changing sway bars from stock to 19mm front / 19mm rear

[vinntagejoe]

All, I've looked through the archives with little to no result on the front and rear sways matching in size. What can I expect? does the front always need to be larger than the rear?

I installed ST lowering springs and new billy HD's 6 months ago, I like the stance and ride and now I'd like to go to bigger sways so I'm trying to get some feedback on this sway bar size set up. As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

[John_in_VA]

They do not need to match in size - depends on what type of handling you want/expect/currently have with your present setup. Here's some info from a quick search:

http://www.houseofthud.com/cartech/swaybars.htm

[M3M3]

if nothing else changes, that setup will decrease understeer/increase oversteer tendencies.

[Mike Self]

than the rear; however if you have a pair of 19mm bars--as I did--here's what I did to make the front a little stiffer.

On the front bar I used urethane bushings both for the mounts and the end links. Since they don't compress when loaded, the front bar will come into play almost immediately when you begin cornering.

On the rear bar, I kept the rubber mounts and end link bushings. Since they compress, the rear bar comes into play a little after the front bar, effectively softening it.

Worked for me...

mike

[FB73tii]

I had a matched set of 19mm Hardy & Beck sway bars with Bilstein HD's, liked the way they handled on street and for autocross and light track duty. Later I went to 25mm front and 22mm rear (adjustable) and Billy sports with shortened coilover struts. A bit stiff for street. My new '69 track car has a matched set of 19mm bars, the front have 5 adjusting holes on the bar and a bracket with 3 receiving holes on the control arm. The rears have 6 or 7 adjusting holes and similar 3-holes receiving brackets so the links do not have too much of an angle. Shocks are Billy sport w/coilover.

At our recent BMW CA NJ instructor seminar Don Salama spoke and urged people to try different sway bar settings and take lap times to see which is quickest. It is not always the most "comfortable" setting that lowers lap times. I am guilty of finding "a good setting" and just leaving it there. Will have to start experimenting--should go ahead and get some data acquisition so I can really see what I am doing.

Will post some photos of my sway bars later.

Fred '74tii (25mm/22mm) & '69 (19mm/19mm)

[TobyB]

I liked the ST 22/19 bars with that setup- pretty neutral handling biased

a bit toward understeer.

And pretty roll- resistant for a street car, but still a decent street car.

t

[vinntagejoe]

They do not need to match in size - depends on what type of handling you want/expect/currently have with your present setup. Here's some info from a quick search:

http://www.houseofthud.com/cartech/swaybars.htm

THIS is good - thanks!

[KFunk]

In my autocross experience, the less rear bar the better. That's because the heavier rear bars tend to lift the inside rear tire on tight corners, and it loses grip. Even with an E21 3.91 LSD (~25% lock-up), I just spun the inside tire on corners.

I completely removed my rear bar and got quicker times at autocross, because I was actually getting traction and going faster. Some day I may try putting a stock bar back on there and see if I can find a good balance. But for now, big front bar and no rear bar at all works well enough.

[gwb72tii]

I liked the ST 22/19 bars with that setup- pretty neutral handling biased

a bit toward understeer.

And pretty roll- resistant for a street car, but still a decent street car.

t

+1 for this setup from suspension techniques