Sway Bar Combos

[LookAtThatSHO]

I'm attempting to upgrade my suspension, to reduce understeer by swapping out the sway bars and replacing them with thicker ones. My SHO is a 95 MTX, with a completely stock suspension setup at the moment.

I would like to get some of your opinions on which sway bar combos would work the best on a close-to-stock suspension. The only thing different that I will be replacing in the near future are the struts (KYB GR-2) and possibly the springs (Moog).

Originally, I've heard great things about the 24mm front / 26mm rear setup. So, I went ahead and bought a 26mm rear sway bar (yet to be installed). However, there is a review on SHOTimes.com explaining how the 24mm front police package sway bar creates more understeer along with increased body roll? Is the 24/26 setup really the best combo, or should I reconsider?

 

[drivinhard]

A larger front bar will make the car understeer (more). It's going to understeer anyway since it's a nose heavy pig, but increasing the rear roll stiffness will help the car rotate better.

If you want something just to be flat for the street, 24/26 works (the original gen1 combo).

22/26 is a decent all around balance if you like to go to the track.

20.6/26 (or 19/26 if you can find a 19 on a SLO) is my favorite for the track.

Frankly it's not a real big job to swap the front bar, so keep a couple of them laying around for whatever you want to do with them (ie, easy to swap in a small front bar if you have a track event you want to do)

 

[SASHO91]

24/26 is a good combo...

another is 22/26 or 22/23.

some quaife equip'ed cars run 20.5 and i believe 23....

make sure you put new bushing in as well, as they make a huge difference!!

but yeah 24/26 would be a very nice setup to run with.

 

[SHO Continental]

I run 23/26 on both my SHOs.... I just need to be careful the secondaries don't open up while I'm going around a corner.. car jumps off the road

 

[LookAtThatSHO]

Sweet, thanks for the prompt responses! Now I'm definitely going to try the 24/26 combo Also, I forgot to ask this earlier, are the sway bars interchangable? i.e. Swap the rear bar to the front / front bar to the rear?

 

[Shoaz]

No, the front and rear bars are not interchangeable.

As mentioned, a stiff front bar will increase understeer. Increasing the diameter of the rear bar will help reduce understeer, but at some point the car tends to oversteer.

I'd first find out what you have for a front bar and then maybe decide where to go from there. Adding a stiff front bar can increase inside wheelspin on corner exit, which can slow a car down quite a bit at an autocross or on the track.

The rear bar is fairly easy to change (easier than the front), so perhaps just try changing the rear first and see what you think.

 

[SeanMc]

I like my 23/26 setup. Stock my car was a 23/21 or something really lame. This helped cornering quite a bit.

 

[Sh03d]

I have 20.6/26 on my ATX 95 and I like it alot. Decently tight in the turns and noticably difference in steering from my 89 with 24/26. Im hoping to pick up a 20.6 or a 22 for the 89 if I can find one. But it's way to cold to go to the junk yard and try to drop the rear of some cars subframe to get the front bar out.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

One thing to remember is that different cars respond to different sway bar combos -- well -- differently!

You may find you'll need to do a little experimenting to find the combination that works best on your car. Your choice of struts and springs, other chassis stiffening (STB's, SFC's, etc.), weight, CG, etc. are all going to impact how various sway bar combos will impact a given car.

 

[jedhead]

The very first thing I would do is weld on some subframe connectors.

Bob

 

[grailgolf]

24/29 Combo

I have numberous combos 24/26, 22/26 which all fair well BUT I have built numberous street rods and found if you use nylex (locking) nuts on all the inner rear control arms with only 6-8lbs of torque you free up the sway bar to do all the work in the rear and the 24/29 is extraordinary. By doing this the car understeers very little and has 10mm more travel in cornering than if you torque the nuts to factory spec. One problem, the 29mm is only avalable from the shoshop and they are out of business.

 

[NJSHO]

Please explain how the torque on the nuts on the inner rear control arms frees up the sway bar?

 

[shomesomesho]

SFC's make her rotate like a champ

The very first thing I would do is weld on some subframe connectors.

Bob

Agreed.

Full length SFC's took away ALOT of the understeering tendency on my 24/26mm Quaife-less SHO. SFC's help put a big grin on my face whenever I go fast through turns.

 

[LookAtThatSHO]

Nice, where can I pick up a set of these subframe connectors?

 

[godspunk32]

Bob Gervais sells subframe connectors. I would assume he's on here with the username "Bob Gervais" minus the quotes. If not, he's on taurusclub.com with that name.

There's a group buy going on right now at the TCCA, so you could get in on that. I think the subframe connectors are 90 bucks, delivered. Check the Suspension forum for the group buy info.

JR

 

[SableSal]

Bob Gervais sells subframe connectors. I would assume he's on here with the username "Bob Gervais" minus the quotes. If not, he's on taurusclub.com with that name.

There's a group buy going on right now at the TCCA, so you could get in on that. I think the subframe connectors are 90 bucks, delivered. Check the Suspension forum for the group buy info.

JR

I'm sorry, but I can't see myself buying strands of unformed metal for $90... Someone shine some light on my idiocy.



Sal

 

[SHO Continental]

I'm sorry, but I can't see myself buying strands of unformed metal for $90... Someone shine some light on my idiocy.



Sal

exactly what I was thinking.. so I got my SFCs for $89 from nook..

 

[95SHO32]

I run 24/ 20 combo on the bars, with my 95 atx, and a whole new suspenion put in this june, tokico's eibachs. tpr thru out, gtp rear arm, slotted frt stru towers for more negative camber at soloII meets. what I didn't install or havent made is:26mm rear bar, h- brace, sfc, frt or rear strut tower braces. I started the year 5 seconds of pace and the car had 130k on it and was all oem, and over the summer rolled in to a full conversion to the above set-up/ the car used to corner like a limo and now corners near flat, with only under steer at the exit of a turn with heavy throttle in puts. but this s my car. My came with a 20/20 combo and all this car did was push hard and had no recovery point untill the car stopped.

 

[LookAtThatSHO]

exactly what I was thinking.. so I got my SFCs for $89 from nook..

Nook??

I'd like to get me a quality set of these connectors...

 

[shomesomesho]

is there any real difference in the handling benefits of shorty subframe connectors vs. the full-length SFC's