The Saner bar has ring clamps that keep it from moving around like the collars on the stock sway bar. It's not sliding side to side. The end links are loud, but I don't think they could cause this sort of issue. I would expect them to cause a little understeer as they shocked the front tires during body roll if they were going to do anything.

I also don't think that being non stagger could have any similar effect. It certainly affects handling balance, but adding grip to the front by adding more tire to the front shouldn't cause diff opening/ inside wheelspin, unless of course it's cause wheel lift, which I don't think it is.

Like I said before, I guess I'm going to try diff fluid, as a precaution, then maybe softening the front bar and removing the rear bar to help keep the rear tires on the ground?

 

Soften the front bar first, because then you'll be hands-on to see if the bar is still functioning properly. Truth be told, if you're fighting inside wheelspin issues you should stiffen the front bar.

I understand you don't like the answers, but check the damn bar! At worst you'll say I'm an idiot. I can take it. At best you'll save chasing your tail with magical diff oils and expensive diff replacements only to finally check the bar anyway after none of that crap works.

After the car has cooled off (so you don't burn your arm on the rad) and with the hood up, reach down in front of the crossmember and shake the middle section of the bar up and down as hard as you can. It shouldn't move in the slightest. Then pull a wheel and one endlink. If that endlink is ok, try to move the end of the bar up and down. It should move a very small amount, unless you have Popeye arms or something.

 

Hmm... Here is another approach....

Can you get someone to be in a position where they can see your inside rear tire when making that hard turn duplicating the symptom? If so, get them to specifically look for that wheel to lift.

When my front bar malfunctioned, it was pretty easy to see the problem.... then again that was with Hoosiers on.

If they see that wheel come off the ground, you can then start looking for the possible causes for rear wheel lift.

-Dave

 

By saying that the bar was fine, I meant that I had checked the bar. Both endlinks are loose enough to feel tolerance in the balls, but not enough to feel movement, if that makes sense, and the bushings/ mounts/ straps are tight. It could probably use grease in the bushings and a set of end links, but it's certainly functional.

By loosening the front bar and pulling the rear, I mean that I would keep the current handling balance, but loosening up everything.

I could probably stick a Go Pro under the back bumper and watch what the tire does...

 

or just buck up and change out the diff.

 

It's possible it's the diff, but that still seems very unlikely -- in the ten years people have been racing S2000s, I'm not aware of anyone having a diff fail in the manner described.

I'm still suspicious of your sway bars. If you're 1000% sure that the front sway bar's working properly (grabbed the center section and used every ounce of your strength to try to move it), the next suspect in my mind is the rear bar. Disconnect the endlinks on both sides and try to move it to see if it's binding. Next up, check if any other components in the rear suspension are binding.

 

As an aside, I had this thread moved back to Racing and Competition. I'd originally moved it to Under the Hood because the first post sounded like he was just hooning around his neighborhood, but a bit of research showed that vehicular does track his car, and I think the R&C crowd is more knowledgeable about this kind of issue than the UTH group.

 

It sounds to me like rear wheel lift... when my stock suspension was in (and working fine) and I had 225/255 Star Specs, I found that under tight cornering I would get rear inside wheel lift causing pretty much the same symptoms you are mentioning.

Not saying it's necessarily the front bar, but I think there is a really good chance you are running into one of a few situations.

1) something in the suspension is messed up

2) you have gotten faster and now carry enough speed into tight corners to lift the inside rear with your current functioning suspension (i know stock class Autox guys on 245 square R-comps and a saner bar find this issue at times) in which case your options are A) stiffen front bar, B) get a stiffer front bar, C) get a softer rear bar, D) no rear bar, E) more front spring, or F) less rear rebound damping

Fluid should not effect the performance of the torsen by any noticable amount

wear should not effect the performance noticeably unless it it completely broken and banging and crunching around

also, when the diffs go in this car, more often than not its the housing or the pinion gear and not the actual torsen unit

 

I'm flattered that you thought to poke around, but who knew that I autocross my car?


BTW, that's also why I put this in R&C. There have been numerous discussions about fluids, wear patterns, inside wheel lift, etc, and I assumed that somebody would know what was going on.


I've been out of town since Friday, and haven't touched the car, but I crawled all over it Thursday afternoon, and I can't find anything suspicious other than some toe wear on the tires, when there was absolutely zero toe in the alignment when I left the tire shop last, and the noisy end links. The front and rear bars/ bushings are both in good shape, the shocks are still healthy looking (pressurized, no fluid leaks), the diff is full and the fluid looks/ smells healthy, none of the bushings look/ feel loose... Other than possibly loose motor/ trans mounts (movement of the shifter under acceleration, no visual wear/ damage), a clutch that's on it's last legs, and some 120k mile squeaks and rattles, I'm at a loss for any major health issues at all.

I think I'll try to find a Go-pro or equivalent and stick it to the bottom of the car and watch the wheels move around on that same section of road. I don't know what other diagnostic to do?

 

Good point -- what kind of tires are we talking about here? When I had a Saner bar, I'd have occasional inside wheelspin on street tires, and the wheelspin was annoyingly frequent when autocrossing on (2003 old school) R-compounds.

Is the bar set to full stiff? If not, set it to full stiff and see if that fixes the problem.