96 WS6

At least until I get a 32mm front... how would that work out? Would it handle weird or good? I think I'm going to take a trip to GM sports salvage tomorrow to see if they have a 24mm rear swaybar from a third gen, if not then a 21mm. Thanks.

Geezer powered

I would do the front first or front and back at the same time.

J's 82

the car will get tailhappy.. it will oversteer through the turns when pushed..

96 WS6

Why would it be better? it's just cheaper since 3'rd gen parts are readily available. Hmm, what about a 21mm??? What are good front/back combos???

32/21??
32/24??

LMK please, thanks.

96 WS6

What if I said I have a 91 pound subwoofer box and 2 amps in the hatch? Would that make a difference in which swaybar size to get?

TedH

Unless you are pushing the car to the edge, you shouldn't notice diddly squat for difference.

96 WS6

tnthub - really? I was always under the impression that upgrading the swaybar size was crucial for killing body roll.

BlakeW5

I doubt you would notice a big difference as far as over/understeer is concerned. It would probably just make the car neutral. You'd probably only feel the change if you hit corners really hard.

96 WS6

that's the thing, I do hit corners pretty hard. I jsut want it to be flatter around the turns. I can't believe you are telling my swaybars don't help handling. Sway bars are key for body roll. Even if you didn't know what it did, you could go under the car and see that the sway bar connects the suspension from side to side.

Dave C. '97 Z28

If you put a bigger one on the rear without changing the front one, your inside rear tire will lift in hard cornering and the car will kick out.

-Dave C. '97 Z28

fdxpilot

I agree. If you increase the rear roll stiffness, the car tends to oversteer. If you increase the front, it tends to understeer. Doing both keeps the car balanced with less body roll.

Understeer is just annoying, as you just push towards the outside of the turn, until you slow or reduce cornering force.
Oversteer can kill you when the back end comes around.

96 WS6

So whats a good size combo keeping in mind I have 100 extra pounds in the back.

Buttercup

Increasing the rear roll resistance is definately going to increase oversteer at the limit.

I would be even more concerned with your car since it is supercharged. If you plan on putting down power out of a turn you want to keep the roll resistance more biased towards the front... you can't ask the tires to hold the corner and apply power to the ground.

Thicker rear bar will help with the drag launches though

JohnD

This is all very enlightening. I was going to upgrade my rear swaybar first and now I think I'll wait and do both at the same time.

WOT

Go search in the autocross forum. Anything above 21mm is WAY too big and you're asking for trouble especially with something as small as a 30 or 32mm front bar. I autocross in SM and have a 35mm front bar and on some courses I run a 19 and others a 21. I also have 400# springs up front and 130 # springs in the rear. Adding a big bar to the front of these cars will not make them understeer. Why? Because our cars are on the extreme and need the added camber control of a bigger bar up front. The added camber control of a big front bar makes up for the increased weight transfer and will help rear traction as well. Text book examples don't always apply to every car.

The biggest weak link on our cars are the stock shocks. Either get a set of revalved bilsteins for $450 (valved for your car by Sam Strano Jr.) or a set of Koni's SA's.