Is a front adjustable sway worth it?

[PfadtRacing]

Well there are more factors that play into bar stiffness than bar diameter. It's certainly a piece of the equation, but it shouldn't be the final decision maker. We engineer our Race Bars to meet the stiffness we are looking for at the lightest weight possible. Relatively speaking you should run a higher rate in the rear to maintain proper balance, too much front bar and you'll find yourself pushing all over the place.

[TC]

You said with a endlink disconnected. Does that mean just one of the fronts or did you mean both the front endlinks?

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by TC

You said with a endlink disconnected. Does that mean just one of the fronts or did you mean both the front endlinks?

When you disconnect one front endlink the bar is no longer functional so just one is all you need. You do need to secure it so it doesn't foul with any lines of hard parts. When you remove a nut from an endlink, even a Nyloc, they should be replaced a they lose quench.

[markssylver]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

Ouch! Was there any damage to the wheels?

The front wheel has a little flat spot on the outside lip about 2 inches long and the rear has a chunk about the size of a quarter missing on the outside llip

[Hotchkis]

Originally Posted by caverman

After my first AutoX event I can see I'm going to need some sway bars so I'm starting my research.

I started looking and as of now I'm looking at BMR, Hotchkis, or Pfadt. One thing I noticed is that is looks like the BMR front bar is adjustable but both the Hotchkis and Pfadt are not.

Off the top of my head I would think it would be good to have the adjustable ones in the front for choosing between driving on the street and then at the event. However, I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to make those changes. It might be more effort than worth and thus not really necessary.

Those with sway bars on a daily driver that go to the occasional AutoX event...are you changing the stiffness back and forth? How hard is it for front or rear?

Caverman – our rear sway bar is adjustable. You adjust it to change the effectiveness of the rear sway bar, which effectively changes the balance of the front and rear to your driving needs.




This video shows how to install the rear bar:



Watching the video you can get an idea of where the links are attached and how easy is it to adjust them.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by markssylver

The front wheel has a little flat spot on the outside lip about 2 inches long and the rear has a chunk about the size of a quarter missing on the outside llip

It aligned so from a distance I'll say you are OK. The alignment tech did check to make sure there was no other damage?

[TC]

With coilovers is there still any advantage to disconnecting the front sway bar?

[Ovenmitt]

The reason you disconnect the front sway, is that it frees the arms' individual range of motion. Think of it this way, when both front a-arms are connected, they have to fight the body's weight when they want to extend fully, independant of each other (which is more or less how a swaybar is supposed to work). Your front suspension will not transfer weight evenly to the rear in a drag launch because a car chassis naturally wants to twist sideways opposite the torque application/rotation of the motor. Unbolting the sway allows both front a-arms to fully extend individually without having to fight each other by virtue of being linked and leveraged by the chassis. This improves and quickens weight transfer to the back of your car.

So, yes. Still an advantage. Coilovers have no effect on the swaybar in this scenario.

[markssylver]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

It aligned so from a distance I'll say you are OK. The alignment tech did check to make sure there was no other damage?

I had it at a body shop and they couldn't find any other damage and I had it on my lift and didn't see anything I did time my bushings afterwards though

[TC]

I was thinking more of the weight transfer you can get out of the coilovers by adjusting the damping.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by TC

With coilovers is there still any advantage to disconnecting the front sway bar?

Absolutely.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by markssylver

I had it at a body shop and they couldn't find any other damage and I had it on my lift and didn't see anything I did time my bushings afterwards though

Great News.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by Ovenmitt

The reason you disconnect the front sway, is that it frees the arms' individual range of motion. Think of it this way, when both front a-arms are connected, they have to fight the body's weight when they want to extend fully, independant of each other (which is more or less how a swaybar is supposed to work). Your front suspension will not transfer weight evenly to the rear in a drag launch because a car chassis naturally wants to twist sideways opposite the torque application/rotation of the motor. Unbolting the sway allows both front a-arms to fully extend individually without having to fight each other by virtue of being linked and leveraged by the chassis. This improves and quickens weight transfer to the back of your car.

So, yes. Still an advantage. Coilovers have no effect on the swaybar in this scenario.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by TC

I was thinking more of the weight transfer you can get out of the coilovers by adjusting the damping.

This is particularly true with independent bound and rebound adjustable coilovers, but even they will benefit from a disconnected front sway bar.