I am getting started into road racing and I understand the desire for extreme rear end control that the AutoXers look for in just changing the front sway bar. But Road Atlanta is nothing like the closed tight and technical quarters of a coned autox track. Now on to my question. - If that factory set the stiffness of the sway bars to work in conjunction with each other but I want to decrease oversteer then I need to change the front sway bar to a larger/stiffer version. And if I want to have lots of oversteer leave the front alone and put in a larger rear bar while some autoxers not only put in the larger front bar, but REMOVE the rear bar alotgether to decrease oversteer. What I am trying to say is are these same principals that I should be following for road racing or something else?

now if everyone follows these guidlines in the racing scene why do companies like
comptech, cusco, mugen, etc make both front and rear bars and recommend that you change them both. wouldn't that make the ratio the same as the factory with a stiffer front than rear bar. I just want to race my car at track days at road atlanta and not have a twitchy rear end. I live in the mountains so I do hard driving everyday and I can feel so much more in the car but accelerating more gets me to that twitchy place that I just swear shes about to come loose.

Some one please get me straight.

- alex

 

Not every one believes the car needs to have more or less oversteer. I suspect the companies who suggests both bars are trying to establish the same balance as Honda, but in a stiffer package, or at least that is what replacing both bars would do.

For myself, although I have yet to spend the time looking to find out who offers them, one of the things I would like is a new front and new rear bar that is equally thicker than the OEM for the front and the rear so I do not change the balance of my S. I love it the way it is, the last thing I would want to do to it is dial in less oversteer, which is essentially dialing in more understeer.

 

This is wrong. All else being equal, if you increase the sway bar on one end you will decrease the relative grip on that end. (So a bigger front bar equals more understeer, not more oversteer.) But the people who are adding front sway or removing the rear sway are not keeping "all else equal". Usually they are going to less stagger in the tires.

Besides, the auto-x folks tend to like more oversteer than the road course folks. Oversteer gets you around very sharp bends at low speeds but tends to bite you in butt at high speeds.

 

Okay, so if I want to go faster around the twisties I need to just put a set of cusco or comptech bars on my S? I like high speed corners 60mph plus and I don't want oversteer there at all. wait a minute... A bigger rear sway bar means more oversteer? quote-(if you increase the sway bar on one end you will decrease the relative grip on that end.)
ahh hell someone just tell me what to buy. I am already running 235's in the front and 255's in the back. I am going back to 225/245 so I wont rub.

 

Both of those combinations would tend to give more oversteer than stock (roughly 205/240). Assuming you haven't done anything else to the suspension, I guess I can understand why you are looking to decrease the oversteer.

A stiffer front bar is probably the first thing to try, given the tire sizes you are using.

But the standard answer definitely applies: driving lessons. Time with a pro in the right seat is almost always the most cost-effective way to resolve issues like this.

 

Don't f- with it. Go to the track and learn how to drive before you start trying to solve problems that don't nearly exist yet at your driving level. You'll only create problems at this stage.

 

You don't need to change the bars. Just go back to stock tire stagger. 205 front/245 rear or 225f 265r. But if you want to keep your current tire setup then a you can add a bigger front bar. I would leave the rear bar alone.

I also agree with the Reverend. You need some seat time at a track.

 

stock tires are 205f/225r or mine where. that is why I kept the 20 difference. Is that not right? My buddies 05 came with 225/245. How does smaller front tires help with oversteer?

 

[QUOTE=spoiled@21,Jun 13 2005, 06:48 PM] stock tires are 205f/225r or mine where. that is why I kept the 20 difference. Is that not right? My buddies 05 came with 225/245.

 

#1- The stock S-02 tires are not really acurate for size. The 205/55-16 is right, however the real size of the back tire regardless of what Bridgestone has stamped into the sidewall is 245/45-16. So the OEM bias is 205 front and 245 rear and without changes to sway bars this is the bias you want to try and preserve.