Sway Bar Upgrade on stock suspension

[NateP]

Hi guys,

I drive a 16 BRZ premium. I am considering upgrading my sway bars (probably to Whiteline or Eibach). I am on stock suspension for now but have upgraded to wider wheels and stickier tires. I love the added grip but it comes with more roll in corners. It feels like it is mostly in the front end but I could be wrong. Can I go for just a front sway bar to reduce this or will I need to do both to maintain the neutral handling it had before? And whichever way I go, what should I be looking out for?

Thanks!

[PLX92]

Do you have plans to do further suspension upgrades in the future? (Coilovers, springs etc.) Typically sway bars are used to fine tune a suspension system once the springs and dampers have been selected. In your case, if the stock springs/dampers are the weapon of choice, you can certainly add 1 or both sway bars to the factory system and still see benefits. I would recommend a front bar 1st, this will offer better oversteer resistance and a noticeable front end stiffness increase. I ran a Whiteline front bar for several years on the stock suspension for autocross use and it made a considerable difference.

[BigTuna]

I'm on stock suspension with a front bar. Works for me!

[marco_mc22]

In my opinion, 22mm front and oem 2017+ 15mm rear bar is a great setup, especially if you don’t want to use a lot of front camber, I’ve had 20 16 on stock 2017+ setup (showa base shocks not sachs) and while I liked the front when I put the rear I didn’t like the balance of the car, even on the softer setup, but I think it’s also a matter of tastes

[Transport3r]

I went with a Perrin 22F 16R adjustable setup. I set the front to soft and rear to medium and the balance was preserved. Nice thing about adjustables is you can dial it in just the way you want it.

[Capt Spaulding]

If you want to try a low impact experiment first, install poly sway bushings front and rear. I found it made a noticeable difference on my '15. Roll stiffness is increased and more linear. I plan to replace the struts/shocks with B6s combined with Pedders upper front mounts in the next year or so, but have no plans to track or AC the car, so that will probably end my suspension mods.

[Turdinator]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

If you want to try a low impact experiment first, install poly sway bushings front and rear. I found it made a noticeable difference on my '15. Roll stiffness is increased and more linear....

I had the same experience. Changing the bushes to poly made a surprisingly noticeable change to feel and handling.

[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by marco_mc22

In my opinion, 22mm front and oem 2017+ 15mm rear bar is a great setup, especially if you don’t want to use a lot of front camber, I’ve had 20 16 on stock 2017+ setup (showa base shocks not sachs) and while I liked the front when I put the rear I didn’t like the balance of the car, even on the softer setup, but I think it’s also a matter of tastes

I did this combo OEM 2017+ in the rear with a WL 20mm on stiff setting up front. So far I like it alot. I also have have the Cusco Strut Bar (w/ Master Cylinder Brace)

[cmiovino]

A lot of people run only front bars for autocross. This is for street class (one swaybar replacement allowed) and even street touring (both allowed).

In general, adding the larger front bar adds in keeping front camber in check, lessening tire rollover, and using the most grip from the front tires. Leaving the stock rear bar is typical, but an swap to a 2017+ bar is a cheap upgrade.

In general, a 20mm front bar works for most people for autocross/track as well as street driving, with or without upgrading the spring/struts later. 22mm can work, but many times it's too much front bar for stock springs/struts, creating more understeer.

If you're not autocrossing and sticking to some rules, also adding a front strut bar seems to slightly help with front stability too. Certainly not as much as a swaybar. For the price and 5 minute installation, I think they're worth it.

[norcalpb]

I’ve played around with some bigger rear bars and I never liked the feel of them, especially for daily driving use.

I currently have whiteline bushings on my 14mm Oem rear bar and AVO bushings on my front 21mm TRD sway bar and I still get plenty of oversteer on the track.

If I were you I’d just get the front bar. They come in sizes 18mm-25.4mm and which size you get should depend on how much you drive on the street and how much roughness you are ok dealing with.

When I first bought my car in 2013, I got to do an autocross ride along with this guy named Manny in Arizona who only had a bigger front sway bar (Hotchkis 25.4mm) and sticky tires on his stock suspension. However his driving and the cars ability opened my eyes up to what this car can actually do, so I wouldn’t worry about ruining the cars balance by just going big front bar.

If you find the car understeers with the big front bar, get camber bolts and add camber. Given that the front suspension is McPherson, stiff suspension components will help prevent camber loss, even though camber loss on these cars is not as crazy as say on a 2004 STi.