Swaybar sizes?

[spetz]

I am just wondering

Say for example, a car has 20mm front swaybar, and 18mm rear swaybar, and handles neutral, but you want to increase swaybar size for less bodyroll, and get each swaybar 50% stiffer than the original ones, will the handling still be neutral, but handle better?


And in my case, if the front swaybar is 17mm (I think) and the rear is 18mm but it understeers a bit
Is it safe to assume that putting:
21mm front swaybar (133% stiffer than 17mm)
and 23mm rear swaybar (167% stiffer than 18mm)

would make my car handle better?


I am going by the whiteline swaybar size conversion rate.

[newbie]

your coilover/ shock&springs setup also has to be put into account. that affect it too.

[timofytit]

If you are understeering it means you are running too stiff in the front.

[spetz]

Well I am understeering I assume right now cuz I have no camber at the front, and the car is very nose heavy

But I want to upgrade the front swaybar and the rear one

Is my theory correct?

[timofytit]

Well I am understeering I assume right now cuz I have no camber at the front, and the car is very nose heavy

But I want to upgrade the front swaybar and the rear one

Is my theory correct?

A camber kit will help out quite a bit, but just a swaybar alone wont make much difference. But with a combination of both, it will keep your suspension towers at the same distance under heavy cornering. Suspension mods would still be the best way to reduce understeer. If you cant afford adjustable dampers or a camber kit, you will need to soften the front tire pressures to get an improvement. Though that is risky. You an roll the tire off the rim if you have it too low. But in theory, softer dampers on the front is the basic way to reduce understeer. By getting a full kit, suspension, camber kit and sway bar. You will be able to get the best. Each component will work together and help to get the best combination. You should be able to run softer spring rate if you had the swaybar, to give you a more comfortable ride and also far less understeer.

[bennjamin]

More than anything...simply installing a larger rear swaybar will give the most imrpovement in a FWD car.
There are hundreds of different aspects to consider ofcourse when it comes to dialing in the exact handling you want with your car ~ but a great start is simply a larger rear bar.

[saxman]

but just a swaybar alone wont make much difference.
I disagree... a properly sized rear sway bar will make a HUGE difference in the handling of the car and reducing understeer... probably a larger difference than just about any other single handling modification done to the vehicle

[spetz]

I realise a rear swaybar will help with understeer, but obviously if I upgrade the rear swaybar and the front one, it will still understeer unless the rear one is quite a lot harder

Just trying to figure out what size to go for

[saxman]

I would upgrade the rear and leave the front stock personally

[aozora]

...or go adjustable :)

[Muzz]

what sort of cars this for spetz, its hard to recomend sizes without knowing? id change the rear to say a 22mm-24mm. and see how it goes without the front like saxman said. From there work out if ud like a little more roll restance in the front if ur balanced to far into oversteer. Quite a few ppl run this size bar in the rear with no front bar. The 17mm front bar u have should ballance it out nicely.

[Muzz]

using the whiteline chart is good for a very basic comparison, but it does not take into account the various differences in bars which affect its torsional stiffness greatly, such as legnth of arms, legnth of straight sections, bends and their locations, materials used etc. However its good for comparing different thicknesses of bars made by the same manafacturer as these important variables dont vary much.