Sway Bars - So Many Choices

[kinchy]

The plan- given my GT doesn't have the PP was add a tower strut bar (done) upgrade the sway bars and eventually replace the all season Pirellis with stickier sneakers. Lots of choices re: the sways, Ford Performance, Eibach, SR, BMR, Whiteline etc, etc. It looks like $450-$498 is the "norm" for quality components and I'm wondering if that's reality? I don't track the car simply want to make the local twisties more fun to navigate. Any insight regarding the choices and the cause and effect of stronger sways is certainly welcome.

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[Nagare]

I love my Steeda front and rear adjustable bars, no issues with them at all. If you're spending the money on parts and install, get a quality set and adjustable too so you can tweak it if needed to get the balance you're looking for.

If you don't care for the adjustability, the GT350/R bars used to be a great bargain for the price but now they seem to be creeping up.

 

[Stephen@lethal]

The plan- given my GT doesn't have the PP was add a tower strut bar (done) upgrade the sway bars and eventually replace the all season Pirellis with stickier sneakers. Lots of choices re: the sways, Ford Performance, Eibach, SR, BMR, Whiteline etc, etc. It looks like $450-$498 is the "norm" for quality components and I'm wondering if that's reality? I don't track the car simply want to make the local twisties more fun to navigate. Any insight regarding the choices and the cause and effect of stronger sways is certainly welcome.

BMR makes some fantastic Sway Bars and would be a great addition that won't kill drivability. Hit up Logan or myself at Lethalperformance.com to get a great deal on all BMR parts.

 

[Grintch]

Check the sizes, and you will see there is a lot of similarities.

The biggest obvious differences I am aware of is that some are only two way adjustable on the front (like the FPTP), and some don't have a collar to prevent the bar walking side to side (also FPTP), which the Mustang has a tendency to do, at least up front.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Check the sizes, and you will see there is a lot of similarities.

The biggest obvious differences I am aware of is that some are only two way adjustable on the front (like the FPTP), and some don't have a collar to prevent the bar walking side to side (also FPTP), which the Mustang has a tendency to do, at least up front.

Right. Many of these bars are pretty similar. The diameter is your rough ideal of how stiff they are. (technically you need to know the outer diameter, the tube thickness or solid, and the lever arm).

Bars will increase the speed that the car can transfer weight from side to side. It makes the handling a bit quicker in tight switchbacks, but a fast transitioning car will also often oversteer more quickly too. You can both get out of trouble more quickly (correcting the slide) but also you can get into trouble more quickly with stiff swaybars. In addition to speeding up the cars ability to shift weight, bars are often used (along with air pressure tweaks) to bias the car's handling from understeer to oversteer in longer steady state corners. The downside to stiffer swaybars is the handling over bumps will become rougher, because now both the wheels on that axle are 'coupled' more strongly, so a bump to one side will also jar the other side. Also stiffer handling also lowers grip (in general), stiffer bars to not increase grip. There are some caveats to that general rule tho.

Adjustable vs non-adjustable and how many adjustment settings is important.

Prefer bars with collars built into the bar so they don't slide side to side in their mounts. Clamps can work if your bar doesn't have a collar built into it (as is the case with some bars). A bar that ships with no collar and no clamps should be avoided.

Rigid bar mounts are preferred, but not exactly required. Adjustable endlinks are not usually needed, but the stock Ford front endlinks bend very easily, so upgraded endlinks are nice just to replace the bendy stock front endlinks. The rear Ford endlinks seem to hold up fine.

Be a little wary of stiff rear bars. IMHO the common rear bars Steeda / BMR / Whiteline are on the stiff side even on low settings. Unless you have stiff springs or really know what you're doing, run the rear setting on soft, and the front on medium OR soft depending on how much understeer you want. If you love a tail happy oversteering car, then try medium on the rear bar, but be careful.

If you just want some decent street bars for the twisties and don't think you'll be playing with adjustments, GT350R bars are a good choice. I really like the stiffness on the rear GT350R bar and pairing that with an adjustable front bar would be a good setup offering some adjustability.

Personally I run a BMR front bar on soft, and a Strano rear bar (which is not the typical diameter) on medium. Its neutral with a smidge of understeer.

 

[BmacIL]

It really depends on the rest of your setup. I have 250/980 springs, geometry correction arms, rear LCA bearings, among many other things, and I prefer the very neutral handling (very mild understeer if I were to do a skidpad) with my BMR front bar on medium, with the stock PP rear bar.

 

[kinchy]

Right. Many of these bars are pretty similar. The diameter is your rough ideal of how stiff they are. (technically you need to know the outer diameter, the tube thickness or solid, and the lever arm).

Bars will increase the speed that the car can transfer weight from side to side. It makes the handling a bit quicker in tight switchbacks, but a fast transitioning car will also often oversteer more quickly too. You can both get out of trouble more quickly (correcting the slide) but also you can get into trouble more quickly with stiff swaybars. In addition to speeding up the cars ability to shift weight, bars are often used (along with air pressure tweaks) to bias the car's handling from understeer to oversteer in longer steady state corners. The downside to stiffer swaybars is the handling over bumps will become rougher, because now both the wheels on that axle are 'coupled' more strongly, so a bump to one side will also jar the other side. Also stiffer handling also lowers grip (in general), stiffer bars to not increase grip. There are some caveats to that general rule tho.

