Stiff Front Sway Bar Thoughts

Originally Posted by SeeThruHead

fwiw
I think adding a hotchkiss front bar for my recent track days did not help understeer at all.

I need more track days with some different bar setups to really tell for sure.
But with stock tires, stock suspension and a hotchkiss front bar: The car was incredibly understeer prone.
Don't think the back stepped out once.
This could be explained away by driver error.

BUUUT. Sway bars are not expensive, and not hard to swap. So might as well have a couple different sets.

Obviously we know from all the actual track drivers, it's a much different story on track with proper track alignment.

But if I was building a car for daily canyon driving, on softish springs and PS4S. I think I would end up with a more balanced set of sway bars.

Originally Posted by SeeThruHead

fwiw
I think adding a hotchkiss front bar for my recent track days did not help understeer at all.

I need more track days with some different bar setups to really tell for sure.
But with stock tires, stock suspension and a hotchkiss front bar: The car was incredibly understeer prone.
Don't think the back stepped out once.
This could be explained away by driver error.

BUUUT. Sway bars are not expensive, and not hard to swap. So might as well have a couple different sets.

Obviously we know from all the actual track drivers, it's a much different story on track with proper track alignment.

Track folks are running 275 or 285 (or more) in front
Nissan increased the front tire width on the new Z (And increased caster)

All this talk about how “stiff front bar still understeers” is missing the point. If you actually wanted to reduce understeer you’d go to the root of the problem

This is like having a leak roof and bitching about how a bucket isn’t stopping the house from getting wet

But if I was building a car for daily canyon driving, on softish springs and PS4S. I think I would end up with a more balanced set of sway bars.

Originally Posted by OptionZero

Your stock suspension and stock tired car understeers because that is how Nissan designed the car. You have the same problem as the other dude, you haven’t actually fixed the problem - insufficient front grip

More tire and more camber is the solution

No sway bar is gonna fix the issue

Originally Posted by cv129

Too little weight transfer (bar uber stiff but without grippier tire), then the outer front tire doesn’t get enough downward push, and you can get understeer as well.

Originally Posted by Averying

Not trying to keep this thread going for no reason (although this one is probably immortal), but to clarify with a stiffer bar, the outside tire is getting MORE downward push. Sway bar transfers load from the inside to the outside tire, resulting in more uneven load distribution. So ideally you’d want as little sway bar as possible so you get the most even load distribution between tires… =max grip


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Originally Posted by Averying

Not trying to keep this thread going for no reason (although this one is probably immortal), but to clarify with a stiffer bar, the outside tire is getting MORE downward push. Sway bar transfers load from the inside to the outside tire, resulting in more uneven load distribution. So ideally you’d want as little sway bar as possible so you get the most even load distribution between tires… =max grip


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Originally Posted by cv129

Just so I interpret correctly on “inside” and “outside”, for example…

In a right hand turn (steering wheel turning right), right front would be inside, left front would be outside?

Originally Posted by 2011 Nismo#91

Inside should be the side of the car nearest to the corner.

You can write a book on suspension tuning and modification and people have. It's not something you can merely cover in a few sentences in a post. Read up on it, cv129 as posted the best concise explanation so far. But if you really want to know and educate yourself read a book.