On Fri, 2 Aug 1996, Eric Bartels wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>
> In the MOSS catalogue I read that there are anti-roll bars
> of different diameter available.
>
> Can anoyone explain what the practical difference between
> them is? Will the give different driving behaviour ?
>
>
> cheers,
>
> Eric
>
A sway bar connects the left and right wheels together, so that when one
wheels goes up, the other one must go up as well. When cornering, the
outside wheel wants to go up (relative to the body of the car) and the
inside wheel wants to go down. Since the sway bar doesn't let them do
this, the car will not experience body roll. You could get the same
effect with very stiff springs, but that would cause a very harsh ride.
The sway bars will make your suspension stiffer only in cornering (or when
one wheel hits a bump), going over a speed bump you won't see a
difference.
Now, the sway bar is not totally rigid, it twists, making it a torsional
spring. By varying the thickness of the bar, you change its spring
constant. A thinner bar will let the car lean more than a thick bar.
Oversteer and understeer are dictated by the relationship of roll
stiffness on the front to roll stiffness on the rear. If you were to put a
1.5" sway bar on the front of a B, it would make it very stiff.
This would cause the car to understeer, i.e. the front would push out of
the corner - no fun!
So choosing bar thickness for the front of your car depends on the rest
of your suspension and your handling preferences.
If you have stiffer springs, you can put a thicker bar on the front. If
you are going to put a bar on the rear as well, you can choose a very
thick bar for the front.
Some bars are adjustable by either mounting the end links to the bar at
different positions (changing the effective length of the bar - shorter ->
stiffer), or by assembling the end links with different hardness bushings.
This is very nice and used by racers to fine tune their setup.
One thing that is frequently overlooked is this: While by using big sway
bars rather than stiffer springs one gets a reasonable ride with little body
roll, one misses out on the other benefits of stiffer springs. Stiff
springs eliminate much of the brake dive and acceleration "squat". It is
very enjoyable to be able to brake hard and not have excessive dive, it
makes the car feel more nimble and gives more immediate braking response.
It can add significantly to the fun factor.
Tune in next week to learn how to lower the roll center by installing a
Panhard Rod....
Ulix
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'67 Sprite '66 Caddy
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