ed.yakovich

I’ve been a lurker of this forum for over a decade, but this is my first post.
Currently a stock AP2 2004 suspension.

I’m having some suspension work done in the near future. Parts are already purchased sitting in my garage.
- oem CR shocks
- swift spec r springs
- eibach front and rear sway bars
- rs3 tires 225/255

My question is this...
Mostly I’ll be using my car for spirited driving and occasional track day events a few times a year.
Ive read a few people say not to run a stiff rear sway bar on the track. Seems when people say that, it is due to having a square 255/255 tire setup.

I planned on running front sway bar on stiff and rear on soft. With my CR shock and Swift spring set up, do you guys think this will be good?
Or should I stick with the soft oem 2004 AP2 rear sway?

Input is appreciated.

lookstoomuch

Presuming you have zero track experience....track the car stock.

ed.yakovich

Carbon Blue

When I had both eibach bars in at the setting you mentioned I felt that the rear end never really felt settled...even at the softest setting it was still 515 lbs/in the the rear (much stiffer than a stock my02 bar) and was very easily able to break loose..I tried numerous events on that setting to confirm, I didnt even bother running it at the stiff setting. I did have bilstein coilovers with a somewhat approximate bias as your swift setup so I would expect a similar result. I sold that rear bar and changed back to the oem my02 rear bar and the rear felt so much more stable along high speed sweepers. In the high speed stuff the rear stepped out gradually and I could gauge what was happening with the stock bar, with the eibach bar it ramps up very quickly.

The reason why some people say not to run a stiffer rear sway with a non stag stock aero setup is that when you move to non stag, the tendency to oversteer becomes greater, adding a stiffer rear sway increases that tendency even more. Its all preference really, but for a driver such as yourself I would sell the rear bar and keep it stock in the rear. In the grand scheme of things that front eibach bar is just barely stiffer than a CR/Ap1 front bar even on the stiff setting.

Car Analogy

The good news is swapping out one rear swaybar for the other is not especially difficult or involved.

So you can try one bar, then try the other. It sounds like you're going to have this work done at a shop. If you are at all willing and able to try a small diy task, swapping the rear bar is pretty simple. You will need some basic hand tools, like a metric socket set and some metric box wrenches. You can buy decent cheap ones from Harbor Freight. You will of course also need some way to safely jack up and support the car. This is where you will want to play it safe if you aren't experienced.

If you will have a shop do it, it shouldn't cost more than a half hoirs shop time. So like maybe $50. Especially since you just gave them a huge chunk o' change to do the whole suspension install.

So try it one way, try the other, then pick which one you like best.