No sways

[BadCompany235]

a few miata guys do it to provide four wheel independent action. what are the thoughts on the 86 platform for this. has anyone tried?

[ft_sjo]

It'd turn it into a boat.

[Deep Six]

Rear maybe

[solidONE]

I ran a full session at street of willow with the stock set-up on RS3 tires with the rear bar unhooked. I liked it. Was able to get on throttle early and hard. The main problem I had doing that with the stock springs was that it made the rear end wallow pretty good. Might have been bouncing off the bump stops. If you have stiffer rates and damping to suit, you should give it a shot. With stock springs, though, is probably not a good idea.

[canu_50]

i was going to say.. if you bring the spring rate up, it would probably do well. But a lot of testing need to be done, and haveing a sway is not typically a bad thing!

[7thgear]

.... it depends on what the track is and what you don't like about your cars handling.

disconnecting a swaybar is a cheap alternative when you're strapped for cash for a quick CHANGE (not same as improvment) in the handling characteristics


analyze the situation first.. too many people out there upgrading for the sake of upgrading.

[mla163]

I have spent some time on the Miata boards. A good chunk of the Miata guys don't know what they are talking about. Disconnecting both would be dumb unless you were running crazy high spring rates on a track with no bumps.

If you think it might be faster, test it.

[ZDan]

Car have longer wheelbase length than track width. So under 1-g cornering without any sway bars, you'd have a lot more suspension movement than under 1-g braking (neglecting anti-dive and anti-roll geometry for the moment).

If you run with no bar, you'll have to run stiffer springs to get optimal roll stiffness, which may sacrifice overall mechanical grip vs. the same roll stiffness with softer springs with one or two sways.

As with everything, it depends on the specific application, but in general, you'll want to run at least one sway bar. Also, as mentioned, it gives a quick/easy way to make a major emergency change in handling balance, too!

[ft_sjo]

It might also be a good idea to understand what exactly a shock absorber package is for (hint: it's in the name) and a sway bar/anti-roll bar (again hint: it's in the name).

And an even more fruity hint, removing something designed to control roll and expecting something that's designed to absorb shocks to also control roll is unlikely to be successful..

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by ft_sjo

And an even more fruity hint, removing something designed to control roll and expecting something that's designed to absorb shocks to also control roll is unlikely to be successful..

you're missing the forest for the trees

lack of roll =/= grip

likewise, a boat can exhibit an extraordinary ability to hold on to the road

[autobrz]

robispec doesn't run a rear sway bar. lotus elise's don't run rear sway bar from the factory.
Robispec said somewhere on the forum he ran the stock bar up front to help the macpherson struts' poor camber gain.
sway bar removes mechanical grip* but transfers more grip to the other end of the car.

*except in cases where less body roll gives better contact patch.

[ModBargains.com]

Taking off the rear sway bar is one thing, but taking off the front as well is another story. I'd say with the right spring rates you probably COULD but doesn't mean that you should. At the most I would only ever take off the rear sway bar, but that's about it.

[ZDan]

Yup^^^

I removed the rear bar on my 240Z after I gained a ton of front grip with camber and lost a lot of understeer by reducing rear toe, purely to regain balance. Removing the front bar would be a disaster!

You're pretty much always going to want some additional roll stiffness vs. what the springs by themselves provide. Unless your track width is the same as your wheelbase dimension!

[canu_50]

Taking out the front bar is usually done on FWD (i.e civic) with crazy rates. *we use to run 800lbs front and 1000lbs rear and no sway bar, with a toe out rear and front alignement. But this set up was mostly used on our local track where it's small and tight!