IXLR8TL3.2

alright, in the middle of a war with a friend about oversteer/understeer and how it changes the handling of a car. He thinks that a thicker rear antiroll bar will promote understeer. I however and other friends of his, believe that a thicker rear antiroll bar promotes oversteer, infact i even have this article to back us up and he still refuses to agree. what do u guys think?

heres the articles:

http://www.grassrootsmotorsports.com/swaybars.html

IXLR8TL3.2

Ok and this is his statement against ours:

A rear sway bar is just like a spring that prevents your tires from turn-in (or rolling.. basically the sidewall from flexing and turning the sidewall into tread on the road) Turn in occurs because as a car is cornering, the wheels can change camber because of the amount of force put on them. The cars weight basically can slightly tip the car on a hard turn. When turn-in occurs, the sidewall will flex down and render the rear tire useless and put the car into oversteer that it cant recover from.

The thicker the bar, the more resistant to tire turn-in because the wheel doesnt have the chance to change its camber. It keeps the tires both planted solidly on the ground w/ maximum contact patch. When you get rear wheel grip on a FWD car, understeer is achieved. I mean sure, any dumb**** can cut the wheel at 90mph and get oversteer, but it will understeer to the limit then oversteer. The thicker rear sway will promote a higher understeer threshold because it is stronger to keep the contact patch at maximum efficiency before letting the car's weight and momentum take over.

put it this way... since my rear sway has been not connected, my car oversteers like a crazy ***** at high speed.. never pulled that bull**** when it was connected on correctly. You're a Gran Turismo whore. Get in a f*cking Spoon Civic and up the rear sway to top level compared to middle level..and tell me it doesnt understeer more w/ the higher level.

Edward'TLS

Let me put it in simpler English.

For sway bars,
a stock front bar with thicker rear bar will cause more oversteer;
a thicker front bar with stock rear bar will cause more understeer.

For shocks,
stock fronts with harder rears will cause more oversteer;
harder fronts with stock rears will cause more understeer.

Allout

Great explination Edward - Keep it simple.

IXLR8TL3.2

thanks! thats how i thought it worked

1999TL

That's why I only upgraded my rear sway bar. My front is stock.

IXLR8TL3.2

so basically upgrading rear sway bar will not promote understeer.. correct?

sparky57

Well, if by "upgrading"you mean increasing the size of, then the answer is yes.

Similarly, you can tune the handling by biasing the tire pressures. In this case, increasing the fronts relative to the rears reduces understeer.

rw

ABDomega

Not necessarily size, as much as thickness. The increase in size of Comptech Sways compared to stock is only relatively different. Its whats inside that counts. They are much thicker and heavier resulting in a much stronger construction.

I'm sure this is what you mean, just needed to clarify.

KJ32

No bar. Change the whole rear setup to solid axle.