I am looking to buy a Comptech front adjustable sway bar but had a couple questions before I do so.

First I am not worried about SCCA legality as I would not be competing in those events. I would mainly be doing track events and time trials with the local PCA club. Becuase of that I have no rules and can run anythng I want.

If I got wider 16 inch or 17 inch rims would I be able to get tires that would not require an adjustable front sway bar or would the Comptech bar be recommended no matter what if I track the car?

What is the bar like on the street? Does the car just understeer more? According to the Comptech site the softest setting is still 27% stiffer then stock.

So bottom line if I am going to track my S2000 with race tires (most likely Khumos) is this an adjustable front sway bar a required item?

- John

 

Its handy but not a must have.

Do you have a handling problem you are trying to fix?

 

Yes, but that is relative.

What a stiffer front sway bar will allow is less wheel spin exiting corners and, thus, makes the car easier to drive. The understeer that may be added at steady state by a bigger front bar can be tuned back towards neutral, but the gains in the wheel spin department make a stiffer bar a must.

Adjustability of the stiffer front bar is optional. Its just another tuning tool. For what its worth, I have a Gendron bar that I run full stiff all the time. The car is not pushy at all. The proper adjustments of the other elements of the car's setup (alignment, tire pressures, shock valving, etc) make the car very neutral. And wheel spin is reduced from the benefit of the stiffer front bar.

Of course, how much money did you want to spend on the other components on the car? An adjustable front bar might be good if you're only going to invest in a front bar.

Andy H.

 

I can't speak for differing tire sizes outside of the norm for MY01 S2000's. I auto-x and use 225f/245r Victoracers on stock wheels and if you plan on using any stagger that comes close to that front to rear ratio, then having a stiffer front sway bar is a good idea. I use the Comptech Gen-2 adjustable bar and I liked the high quality design and no trouble with endlinks (if you follow the instructions). I have a few tips for people that improves on Comptech's suggested installation procedures for those who're interested.
Immediately after completing the installation, I noticed the heavier feel at the steering after the installation (set to 102%) on street tires, but it wasn't bad at all... I'm wondering if it has something to do with how our car's weight is distributed (making it very easy to manage). Afterwards, I got an alignment to UK specs and the car appears to drive more neutral (possibly from the slightly reduced tire contact area due to increases in camber). You will get used to it quickly and it doesn't feel like the kind of understeer you'd experience from FF cars or normal AWD cars. What I did notice is an increase in stability at higher speeds and the back end stays put a whole lot better. IMHO, it doesn't seem to take away from the S2k's nimbleness at all.
Required? I don't think so, however your track driving experience will make that decision for you. If you experience too much looseness and instability, then upgrading your front sway bar is a good way to bring things back into control.

 

I thought the softest setting was 162% stiffer than stock? and 278% stiffer at the highest setting.

 

More front sway bar will induce understeer, biasing the steering balance to the front. You will then balance that out by running wider tires in front. The stiffer the bar, the more understeer you will induce, to a point.

You want to first get your wider tires and the adjust the front bar to get the steering balance you want. Start in the middle and work from there. If you are pushing, back it off. Tail happy, crank it up. Adjustability allows you to manage this balance on demand. If you are going to install it and forget it then you should buy a solid bar, it's more durable.

An adjustable front bar is a tool, not a solution. You will need to experiment a bit to find the right settings for a size and brand of tire on a given course.

A stiffer bar will permit the running of 225/50R16 tires on the front instead of 205/55R16. The ratio remains much the same regardless of the wheel radius. 205/245 stock or 225/245 stiffer. scale up and down from that. More tire = more cornering ability but it needs to be managed to make it smooth to drive.

 

The softest setting is 162% as stiff as stock (i.e. 62% stiffer), and the stiffest setting is 278% as stiff as stock (i.e. 178% stiffer).

Unfortunately, since different years of S2000 have different front bars stock, those numbers are somewhat meaningless since we don't know which model year they reference.

Steve

 

Nevermind... I found my answer. 25%-127% stiffer than stock was the old bar. The website is really misleading, they should say 62-178% more than 00-01 stock sway bars.

 

How much bar you need depends on what you do with the car and the tire/surface you are running on. The inside wheelspin Andy mentions happens when the car rolls far enough that the rear swaybar picks the inside rear wheel nearly clean off the ground. At this point the Torsen LSD which the S2000 is equipped with goes completely open. Now the S2000 comes with awfully skinny front tires that probably don't generate enough grip to make the car roll that far over, but when you start running DOT-R compound tires it becomes a problem.

The basic idea is that the more grip you have, the more the car will lean before it starts to slide. The FSB will reduce total roll angles and thus keep the inside rear tire weighted on the ground.

So all of this is tied in- stock on stock street tires, the car may not need a front swaybar though a little bit stiffer than stock may help to make the car more predictable. Running relatively wider front tires and/or race tires will create 2 problems (oversteer and inside wheelspin) that a big front bar can help dial out. Basically, the more grip you have, the more bar you need. And conversely, the less grip you have, the less bar the car can run without introducing understeer.

Peter

PS I know someone who has a 2nd gen Comptech that he might want to sell.

 

If you don't have to concern yourself with SCCA stock rules then I would recommend a bump up in springs rates, to 250+ in/lbs. That will dramatically reduce the roll and hence the tendency to lift the inside rear tire. Like I said before, a sway bar will only take you so far. Stock shocks will handle spring rates as high as 275 in/lbs or there about.