sense that slowing down to the speed limit will still make me crash and burn without a sway bar.

Sam Strano

Then you don't understand it. If I told you that "I don't see why the car wouldn't be as fast if I put a smaller engine in", what would you think?

This is NOT some sort of brace like a STB, it's actually a torsion spring. I can't make you understand if you aren't willing to do a little research. You seem pretty bent on taking it off, despite first saying you do run some corners quickly. Now, you're saying--never mind that I don't care. I bet you do, you just don't like the answer.

Go ahead, try it. Maybe you don't drive that hard either and won't notice a difference. I doubt it, and being that this a handling section I'd be hard-pressed to think many here would agree.

joshetc

I understand the car doesn't handle as well. The problem is a simple miscommunication. My #1 goal is straight line speed. From time to time I drive the car through turns faster than the average person. It doesn't mean I drive like an autocrosser all through the city streets and am still going to drive the car like a madman after the delete. If I have to be more mindful in turns, that is a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.

Its not that I don't like the answer. The answer is to a question that wasn't asked. I asked if it is redundant to have a sway bar delete and strut tower brace, which it seems it isn't. Then I also was somewhat interested in confirmation that my idea of the point of a sway bar delete is to change the stance of the car under load, forcing more weight to the rear wheels, thus increasing traction.

Vapour Trails

Previous owner of my car took it off to go to the track only. He said it handled like a big 70s boat w/o it. To take it off for weight reduction seems pointless. It seems like a person would take more corners on a daily basis than drag-like launches.

Norm Peterson

That's the scary part.

Unless you are intending to always run a pair of hard, no-grip dragstrip skinnies up front, you're looking at a car that's going to come unstuck at the rear first. Sooner or later. Understand that the rear is the end that you do not have direct control over where it goes. You maybe willget enough warning, maybe you won't. So far as I've read here, it's apparent that you've never been there. Some of the rest of us have. Let me tell you that you REALLY don't need the excitement that a car that's tail-happy in the turns under both throttle and while coasting down in gear (wildly "loose" if you need to touch the brakes) can give you. This does not require slalom manuevers or several turns one right after the other in order to happen.Justone turn all by itself can be enough. BTDT, as they say.

No, you probably won't crash and burn or even put pucker-marks in the seat if you always start/continue/finish your cornering at or belowthe posted or recommended speed for the turn and don't do anything sudden while you're in it. Then again, it only takes once for poo (maybe serious poo) to happen. Almost been there, too (happened about ten years before you were born, but some things you just don't forget).

Why not remove the bar only while you're running it at the strip and replace it before leaving? There aren't that many bolts involved. I used to reset the alignment in one of my cars at autocross and eventually got the process down to about 5 minutes each way. With a set of low ramps, you ought to be able to get down to about half that for a sta-bar remove or replace. Easily so if you invest in a cordless impact tool.

BTW, a strut tower brace is a piece of chassis stiffening. It can perhaps increase the effects of suspension tuning, but it cannot perform any suspension function itself. The front sta-bar is an elastic suspension component that's more closely related to the springs, and for all practical purposes does nothing at all in terms of chassis stiffening. IOW, there's no duplication of function between the two. Under some non-dragstrip driving conditions there'sLESS need for a STB if you're NOT running the front sta-bar, though if you're almost pulling the LF wheel at the strip there still might be a reason for running it.


Norm

sonnier

You should probably look into something like the Steeda lightweight radiator support that keeps provisions to mount the sway bar. You get the added benifit of keeping your sway bar and lighter weight. Like anything though, doing this still does not compare to just getting out there and practicing. More often than not, the biggest improvements can be made in the driver, not in stripping a part off the car.