steering and suspension UUC sway bars

[2002afan]

Does anyone have a UUC sway bar on his or her 2002? Any complaints. The e36 guys don't seem to like them at all. I'm trying to decide between an ST or UUC.

Thanks,

WillO

[skipsfcr]

I wasn't aware UUC offered sway bars for 2002's. ST bars work just fine and are priced pretty reasonably as are Ireland Engineering's.

[2002afan]

Skip, Yes they do, painted silver. Don't know how long they have been selling them, but I decided to go with ST. Found a green one to go on the green hornet (jade green). Black and Gray are more common to be available right now.

Thanks,

WillO

[cda951]

I was also unaware that UUC offered sway bars for our old cars, but here you go:

 

http://store.uucmotorwerks.com/front-and-rear-swaybar-kit-for-bmw-20021600-all-models-p1701.aspx

 

The important fact to consider is the thickness of the sway bars and where they mount. The UUC sway bars are 19MM front and rear (I do not know how thick the stock bars are). The ST set is 22MM front and 19MM rear. Both sway bar sets use the stock mounting points.

 

Assuming similar metallurgy between both sway bar sets, the ST setup with the thicker front bar will tend more towards understeer at handling limits than the UUC setup would. With all else equal, a stiffer sway bar at one end will equate to a quicker rate of weight transfer from side to side, which means that this end will lose grip before the other. Hence, a larger front sway bar will ultimately lead to understeer. Conversely, a stiffer rear sway bar would promote oversteer.

 

Nonetheless, I cannot recommend one setup over the other to the original poster, because I do not know his/her suspension setup and handling preferences! I will say that many off-the-shelf setups are biased towards safe understeer, which I do not like! My own 2002tii came with the old-school Korman sway bar setup (as identified by our own AceAndrew) when I bought it, with a very thick front sway bar with shorter lever arms and lower mounting brackets for the center bushings to increase its rate, along with a 3-hole adjustable rear bar. The car understeered far too much for my liking, so the huge front bar was swapped out for an ST 22MM front bar that uses the stock mounts, but with the existing Korman rear bar at full stiffness. Much better!

 

I will say that one advantage of the Korman/IE short-arm bar setup is that the alternator can easily be swapped out in a tii/Turbo, unlike with the original/ST setup . . . .

 

Chris

 

 

Edited July 24, 2016 by cda951

[2002afan]

Chris, Thanks for all the tips. The UUC description says two different things 19 and 19 front and rear in part of the description and 22 and 19 as you read further.  

For that reason and a lot of people already using ST sealed the deal for me.

Cheers,

WillO

[jplips]

Thanks to this conversation I learned about the UUC swaybar kit.

 

Ordered the kit yesterday for under $250, seems to me it is a very complete kit. Will compare with the ST frontbar I have on my Targa.

 

All the best,

 

JP

[Kidasters]

21 hours ago, jplips said:

Thanks to this conversation I learned about the UUC swaybar kit.

 

Ordered the kit yesterday for under $250, seems to me it is a very complete kit. Will compare with the ST frontbar I have on my Targa.

 

All the best,

 

JP

 

JP.

 

I'm running the IE front and rear bars.  Once you install it, come over and we'll compare the two.

 

Ken

[ray_]

1 hour ago, Kidasters said:

 

JP.

 

I'm running

 

Ken

 

 

Good to know.

[Kidasters]

that's not nice.  you'll hurt my feeling.

[2002newb]

The UUC mount in the stock location? 

[jplips]

It does as per website info.


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