Hi everyone, I know what a stabilizer/ anti-roll bar/ sway bar is and I know it helps to reduce roll during a turn by linking the left and right suspension. But I want to know is how it affacts the traction of the tires when it comes to a turn. Some one says that the end with a stiff sway bar would lead to a weight transfer quicker and this will break the traction sooner then the other end with a relatively softer sway bar. And Here comes my question, why a stiffer bar transfer weight quicker??? All I know is, since the left and right are linked together, let say we are making a right turn, the car lean to the left side and the right side suspension will be forced to conpressed/ move up by some distance based on the stiffest/ thickness of the bar, which reduce roll. I don't see anything thing to do with weight transfer here.

 

A stiffer bar results in slightly less traction on the end it is on as it ties the two sides together and this means the other end has relatively more traction. The balance of the car is changed (but weight is not transfered).

 

A bigger front bar will keep more weight on the inside rear tire and less on the inside front. Increasing rear traction and reducing front. (In most cases but not always, some cars with very soft front springs and sway bars will have less understeer with a larger front bar because it will keep the outside front tire from gaining to much +camber) A car with a very large front bar will lift the inside front tire off the ground in a turn, and an S2000 with a small front bar and sticky tires will lift the inside rear. Some would call this weight transfer. By reducing how much the front of the car leans it will keep more inside rear tire on the ground. Think of a table with 4 legs, if you push up on one leg the leg diagonally from it will have more weight on it, and the leg across from it will have less.

Just to recap in most cases but not always a stiff front bar will reduce oversteer and a larger rear bar will increase oversteer.