Bob, You need to check the actual stiffness of each bar, but from what I have
seen, most hollow bars are stiffer than the solid equivalent size. Am I not
remembering physics right?
jim
<<< Bob Pariza <bpariza@yahoo.com> 4/12 9:39a >>>
Hey Gary,
Thanks for your input. In my case the car is an '01 Camaro SS. It's got the
stock a/r bars on it now, the same bars that are on any V8 Camaro/Firebird. My
choices (so far) seem to be pretty simple: the factory 1LE bars or an
aftermarket set from BMR Fabricating. They're both the same od, but the 1LE
bars are hollow. After having read a bit and talking with a few other people,
I'm thinking that the 1LE bars with hard bushings is probably the answer. I'm
fairly certain that I can live with that setup on the street and it should work
pretty well at the events. The stiffer bars would probably work great at the
events, but I'll bet they'd be hard to live with the rest of the time, rough
pavement and all that. And then there's the shocks -vs- a/r bars and springs
issue, which is a really good point that I'd overlooked. It's always a
comprimise, isn't it?
GSMnow@aol.com wrote:
Yes, you can certainly have too much sway bar, but how much that is depends
on many things. On my rear drive Celica with a modest 2% front weight bias, I
tried a huge set of bars, and on smooth surfaces they were great. Body lean
was barely 1 degree at about 1G. The springs I was using at the time were on
the soft side, so it actually work kay on the street. the front bar was
actually a stock WS6 Trans Am bar. My Celica only has a front axle weight of
1400 lbs. The front of the T/A is probably more like 2100 lbs. The problem I
ran into was setting the shocks to work in different conditions. The shocks
had to be stiff to control the bars, but then they would over power the
springs. If I softened the shocks to work with the springs, then they
couldn't control the bars. Basically I ended up with a car with a very high
limit, but any bump would send it sliding.
Currently I am back to stock sway bars, but 325 lb/inch front springs, (my
Eibach pro kits were just 185 lb/in) and the roll rate is only a tick softer
than the big bar setup. The rear setup also went through a similar change at
the same time. 130 lb/inch springs and a 1 inch bar down to a 5/8 inch bar
and 275 lb/in springs. The car is much more controlable when it hits bumps.
Lean is about 1.5 degrees at 1G. A bit softer in roll than before, and I may
go up a bit more with spring, but I am trying different alignments first to
see what works.
If you are on the smoothest surface on earth, then huge roll stiffness will
work, but just like springs, you need some compliance to make it over bumps
without loosing traction.
Compared to street driving, you probably can tollerate a bit more bar for
autocross, so I would guess any "street use" sway bar set will not be
unuseably stiff. Many street bar sets may also be dialed in for a bit of
push, for liability sake. You know, there is noone on the street qualified to
drive a neutral handling car.
Gary M.
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