This is just me playing a chassis engineer on the 'net but here goes...

A sway bar, also referred to sometimes as a roll bar by some, reduces the car from rolling on its x axis (side to side in case I forgot my math terms). The advantages are the tires remaining planted during transitions (slaloms and lane changes) A sway bar is also a torsion bar that connects from the lower suspension pieces (lower A-arm or even on the shock/strut itself) Sway bars are the one suspension upgrade that offers very little down side. Being a spring, it will harshen the ride over staggered bumps (bumps that do not hit the axel at the same time).

An X Brace is designed to reduce cowl shake (the felling of the car wanting to twist along its X axis) on a convertible. Very good investment for cars that have the roofs cut off (Convertibles that were not designed as such originally- VW Beetle, MINI, Chrysler Crossfire). By all accounts here, it is also a good investment for the S, even though the S was designed as a 'vert from the clean sheet of paper.

A STB or strut/shock tower brace ties the upper shock/strut mounts together to allow them to parallelogram together. In a hard left the right shock top will want to lean to the outside of the corner changing the geometry of the suspension. By tying the top of the shock wanting to lean to a solid object, you retain more of the engineered geometry of the suspension. Some STBs also connect to the firewall, I haven't seen any for the S yet, but I'm still noobish.

Now the whole can of worms of lowering the car and increasing spring rates. By lowering a car, you may be limiting the ability of the car to create dynamic camber (increasing camber under load). A lower stiffer car may handle better, but limited travel is a hinderance on bumpy roads, and creates stress on the entire suspension of the car.

Hope this helps, if it is way off, just remember I'm no expert and slept at home last night (as opposed to staying at a Holiday Inn Express).

Chris

 

Ya, what he said

 

I see.........through my narcotic fog (prescribed mind you) i learned something new today.

thank you guys for the solid definitions and general good knowledge.

I was almost expecting a flame job and couple of "tosser" calls from the Uk guys on this one.

thanks again