Sway Bar
 

Was wondering how sway bars would affect the handling of the car. My current setup is

17x8 with 225/45/17 hancook rs3 v2
Whiteline camber bolts
Front and rear centric rotors with HP+ pads
Front is about -1.4 camber with 0 toe
Rear is about -1.2 camber with 0 toe

The kit I'm thinking about purchasing is the eibach sway bar kit. Will it increase cornering grip and decrease body roll?

I've done 2 track days and I wanted to reduce body roll and increase cornering grip without going coilovers first.

Eibach Front 25mm solid vs OEM Front 18mm
Eibach Rear 19mm solid vs OEM Front 14mm

Thanks

They would definitely reduce body roll.

Many will say swaybars should only be used for fine-tuning balance but honestly they don't have to be limited to that. I think a set of swaybars for your uses will improve the car.

That said, those are pretty big bars.

- Andy

Thank you for the reply RCE. I decided to go with Eibach becuase i scored a really good deal with them. I really like the feel (for now) of the stock suspension, was just wanting less body roll with increased cornering grip. Is having such big bars a bad thing? I'm going to have to play around with the adjustments to still keep the overal neutral feel of the car.

I only put on the Strano 22mm bar:

http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetails.php?PartID=928
"This 4 pound 22mm tubular front sway bar for the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S is 1 pound lighter than stock, but stiffer. Stock is 18mm and 5 pounds."

I'll say that I'm really happy with only upgrading the front bar. I think it adds a little more responsiveness to the front while still allowing the rear to be a little more planted with the softer oem sway. That 25mm does seem kind of fat. If the front becomes too stiff then you could start to get understeer. I'm not sure where that point is with our car or if 25mm is close or not.

One thing I have learned is dont choose suspension based on scoring a deal. Luckily you are only on springs so a super stiff bar wont be as bad as if you were already on stiff coilovers. Hope it works out for you.

This is true and im not really about just buying cheap things. Like i mentioned before, I really enjoy the stock shocks/springs. judging by ur post, i guess its not good at all to run this setup with coilovers?

I personally dont have experiance with it but have done tons of research on peoples feedback on sways. It seems our car doesnt need a whole lot to begin with and it is easy to go too stiff when combined with coilovers. I am on RCE yellows and will be putting in Koni struts. I still cant decide if I will be wanting the RCE sways which are similar size but are hollow for fear its too much.

I know a few people personally and have read of multiple others who ended up downsizing sways after some time. Not saying that will happen but maybe do some research on how stiff they are at the varoous settings compared to stock and other bars.

@Racecomp engineeting do you have data for the for of the oem bars? Seems to not be a reliable answer out there.

Sway Bar
 

I have the Eibachs front and back, both set to stiff (there are 2 settings for each). Made a big difference in how responsive the steering feels and how flat it corners now. With that said, things are a bit more uncomfortable over bumps now and I occasionally have problems with driveways having a rear wheel in the air momentarily. So in summary, sways make a big difference in turning and onramps, but you lose some of the comfort of the stock setup.

If you aren't sure - start out with your sway bars as "soft" (short) as possible front and rear. They will most likely still be stiffer than stock. Go from there.

I'm not quite sure what you meant by this but the way I read it you are giving incorrect information.

Sorry - check your instructions for your specific type :)

I do not know what you mean by this. Specific type of what? To the best of my knowledge all makes of sway bars for BRZ/FR-S/86 work the same way.

Short = less leverage = harder


It's elementary leverage...

I'm also keeping my coils as is and wanted to get some sway bars as well.
Was actually thinking of going with TRD but these reviews you guys are giving seem really good.
So what's better, a heavier or lighter sway bar?