Sway bar upgrade on aw11 - worth it?

[adamaw11]

Anyone tried running stiffer sway bars on an aw11 - front and / or rear?
Do they make much difference?
Do they reduce body roll much?

I'm looking for other ways to improve handling since I've done the lowered springs, shocks, grippy tyres (falken azenis), but want to do something else before my next track day.

Turn-in is never a problem, I'm more interested in reducing jitteryness and making the car more stable - can I expect any improvements like this from playing with the sway bar stiffness?

[TooF]

sway bars 100% they are brilliant, ive got the largest whiteline ones avaliable front and rear both adjustable and worth every single penny (not that they are expensive anyway)

[adamaw11]

sway bars 100% they are brilliant, ive got the largest whiteline ones avaliable front and rear both adjustable and worth every single penny (not that they are expensive anyway)

Cool! what do they do though? is it really just about reducing body roll?

[TooF]

correct they will reduce body roll and help keep the opposite wheel on the ground

[feral4mr2]

useless feral fact # 5395943.78
i've found a aw11 with no rear sway bar at all will power through a corner with-out letting go and spinning than a aw11 with a rear sway bar. (i'm talking coming up to a corner dropping back and punching it through the corner).

that said, when i can afford a few set of them i'll be getting the whiteline ones too.

[TooF]

ovrall the car is better with the bars and the whiteline ones really do make a great impovment for not a great deal of cash.

[MR22ZZ]

I'm currently running with no rear bar and I keep feeling like it needs one to improve the turn in. Yes it is very stable without it, but the precision on cornering can be improved significantly with one on the rear.

But loving the Whiteline bar on the front

[kender]

Anyone tried running stiffer sway bars on an aw11 - front and / or rear?
Do they make much difference?
Do they reduce body roll much?

I have a stiffer swaybar on the front and back of my AW11 racecar. The front is about 15% stiffer (I think), and the rear is from an SW20 turbo. I haven't noticed a huge difference from the front bar, but the rear one made a huge difference. First, it made the car harder to drive . I originally fitted the bar 2 years ago, went out to the track and spun 3 times in my first outing, so removed the bar and put it in storage. I decided to give it another go recently (after getting used to aftermarket suspension and making wheel alignment changes), and now it's absolutely magic. I've had fellow racers tell me that the car sits nice and flat through fast corners, and my first impressions on slow corners were "wow, it feels like it corners on rails, it's sitting flat, the inside rear tyre has more weight on it, and I can accelerate earlier".

[adamaw11]

So its sounding like its more forgiving with a softer rear bar?

maybe I'll just go for a stiffer one on the front only.

I'm mainly worried about the highspeed corner after the straight at qr, where the entry is a little bit bumpy - the back always seems to get a bit unsettled and its gotten a bit sideways a few times - at 120kmh - I really don't want to loose it on that corner, so I usuallly take it slower than I need to.

[TooF]

i run my front bar on hardest setting and my back on loosest and it makes a pretty good package. if you start winidng up the back though it starts getting significantly more taily.

[Drifty Midship]

I found mine o/steered more easily when the front anti-sway was disconnected. That was with the death springs tho'.
Seemed to feel that the front outside corner would dip and grip more on turn-in sending the back round more easily...

[Duk]

I've got a pair of Whiteline bars on my MR2 and highly recomend them . But I have snapped both the front sadle clamps (on 2 different occasions) after driving it enthusiastically on a narrow, bumpy, windey road . The sadle clamps are only thin strips of metal so I just welded them back together after re-shaping them (they get bashed out of shape when the bar slaps around).
Strangely (against the norm), I found my car had better front end grip with the front bar set at its stiffest setting . I know that goes agaist the grain, but it is what I noticed.

[Drifty Midship]

yeah i've heard of sw20's having an issue with that... never an AW.

[kender]

So its sounding like its more forgiving with a softer rear bar?.

Yep, and the car will give more notice before turning around.

I'm mainly worried about the highspeed corner after the straight at qr, where the entry is a little bit bumpy - the back always seems to get a bit unsettled and its gotten a bit sideways a few times - at 120kmh.

Sorry, not following this bit. 120kph a highspeed corner On a racetrack 120kph almost counts as having the handbrake on

[4agte]

dude is the pope catholic swaybars are the preferred way to control roll and having adustable swaybars means you can dial in/out understeer/oversteer