Adjustable vs non-adjustable and how many adjustment settings is important.

Prefer bars with collars built into the bar so they don't slide side to side in their mounts. Clamps can work if your bar doesn't have a collar built into it (as is the case with some bars). A bar that ships with no collar and no clamps should be avoided.

Rigid bar mounts are preferred, but not exactly required. Adjustable endlinks are not usually needed, but the stock Ford front endlinks bend very easily, so upgraded endlinks are nice just to replace the bendy stock front endlinks. The rear Ford endlinks seem to hold up fine.

Be a little wary of stiff rear bars. IMHO the common rear bars Steeda / BMR / Whiteline are on the stiff side even on low settings. Unless you have stiff springs or really know what you're doing, run the rear setting on soft, and the front on medium OR soft depending on how much understeer you want. If you love a tail happy oversteering car, then try medium on the rear bar, but be careful.

If you just want some decent street bars for the twisties and don't think you'll be playing with adjustments, GT350R bars are a good choice. I really like the stiffness on the rear GT350R bar and pairing that with an adjustable front bar would be a good setup offering some adjustability.

Personally I run a BMR front bar on soft, and a Strano rear bar (which is not the typical diameter) on medium. Its neutral with a smidge of understeer.

Right. Many of these bars are pretty similar. The diameter is your rough ideal of how stiff they are. (technically you need to know the outer diameter, the tube thickness or solid, and the lever arm).

Bars will increase the speed that the car can transfer weight from side to side. It makes the handling a bit quicker in tight switchbacks, but a fast transitioning car will also often oversteer more quickly too. You can both get out of trouble more quickly (correcting the slide) but also you can get into trouble more quickly with stiff swaybars. In addition to speeding up the cars ability to shift weight, bars are often used (along with air pressure tweaks) to bias the car's handling from understeer to oversteer in longer steady state corners. The downside to stiffer swaybars is the handling over bumps will become rougher, because now both the wheels on that axle are 'coupled' more strongly, so a bump to one side will also jar the other side. Also stiffer handling also lowers grip (in general), stiffer bars to not increase grip. There are some caveats to that general rule tho.

Adjustable vs non-adjustable and how many adjustment settings is important.

Prefer bars with collars built into the bar so they don't slide side to side in their mounts. Clamps can work if your bar doesn't have a collar built into it (as is the case with some bars). A bar that ships with no collar and no clamps should be avoided.

Rigid bar mounts are preferred, but not exactly required. Adjustable endlinks are not usually needed, but the stock Ford front endlinks bend very easily, so upgraded endlinks are nice just to replace the bendy stock front endlinks. The rear Ford endlinks seem to hold up fine.

Be a little wary of stiff rear bars. IMHO the common rear bars Steeda / BMR / Whiteline are on the stiff side even on low settings. Unless you have stiff springs or really know what you're doing, run the rear setting on soft, and the front on medium OR soft depending on how much understeer you want. If you love a tail happy oversteering car, then try medium on the rear bar, but be careful.

If you just want some decent street bars for the twisties and don't think you'll be playing with adjustments, GT350R bars are a good choice. I really like the stiffness on the rear GT350R bar and pairing that with an adjustable front bar would be a good setup offering some adjustability.

Personally I run a BMR front bar on soft, and a Strano rear bar (which is not the typical diameter) on medium. Its neutral with a smidge of understeer.

Thanks for all the information. I was wondering how upgraded sway bars would impact ride quality - you responded to that.
The roads here in the northeast are lunar surface like for the most part. Maybe I should look to invest elsewhere. Thanks

 

[Chef jpd]

I have the Steeda front and rear adjustables. Stock PP suspension, added BMR rear lockout and lower cross brace.
The car corners totally flat with no negative ride impact.
And I drive in NYC, streets are.like downtown Beirut.

 

[tj@steeda]

Designed, Engineered, Manufactured, Tested & Backed with a lifetime warranty by Steeda! You can't go wrong with the Steeda rear swaybars - shoot me an email at [email protected] if I can put you in contact with one of our build experts

Best Regards,

TJ

 

[Mikepol2]

I have GT350R front and rear sway bars (34mm front / 24mm rear) with the stock springs and shocks and love them. Corners like a go-kart without killing your kidneys, plus I get good weight transfer to the rear wheels for launches. $200 total from our local Ford dealer for the bars plus new bushings and front brackets, and installed them myself. I'm personally a fan of OEM products whenever possible.

 

[Nagare]

Oh wow, I knew it was going up, but the bushings are $15.55 and the bar for $124.20 compared to your post mentioning $4.52 and $53.75 at the time!

 

[kinchy]

I just added the strut brace to my non-pp as well. I'm getting either some subframe bracing, or front/rear sways next. Either way, I'm going Steeda. They have a great rep, and make everything in the US. As far as sneakers, I went for the Michelin Pilot Sport 4s.

Did you eventually get the sway bars? If so did they meet your expectations?

 

[cib24]

 

[kinchy]

Perfect Thanks

 

[hinch]

i'm running the afe bars on middle hole on rear and end hole on fronts with pedders coil overs and it seems to be a pretty good combo don't really get the snap oversteer I used to and its more predictable around corners and much flatter, coupled with some good rubber its been one of the most noticeable improvements over stock.

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