No front anti-sway bar=a better ride

[Koa]

@Ultramaroon the couve and meth strikes again innit

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by KoolBRZ

This isn't like I removed the steering wheel, you know. The car has such a low center of gravity a sway bar isn't really necessary for street use. If you want to worry about me, worry because I have an OFT with the new "pedal dance mode". Now that's dangerous.

There is a hollow front sway bar available for these cars. I may just remove the rear sway bar and install the hollow front bar and call it good. It's obvious that the stock sway bars are too stiff for daily driving, but what I'm trying to find out is, if it's better with just the front bar, just the rear bar, or without both bars. After all, if Formula One cars can run without sway bars, why can't my BRZ?

I'll take some videos for all the doubting Thomas's out there. If I can still corner without sway bars, then who needs them?

What exactly are you trying to accomplish by removing the bars, and do you even understand what they do and how they work?

If you find the car too firm over bumps that both wheels hit, removing the sway bars isn't going to change a single thing. They don't add to the spring rate if both wheels at the same end are moving together.

The whole point of sway bars is to reduce body roll without needing really stiff springs/dampers. It doesn't increase bump stiffness.

The ONLY improvement in ride quality to be had from removing sway bars is if you're feeling cross talk over bumps. Meaning, if you hit a bump with the right front wheel, you can feel the left front responding as well. I highly doubt you're getting that with the stock bars though, they aren't that stiff.

What kinds of bumps are you trying to improve ride quality over? Big bumps, small sharp ones? Undulating pavement (ripples, rolls, etc)?

You'll get MUCH further by properly identifying what you want to fix, then looking at things that will actually affect that instead of just trying the shotgun approach.

[jvincent]

Originally Posted by gramicci101

Have we found Suberman's new account name?

Nope, it's not our beloved lawyer from Calgary.

KoolBRZ isn't arrogant enough and doesn't have the same vocabulary. I haven't seen him use the word "jounce" once as an example.

[donoman]

Originally Posted by adamg

and what do you consider max camber on stretched tires. why is THAT, THAT dangerous.
...
so sick of ignorant "track guys" on this forum

Chill out man. Our levels of safety may differ, so that's a hard question to answer. However, stretching a tire and running on the sidewall is just asking for it.

Do I like the way it looks? Yes.
Do I think it's safe? Not really.

[Hyper4mance2k]

Anopther option for the OP is the Cusco Shocks. On the lowest setting they're 60% as stiff as stock and 140% as stiff at full 40th click, but then he might want to source the GT86 springs (IIRC The softest sprng rates)

But IMHO keep the sway bars. I ran with the stock springs & struts with a strano front bar & WRX rear for about 10k miles. 64 miles each way commute to work on the worst freeway in the world (LA 405) and I think the car is more comfortable with the larger sway bars.

[KoolBRZ]

Cusco sells hollow front and rear sway bars that are softer than stock. They aren't cheap though.

I'm posting this not to troll or stir up controversy. I'm doing this and posting this to learn from it. I'm getting too much crosstalk from my front bar right now with stock springs on. Next i'm going to try using just the front sway bar and remove the rear bar. I'm trying to find out if they both crosstalk equally, or if one does it more than the other. Eventually I will replace one, the other, or both with a hollow bar and then dial in the ride with my adjustable Hypermax GT IV's.

[wparsons]

I'd love to hear what kinds of bumps you're feeling excessive crosstalk from, especially since you can't tell if it's worse at the front or the rear... I found I had very little crosstalk on stock springs, and even less on swift sport springs. You need to try the springs/shocks you're eventually going to run before doing anything with the sway bars. Significantly stiffer springs will change how the bars react, so it really doesn't matter how they work with stock springs if you aren't keeping the stock springs.

Where are you finding the Cusco bars that are softer than stock? I see they have ones that are stiffer than stock, but nothing softer. Most places list the 16mm Cusco as solid, and they all list it as stiffer than stock. I think you'll be VERY hard pressed to find softer sway bars (or springs) for this platform.

[*Hachiroku86*]

Originally Posted by KoolBRZ

This isn't like I removed the steering wheel, you know. The car has such a low center of gravity a sway bar isn't really necessary for street use. If you want to worry about me, worry because I have an OFT with the new "pedal dance mode". Now that's dangerous.

There is a hollow front sway bar available for these cars. I may just remove the rear sway bar and install the hollow front bar and call it good. It's obvious that the stock sway bars are too stiff for daily driving, but what I'm trying to find out is, if it's better with just the front bar, just the rear bar, or without both bars. After all, if Formula One cars can run without sway bars, why can't my BRZ?

I'll take some videos for all the doubting Thomas's out there. If I can still corner without sway bars, then who needs them?

Too stiff for daily driving.. Why did you buy this car?

[cdrazic93]

wow some upset people in here lol.

No it wont make the car catch fire. Or explode. Only FA20Club has proven this. Or Vinscoti.

what it will do is basically the same thing as those replacing the crash bar.

Will it aid in a certain desired performance? Sure.

Will it be dangerous during a spirited mountain drive (with no other mod like stiffer suspension)? Probably

If you had to emergency maneuver around a deer in the road with quick snap steering, would your car handle predictibly? No.

@CSG Mike, what do you think?

[dem00n]

The OP reminds me of a certain book...

[Poodles]

Just because the sway bar is hollow doesn't mean it's softer. Hollow bars are designed for weight savings (though it's very minor and mostly pointless).


Anyway, yes, the idea is sound that removing the swaybar can help with the ride quality. It'll also handle crappy which defeats the entire purpose of a sports car.


These cars (especially the revisions for 2015) ride very nice for what this car is capable of. Miata rides worse and stock suspension is terrible with tons of body roll. Anything else in this weight range these days is a crappy econobox that rides worse. Want a great ride? Add about a 1000lbs to the car. My Supra rode fantastic on the stock suspension, but it was also 1000lbs heavier.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Koa

@Ultramaroon the couve and meth strikes again innit

Uggh... I'm moving North.

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by KoolBRZ

Cusco sells hollow front and rear sway bars that are softer than stock. They aren't cheap though.

They do? Quick Duckduckgoing doesn't reveal any softer sways.
This list by @Mikepage http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...25&postcount=1 is fairly comprehensive (I am not suggesting it is complete) and doesn't list any softer sways. My impression is that there is no demand for softer sways than oem.

[cdrazic93]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

They do? Quick Duckduckgoing

GOOSE