I have run into a bit of a quandary about a handling set up. The track car recently broke a rear sway bracket. I was going to replace the Brackets, but decided to try something since the car has been somewhat tail happy if any aggressive power was applied. Instead of replacing the brackets, I just removed the Aftermarket JR rear bar all together to see how much it would change the set up. The results were mixed. The car now handles great as far as balance and rear traction. I can not get the car to do anything wrong midturn unless I really am aggressive with either on or off throttle applications. The downside is now I have noticeable rear lean, and I have loss some of the sharpness in turn in.

Now, I guess I could go to a stock bar and find a middle ground, but the truth of the matter is its just feel that’s different. I am definitely getting faster exit speeds and the car will do pretty much anything I ask it to now, including a slight drift and/or over steer with either throttle or off throttle applications. It’s just the extra lean that really feels weird mid turn, even though it is still flatter than a stock version. I am trying to decide which is more important to me, actual traction or feel. Given that I bought the car set up and I have limited information of the actual components used, I don’t really have any way to ask about the setup as is.

Thoughts?

 

If its faster and the "weird feel" is not slowing you down than leave it, you will probably get used to it. Another option would be to put a small bar on the back and up the front by an amt. equal to the size of the new rear bar. This would preserve the ratio of the front bar to the rear bar and decrease rear sway. My .02

 

IMO, you are ready for stiffer springs.

 

The car already has Adjustables with coilovers.

The Front Sway is a fairly large JR Racing solid red. I think it was the combo of the stiffer springs and large sway that made it tail happy.

 

the sways are really only meant to fine tune the damping and rebound of the springs anyways...if you prefer the way the handles without the rear sway, then leave it. although, i believe that throws too much weight around w/o the rear sway...how does it feel in s-curves?

 

I don't know yet. I will know more in about 2 weeks after VIR. I guess I can take 2-3 bars with me and test it out during the HPDE sessions.

 

Do you know what the sway rates are on the Jackson Racing sways? I've never seen specs on them. It might be worth it to get a shock dyno and also see what spring rates you are running. Its almost impossible to help without knowing your setup.

On the other hand, if you are now able to enter faster knowing you won't oversteer you should get more body roll. So maybe everythings just as it should be.

 

What is your complet setup ?

You now have a chance to understand why some people (hem, like me) don’t like sway bars that much… They are not ALL good...

Like zillinois said, stiffer springs will help with your clearance (ie body roll).

How is your outside front tire doing now that the rear sway doesn’t help it?

 

Mmmh... Adjustable dampers would do that.

Sway bars are there to redistribute tire loading side to side and front to rear diagonally. Thus affecting limit behaviour.