volpp

I just bought an '02 for Autocrossing and am looking for a front sway bar.

Any suggestions?

jguerdat

Ya really need to search the rest of this forum - the swaybar issue has been beaten to within a quarter micron of its life.

A brief summary, however, is that the large Mugen bar is acceptable for novices, folks running on lower traction surfaces or just don't want to spend the money on the adjustable bars. I talked to one former national champ who thought that the Mugen was all that was needed - and then went out to prove it to me (dusted me good). You can get this bar for <$400 at King Motorsports (a sponsor here).

Comptech is releasing a new, novel adjustable bar for $750 "any day now." Bill Gendron also has an adjustable bar for $500 or so. No one has been able to get Tripoint to reproduce the bar that's on the car that won the first National (2000) the S2K competed in.

And bear in mind that tire size choice has an effect since the proper sizing for non-OEM tires is 205 front, 245 rear (stock is (mis)marked as 225 but the measurements are identical with a 245). Most folks are running 225 front, 245 rear but the difference in width is only about .5" as opposed to the stock 1.5" difference, leading to interesting oversteer characteristics. The new Kumho series are available in only 205 and 225 sizes but there's a 1" width difference (according to specs) so that may be a good choice, depending on whether the tire turns out to be competitive.

And then there's the chassis stiffness that leads to lifting the inside rear tire sufficiently to cause wheel spin (Torsen diffs act like open diffs if a tire is unloaded sufficiently). The big bar helps keep the rear more level.

A number of folks are running big bars set very stiffly, causing big understeer problems. Alignments are now showing rear toe-OUT to help compensate (stock and smaller bars probably want some toe-IN to help keep the rear in line). I have this feeling that these folks may have gone too far in trying to balance the handling - to the best of my knowledge, the National-winning car isn't running as stiffly and isn't running toe-out. The proof is in the results but it bears mulling over to determine where you want to go. Sometimes you can over-think the problem and end up with others.

You've got a lot of reading to do here but you've got time...

SoloVR6

Congratulations and welcome to our little club!

Jeff is pretty much right on, plus if you do a search you will find coutless arguments on sway bars.

Without adjustable shocks you are definitly going to want an adjustable bar, specifically for surface changes. Asphalt, concrete, Ft. Myers, Topkea, Peru etc. Jason Saini is running the Gendron bar. Joe Goeke has the 2000 Championship car and other than the Boxsters you know that was the top 5 for the 2001 Championships.

Like Jeff said TriPoint has been less than interested in duplicating the winning blade bar. I'm guessing because they like to support cars and driver that win (not that any of us won't, its a name game) Something tells me you might have better luck. Although I haven't seen it personally the concept is very trick and the ease of adjustment makes it somewhat worth the expense. The Gendron bar is nice but it's not all that easy to adjust quickly (at Nationals for instance, between runs) but it still very effective. The only people who have direct experience with the new adjustable Comptech is Ron Bauer and Annie Gill, and I would definitly pick their brains about it before dropping $750 on it.

I'll let the gang know that you are now on the board so you will no doubt be hearing more from us.

BTW... What color did ya get?

Juliann

Well Hello there!

We were wondering when you'd be posting around these parts

Congrats on the new purchase and like Pete- I wanna know what color you bought too. See you in Ft Myers!

-juliann

volpp

Thanks to everyone for getting back to me.

I bought a black car with red interior. I think I am going to wait for the new Comptech bar. While it seems expensive, it will probably be cheaper than buying several non adjustable bars until I find what I like.

Now I need some wheels for my street tires. I am planning on keeping the S02's that came with the car. Tire Rack only has one 16" wheel option. Tires.com has over 20 BUT they are all 7.5' width.

Do you think they would work all around or should I buy my one and only choice from Tire Rack that is 7" front and 8" back?

jguerdat

Several of us have purchased the JDM optional wheels which have the right specs for stock class usage as well as being something like 3lbs. per wheel lighter. Put Hoosiers on 'em and they'll be significantly lighter than any other combo (the current/old Kumhos are heavy - don't know about the new ones). Expensive (closing in on $2k delivered)...

Sideways

Any word on Comptech's release date for the new adjustable bar?

jzr

Mid-December.

Did anyone else notice that their listed specs for the bar changed recently? If memory serves, it was listed as 99% to 167 % stiffer a few weeks ago (when I ordered mine), but now it's 27% to 124%? Either they decided to start using a new definition of the word "stiffer", the bar design changed, or I'm losing it. In any case, let's hope this doesn't continue or we'll all end up with wet noodles for swaybars!

You can email Comptech their responses are generally prompt and polite, just not always useful.

Best of luck!

rzrsedg

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jzr
[B]
Did anyone else notice that their listed specs for the bar changed recently?

Sideways

Are they both in relation to a stock bar or is one of them compared to the Mugen bar?