gabb

I have the frpp handling kit on the stang now and changed out the shocks for STRT's because the ride was too rough. I was wondering if I changed the sway bars back to stock would that improve ride quality over bumpy roads?

The car handles great on smooth roads and highways but I don't get out to the track and my commute is now mostly city with crappy roads.

I'm also considering changing the rims to 18" with lager tires to help absorb the bumps.

Your input is wqelcome, if I had asked before buying my original setup I would have saved a lot of money that's why I'm asking now before I make any changes.

Thanks

allinon72

Sway bars do not have an affect on ride quality. Your low profile tires are the main reason your ride is poor.

2005Redfire6

Also I'm sure the non-stock sway bars you have have urethane bushings that do not absorb shock like stock rubber ones, but at the same time I doubt it will make a difference ride quality wise.

gabb

Thanks for the input, I was kinda hoping that the sway bars had some sort of effect, just love the look of 20" rims. Looks like I'll have to go with 18" with some decent sidewall to smooth out the ride.

2007CalSpec

I switched from 20's to 18's and will never go back to 20's.

John@TrackspecMotorsports

In certain situations, this is correct but ill take a crack at explaining a couple other aspects of sway bar wheel rate and stiffness but yes under some conditions, it does not and you are correct in that. And I agree 100% with the low pros....there isnt much sidewall to absorb the road at all!

Sway bar stiffness does directly impacts ride quality. What sway bars do is add wheel rate or stiffness to each corner of the vehicle at any point in time the front tires as a pair or the rear tires as a pair do not move up and down at the same pace or distance. Meaning, hitting a speed bump, you dont really add any wheel rate since both front tires pretty much go up at the same time to the same height not causing any twist of the sway bar and this is where allinon is 100% correct. But, on roads with pot holes and irregularities where your wheels at each corner move at different rates, the sway bars actually do add stiffness. They are basically torsion bar style springs that only act when there is a difference in relative wheel height (cornering, bumps on one side only). And depending on how stiff they are, they can have a very big impact on ride. Think of it as your are driving down the street and hit a speed bump just on your driver side. The driver side wheel goes up but the passenger side stays in place. This twists the sway bar. When this happens, the sway bar becomes a torsional spring that counter acts the upforce that the wheel gets from the bump and the sway bar (in addition to the coil spring) adds wheel rate and stiffness to that particular side to bring the front wheels back to neutral height. As you can tell, the stiffer the bar, the harder it is to twist and ride harshness is affected.


In addition to this, when using stock shocks with high rate sway bars, the ride can get very jittery and feel even more harsh due to the rebound spring effect that the more softly damped shocks have a harder time controlling. Shocks must be matched to your spring/sway bar combo or your ride will be terrible since the shocks cannot control the increased rebound forces that heavier rate sway bars add.

In the corvette world ride harshness is something that comes up with the owners a lot and picking the right sway bar combo based on the drivers needs is critical to making the correct recommendations to our customers. These concepts can be applied to any car, mustang included.

I hope this all makes sense

John@trackspecmotorsports

www.trackspecmotorsports.com

atldave

Jack, thanks for that detailed explanation. I don't think I've ever read it put more clearly. I've got GT takeoff sways and poly bushings and standard V6 shocks. Do you think I need stiffer shocks to even things out?

Sam Strano

Swaybars are are not damped by the shocks/struts. That said, stock dampers are pretty poor and I'd change them regardless if you want to improve ride, stability and handling all at the same time.

BIG BIG bars will hurt the ride because they don't want to let the wheels move as freely... of course that constrains the roll too. Because of the solid axle I will not use a huge rear bar, in fact I don't even run as large a rear bar as some S197's come with stock (like my '11 GT I took the stock 24mm bar off for my adjustable 22). Having said that a big front bar isn't an issue, and I do run a 35mm bar with a pretty think wall. Stock is 34-34.6 on a GT already... I just go a tiny bit bigger, a little thicker on the wall and offer you adjustment (one of which is a setting longer than stock so you can soften the front bar up to be more like stock if you wish).

Norm Peterson

Dunno, Sam. Maybe during the two wheel bump mode the time bars can be considered undamped, but that's because they aren't adding any stiffness. But in roll they certainly do add to wheel rate (and as a consequence would tend to increase the chassis/suspension velocity at the corners). As soon as you say the word 'velocity', damping cannot help but be involved. How effectively might be a separate issue.


Norm

Sam Strano

If you want to split hairs you can say that everything adds energy that requires damping control. A car with larger bars and stock dampers doesn't float and bob and no settle down like a car on the same stock dampers and lowering springs. The fact the bars are tied together helps dissipate their stored energy which is not something springs have working for them.