Please let me know if my understanding is correct. By adding a stiffer front sway bar, you are increasing front roll resistance and decreasing weight shift to the rear. So, the front tires are now doing more of the work in the turn and the rears are doing less. If in a given turn, the rears were exceeding the limit and fronts were not w/ a stock bar, the car has a higher overall limit with the stiffer bar. Also, it creates a greater margin for driver error due to the improved balance.

 

Sway bars only transfer weight side to side, not front to back. A thicker sway bar on the front will lead to greater understeering in corners, making the S2000 more predictable at high speeds.

 

Thanks for the reply. I believe my wording was incorrect. In the turn, there is a total vehicle weight transfer (body roll) towards the outside of the turn. If you increase the resistance to roll at one portion of the car, I believe that portion gets a greater percentage of the total body roll induced weight transfer. So, those tires would loose traction faster. I

 

It sounds like you have a good understanding of what you are getting into. Expect that the car will trade it

 

I don't think the grip that you lose at the front gets transfered to the rear. The grip at the rear stays the same, so overall, you've lost some traction. But, since front and rear grip is more balanced, the car will tend to enter a 4-wheel drift at the limit rather than the back-end stepping out first.

 

Hi all

Mugen offers front sway bars in 2 sizes: 25.4 and 31.8 mm. For the rear: 25.4 and 30 mm.

What do you think about the larger 31.8 mm bar for the front, and the smaller 25.4 mm in the rear?

Planted at high speeds sounds good.

BTW, anyone have any experience of bump steering from the rear end?

 

Don't change two things at once. If you want to try the larger front bar, do it first so you know whats happening. Once you get a feel for it you can decide if you need another change.

But make sure you have the correct rear toe-in first if all you are trying to address is some rear bump steer. Less than the 6mm spec will increase oversteer making the rear feel less stable over bumps.

 

Thanks for the good advice, Cdelena. If the goal is to get a more planted feel without pushing the front end, do you think the smaller Mugen front sway bar may be the better answer?

Thanks in advance.

 

It depends upon the stiffness as compared to the stock bar. Maybe someone has a comparison.

I chose the heavier Mugen bar based upon a recommendation and find it is good for me. If you are one that gets amusement from easily throwing the rear out the smaller bar may be a better compromise but I have not tried it. The regular auto-x drivers seem to prefer an even larger bar.. depends on where and how you drive.

 

Anyone here considered getting an adjustable front bar from Tri-point? I hear they're expensive but light and well-designed.