24/23 Stock Sway Bars

[SHO13]

My 93 has a 24 on the front and a 23 on the rear. From what I've read, this doesn't appear to be a combo anyone uses or prefers. The trend has been to have a larger rear bar. I've only driven my SHO, so I really don't know what another set up would feel like.

I'd like a neutral set up for spirited street/highway driving. I was either thinking of just throwing a 26 on the rear, or a 22/26 combo. Will have Eibach's and Tokicos w/ open diff (untill I can get a Quaife).

What is the major drawback with the 93 stock 24/23 combo?

Thanks,

 

[Rockledge]

If you decide to get rid of your 23 rear bar, let me know.

 

[NJSHO]

For spiritied highway or street driving you should need to do anything to your swaybars. If your getting crooked on a corner on the street your driving way to fast.
That said...If your looking for a good autox/track setup, I recommend the 22/26. I can step the back end out pretty good with that setup, and then plant the throttle when the car is pointed the right direction to regain grip.

 

[Shuey]

24mm/23mm are stock for the '92-'94 mtx SHOs, the '95s had left overs. 24mm/26mm is neutral, the Gen 1s have those stock.

 

[SHO13]

Any reason Ford went to a smaller sway in the rear on the gen 2? Why go from a 24/26 to a 24/23?

If 24/26 is somewhat neutral, what is 24/23? Understeer?

http://www.panix.com/~awinbow/sho/suspension.html

From the link I saw earlier, it lists as a 1.34 ratio (2nd highest) with comments "You have got to be kidding". Is this comment directed to track racing?

 

[38SHO]

I would keep the 23mm rear and put on a 20.6mm front... thats what I ran and loved it, VERY nuetral but can still get loose if your braking very hard into a corner... Im not saying that to scare you cause you really have to try to do that.... 98% of the time its very balanced and corners fairly flat..

Now that I have my new SHO I need to put my older swaybars back on it, I can tell a big difference between the handling balance of the two...

I think this one has like a 21mm rear swaybar or so...

 

[Shoaz]

Stiff swaybars (like the original 24/26) reduce roll and help keep the tires planted. Pretty much all sedans are engineered with understeer from the factory for safety reasons, and with FWD and an open diff the stiff front bar also mean no traction on corner exit.

My guess is that a lot of people didn't like the harshness of the stiff bars so Ford let up on them and designed even _more_ push into the handling.

A lot of setup has to do with personal preference and your own driving style. I do agree that for street use one hopes that people aren't really exploring the limits of their capabilities...save that for the track, please.

 

[drivinhard]

20/26 isn't "neutral", let alone 24/26 (very plow happy). 0/26 is getting closer, but the car is still way nose heavy and is always going to understeer at the limit, especially power on exit where the front wheels are putting the power down and (trying) to steer the car.

Because of this the SHO lends itself to more flowing higher speed tracks (3-4 gear tracks) and not tight 2nd gear courses. Tight stuff you just can't get one to rotate very well, it's simple vehicle dynamics.

Just because a car "feels" more settled (and thus, you do to) on a track, doesn't mean it's faster. Making the car want to rotate better makes for high speed corner pucker factor, and raises the skill required to go really fast, but rest assured, it's faster on the watch.

For the street and track, I'd go 20.6/26 or 22/26 (or a 19/26 for the track if you can find the harder to find 19mm front SLO bar).

 

[yamahaSHO]

I am currently running 22/26 and I'm pretty happy with it. I feel comfortable around the street and I pulled out some pretty good lap times on the track.

I have two 26mm rear sway bars for anyone interested.

 

[twr]

I am currently running 22/26 and I'm pretty happy with it. I feel comfortable around the street and I pulled out some pretty good lap times on the track.

I have two 26mm rear sway bars for anyone interested.

Ditto on that. I switched from the 24 front bar to the 22 bar. Much better feeling driving it hard through the corners.

 

[Xs SHO 1]

23mm/26mm combo was tail happy for me on the turns....