Sway bars

[moubayed]

Hello everyone,

i wanted to ask a couple of questions regarding sway bars. I currently have modified my 2015 GT (non pp) with an eibach pro street coilover Setup and the awesome CB005. I plan on getting a little bit better cornering ability/stability and therefore looked at the sway bars from eibach. I dont track my car, im not into Autocross or anything like that, its my daily driver and i usually drive a little bit more spirited.
Would you guys recommend sway bars for my purpose? Would it severly impact the harshness of the ride? Are maybe other modifications rather recommendable instead of sway bars?

Thanks for your time and your advice!

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[ModularKid21]

I’m sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in, but I don’t think you’ll see a decrease in ride quality. I’d imagine that Eibach designed their sway bars to work with the coilovers, so I say go for it. I did all of my suspension at once so I can’t comment on how each modification impacted the vehicle individually, but I would guess the difference would be absolutely noticeable

 

[NightmareMoon]

Ride comfort is a downside of increasing swaybar stiffness. Bumps to one side of the car will jar both sides if your swaybar is stiff.

Im not sure swaybars will improve anything for you. They dont add grip, per se, they actually going stiffer looses you grip, but you get a car which may change directions faster (less body lean means less roll to shift from side to side in tight transitions).

Swaybars are a good way to change the handling balance of the car, if youre not happy with the amount of oversteer or understeer in steady state corners. Just upgrading to stiffer swaybars to reduce body roll doesnt do a whole lot for you if you arent tracking the car.

 

[Roadway 5.0]

Sure, get adustable swaybars and don’t look back. A base GT can certainly benefit and the ride won’t suffer much. Start with the middle setting and tune to preference from there.

Strongly consider, however, the Steeda roll-center/bumpsteer kit as well. This eliminated the front end tilt in my lowered car to a point where I doubt I’ll ever replace my PP front bar.

 

[Bluemustang]

Ride comfort is a downside of increasing swaybar stiffness. Bumps to one side of the car will jar both sides if your swaybar is stiff.

Im not sure swaybars will improve anything for you. They dont add grip, per se, they actually going stiffer looses you grip, but you get a car which may change directions faster (less body lean means less roll to shift from side to side in tight transitions).

Swaybars are a good way to change the handling balance of the car, if youre not happy with the amount of oversteer or understeer in steady state corners. Just upgrading to stiffer swaybars to reduce body roll doesnt do a whole lot for you if you arent tracking the car.

I agree with this. Stiffer is less grip. And I wouldn't use the sway bars to reduce body roll, let the springs and dampers do that. Perhaps a mild front bar upgrade may be warranted. I'd avoid sway bars altogether until you feel out the balance of the car.

 

[moubayed]

Thanks for the insightful replies, ill confemplate a little bit on them. I couldnt find that much information on sway bars and the mustang in generall, at the very least compared to other mods, so this is very helpfull

 

[2015Etrac]

There's a few Ford factory options that might work for you. One is the Performance Pack bars, the other is the GT350 bars. I installed a set of GT350R sway bars on my GT and they work great, but if you're looking for a bit less bar, Performance Pack and normal GT350 bars would probably work well. I think I paid about $120 for a set of new GT350R sway bars.

 

[moubayed]

There's a few Ford factory options that might work for you. One is the Performance Pack bars, the other is the GT350 bars. I installed a set of GT350R sway bars on my GT and they work great, but if you're looking for a bit less bar, Performance Pack and normal GT350 bars would probably work well. I think I paid about $120 for a set of new GT350R sway bars.

I found varying part numbers regarding the gt350 bars, wich ones did you use if i might ask?

 

[Bluemustang]

The GT350 and GT350R share the same front bar. The GT350R has a stiffer rear bar.

Read through this thread. A lot of good information about sway bars and how to use them. Also the correct part numbers are buried in there.

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/rear-sway-bar-gt350-vs-gt350r.86633/

 

[2015Etrac]

I believe these are the R bars:

Front FR3Z-5482-J
Rear FR3Z-5A772-E

You'll also want the bushings and brackets. Those part numbers should be in that thread above. I thought the brackets and bushings came with the front bar, but realized they didn't as I was about to install mine, so I had to order them.

