Car Question:

[geno]

What does a swaybar do exactly and how do they work? I know they increase handling in corners and that bigger is better, but I'm still clueless as to how they work...

 

[Demon-Xanth]

They attach to either hub and to the bottom of a car in such a way that when the car goes into a corner and begins to have body roll that it will try to keep the tires at the same spring hight, however it does not impede up and down movement when both tires go up and down at the same time.

Basically it prevents body roll in corners

 

[Farbio]

demon is correct, and in asking the bigger is better question, the thicker the sway bar (more correctly known as an antiroll bar, as sway bars are usually the stabilizing bars on a trailer when towing) the more resistant it is to roll, obviously a bar of 8mm is going to resist less than one of 20mm

 

[Demon-Xanth]

The downside of a thicker bar is this: Although cornering capability will be higher, when the car breaks (loses traction) it will be with less notice.

 

[geno]

Ok, so the car doesn't roll as much in the corners (gives you more traction on the inside of a turn?). Are there any downsides to thicker bars besides what DemonXanth mentioned?

 

[Soybomb]

Be sure and replace the front and rear bar in pair when you upgrade or you're going to be changing the car, either getting more oversteer or more understeer! Sometimes this is desirable actually, but you should be expected for the car to handle differently

 

[Demon-Xanth]

If you go on roads with a lot of potholes, thick bars may result in alot of roughness since the car will be more prone to rocking since the wheels cannot move independantly. There is a "just right" thickness which will produce the best handling and ride.

 

[Farbio]

as soybomb said, if you don't alter them together, you will change the handling dynamics quite drastically. in a front wheel drive car, installing a thick rear bar will give u a better tendency towards oversteer, in a rwd, thick front bar gives u understeer. obviously, this is a general statement and may not hold true with every car

 

[yakko]

<< They attach to either hub and to the bottom of a car >>


The only thing you have wrong here is that if they attched to your hubs your car could not turn. On my VW they would attach to the rear axel in the rear and the control arms and subframe in the front.

 

[Assimilator1]

On my Sierra they attach to the wishbones/track control arms on their outter ends.

BTW when I added just a modest rear anti roll bar (from a Granada) it made it corner much flatter