sway bars

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:58 pm

what do you guys do as far as sway bars are concerned?

I was looking at aircooled.net's adjustable 22mm one but I question the need for adjustablity. How does the adjustments affect the car?

The way I see it is the setting closest to the pivots will offer the most movement thus are less sloppier than if the the setting further from the pivot was chosen because for the same movment in suspension now will not affect the loading of the sway bar as much. But if at the point of using a race sway bar, 22mm, then why would you choose to use a setting that had more movment before loading the suspension, unless this feature was meant for week end drivers who will "up" the setting when at the track but daily they want a less harsh ride. Seem right?

What are you guys running?

thanks
Rip

Aurumen · Post by **Aurumen** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:47 am

I'm using whiteline racing adjustable sway bars (same as aircooled.net, cept I got them a few years before they offered them). The name of hte game is adjustability. Being able to tune something that has such great impact on the handling (I would argue that next to tires, this is the single most important set of parts that affects handling) is priceless in my opinion. If you're not worried about street driveability (mine only gets driven to events and then returned to the garage), go as thick as possible. If it's a true race car, no need to spend the money on the smaller bars just to wish you had the bigger one later. Just get the race bars and attach them at the longest setting (least resistance with the longest moment arm).

Nick

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:43 am

Frankly not to worried about ride qualtiy as much as handling.

But why get a race beam (that is adjustable) only to set it at the highest setting? Why not get the nonadjustable and save some cash if your only going to use the highest setting? (this is assuming that the highest setting is the only setting on the non-adjustable one) Or did I read that wrong?

What settings are you guys running? Or is it dependent on the track? How often are you settings changed, or do you tend to "set it and forget it"?

Thanks for the help.

Aurumen · Post by **Aurumen** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:42 am

No, you're going to adjust the front and the rear bars together. You set one and adjust the other. I would suggest starting out with the front or the rear at full stiffness. Start with the front in the middle and adjust the rear until it feels comfortable. Then move the front up a notch (stiffer) and adjust the rear. Having the stiffest sway bars doesn't make you faster. The stiffer you make them the less "indepedent" the two sides of the car behave. If it's too stiff, it will not take bumps very well and may not handle quick changes (think slalom) very well. There will be bumps and stuff to deal with at the track.

If stiffer was always better, everyone would have 4 inch diameter sway bars on their cars.

Nick

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:23 am

thanks