 

[Roadway 5.0]

The Ford bars are an awesome value and will do you well. However I think a set of adjustable swaybars (or at least the rear bar), while more expensive, are underrated on this forum.

The adjustability is great as you journey in modding a car. I started off with my rear bar at full stiff and loved the responsiveness I gave me, but it had a bit too much edge. I adjusted it to full soft. After installing my roll center correction arms, I realized that my stiff rear bar wasn’t the culprit for the “edge” feeling, so now my rear bar is set in the middle. Once I get my summer 305 tires on, the bar will go back to full stiff.

Long winded, I know, but I believe in the use of swaybars and an adjustable rear for sure. These come with all of the install bits/bushings so there is no guesswork as well.

 

[Bluemustang]

The Ford bars are an awesome value and will do you well. However I think a set of adjustable swaybars (or at least the rear bar), while more expensive, are underrated on this forum.

The adjustability is great as you journey in modding a car. I started off with my rear bar at full stiff and loved the responsiveness I gave me, but it had a bit too much edge. I adjusted it to full soft. After installing my roll center correction arms, I realized that my stiff rear bar wasn’t the culprit for the “edge” feeling, so now my rear bar is set in the middle. Once I get my summer 305 tires on, the bar will go back to full stiff.

Long winded, I know, but I believe in the use of swaybars and an adjustable rear for sure. These come with all of the install bits/bushings so there is no guesswork as well.

I am willing to bet you that you will be able to put more power down on corner entry with the bar on full soft.

 

[BmacIL]

The Ford bars are an awesome value and will do you well. However I think a set of adjustable swaybars (or at least the rear bar), while more expensive, are underrated on this forum.

The adjustability is great as you journey in modding a car. I started off with my rear bar at full stiff and loved the responsiveness I gave me, but it had a bit too much edge. I adjusted it to full soft. After installing my roll center correction arms, I realized that my stiff rear bar wasn’t the culprit for the “edge” feeling, so now my rear bar is set in the middle. Once I get my summer 305 tires on, the bar will go back to full stiff.

Long winded, I know, but I believe in the use of swaybars and an adjustable rear for sure. These come with all of the install bits/bushings so there is no guesswork as well.

At 6 to 8/10ths I bet it feels good. At or close to the limit I wouldn't want that rear bar that stiff with a setup similar to yours. Drive carefully!

I'd strongly recommend doing an adjustable front bar for improved responsiveness. These cars need to be driven like what they are to get the best out of them: large, heavy, powerful RWD cars. Cranking up the rear bar a lot without similar or further increases to the front, like a FWD hatch, is a good way to go slow or lose control more easily

 

[Roadway 5.0]

@Bluemustang @BmacIL

Gents, as always I appreciate the information and candor. However I'm still not sold that going full stiff on the rear bar with my setup is a terrible thing. My PP stock bars have the rates of 182lbs/in front and 294lbs/in rear. My Steeda bar at full soft is about 280lbs/in -- medium setting is about 350lbs/in and full stiff sees over 425lbs/in.

Considering I have 225lbs/in front springs in respect to my comparatively softer rear springs at 880lbs/in (compared to say the GT350R or BMR handling) and will have a very fat staggered wheel/tire setup, I don't see dramatic oversteer coming in to play when slamming in or out of a turn. Of course, I'm open ears for counterpoints and, frankly, keeping the bar at the medium setting means less wrench time.

Anyway, do you all have any rates for GT350/R or PP2 OEM bars? I'd love to see some caparisons.

 

[BmacIL]

My PP stock bars have the rates of 182lbs/in front and 294lbs/in rear.

These are reversed. OEM rear is 123 lb/in, also. How did you get the 182 lb/in?

PP front: 295 lb/in
PP rear: 123 lb/in

Even full soft you're running more than twice the ARB stiffness contribution compared with stock, while having nearly identical F/R stiffness balance from springs (stiffer all around). I don't have exact rates for the GT350 bars. I do know that the front is ~350 lb/in. The rear (non-R) bar is only mildly stiffer than the PP as it's thicker wall only. The 23.6 mm R rear bar is quite a lot stiffer (ballpark 225 lb/in) but not nearly as stiff as your 28.5 mm Steeda even on soft. Bar torsional stiffness increases by the diameter^4, so even small changes make a difference.

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