Question on sway bar set up
 

I was looking at the offerings from the vendors on sway bars and saw that they all increased the front a whole lot more then the rear.

I'm assuming these increases are against the stock set up. Now the stock set up is set for understeer, as almost all production cars are. So to get a good "race" set up you would want to bring the car closer to neutral with a slight under or over-steer depending on track and driver.

As the stock set up seems to be a bit soft in the rear, the car would benefit from an upgrade to reduce the body roll and keep the wheels on the track. So granted the stiffer set up would keep the wheels better planted and help with traction through corners, but why don't these kits come with a more neutral setup?

It seems to me that if you increase the fronts by over 200% and the rear only by 70% or so, you actually increase the understeer.

Or does the same percentage increase have more effect on the rear than it has on the front? And therefore you need less of an increase to the back to accomplish the same? If this is true, can anybody tell me the ratio for this?

All I know is that I added Hotchkis Sways to my car and OMG its a whole new car. Especially with The HKS coilovers *courtesy of Forged Performance* great guys and I believe they are running the same sways on their track car... some food for thought :tup:

I'm sure the stiffer set up will help in reducing roll and keeping traction on the inside wheels. Which is most likely the big difference you are noticing, as the stock set up is rather soft.

I'm more wondering on the big difference in stiffness for the front vs the rear and as a result the balance of the car.

A lot more weight in the front is why I think it's that way so the stiffness has to accomodate for that. The sway it keeping the suspension in form and with the motor up front it has to be a stiffer.

I agree.... Hotchkis front to stiff. Car oversteered more than stock...

Good point on the added weight, that would be extra noticeable with the weight transfer during heavy breaking.
And I agree that therefore the front sway would be more stiff then the rear to prevent oversteer.

But as the stock set up is set up for understeer, the stock set up would already have a stiffer front sway compared to the rear.

And if I look at the offerings for sway bars they say ~200% stiffer in front and ~100% stiffer in rear (average).
So in my mind that shifts the balance to even more understeer.

Did you mean understeer? A stiff front would induce understeer
(Or maybe you're to aggressive off the brakes and on the gas ;))

The Hotchkis setup is too stiff in the front and creates low speed understeer especially when there is transfer weight on the front axle, at higher speeds the balance is more neutral.

[QUOTE=Xan;393441]Good point on the added weight, that would be extra noticeable with the weight transfer during heavy breaking.
And I agree that therefore the front sway would be more stiff then the rear to prevent oversteer.

But as the stock set up is set up for understeer, the stock set up would already have a stiffer front sway compared to the rear.

And if I look at the offerings for sway bars they say ~200% stiffer in front and ~100% stiffer in rear (average).
So in my mind that shifts the balance to even more understeer.


If that's the way you're calculating it then try to mix and match some sets..get a Stillen front which would be a little more tame and a Hotchkis rear. Let me know how that goes too hehe. :tup: