Front or rear sway bar?

[tez n u]

Hey guys i have a choice between front or rear cusco sway bar.......which one improves handling in gc8 version 6s the most?? I know they both make a difference but which one do you guys think has more of an impact on the handling of the car? So far i have added a rear strut brace, cusco front lower arm 2 point brace and cusco coil overs

[Stoffa]

Your asking for trouble if you do the front before the back, a bigger front one by itself will make the car understeer.

If you do the back first it will be more inclined to oversteer but the car will sit alot flatter in the rear, I did my rear first and used a adjustable 22mm whiteline bar, loved it!! Ended up using a fixed 24mm front bar but I have DCCD so it makes the car feel more like a 2wd when the back end steps out. If I didn't have DCCD the car would probably understeer a bit.

[albaru]

Get both! A 'matched set' (set matched for your driving) will improve turning, and minimise both under and oversteer.

[Wiretap]

 Al_baru said:

Get both! A 'matched set' (set matched for your driving) will improve turning, and minimise both under and oversteer.

^This. You're not going to achieve balance by quite literally half-arsing it.

[subi4snow]

I dont know about the wrx much, but the foz already had a 19-20mm bar in the front from standard. if your car has this then go for the rear as its only a small bar (14m iirc)

Disregard all i said above if your cars an sti because that will have 19-20mm all round anyway i think? Correct me if im wrong someone please

[MercuryFree]

 subi4snow said:

I dont know about the wrx much, but the foz already had a 19-20mm bar in the front from standard. if your car has this then go for the rear as its only a small bar (14m iirc)

Disregard all i said above if your cars an sti because that will have 19-20mm all round anyway i think? Correct me if im wrong someone please

Wrx has 'normal' sized rear bar, only the foz got reamed

[Guest]

 Wiretap']

[quote name='Al_baru said:

Get both! A 'matched set' (set matched for your driving) will improve turning, and minimise both under and oversteer.

/quote]

^This. You're not going to achieve balance by quite literally half-arsing it.

hes asking which...i think he knows its better to do both. people always seem to do rear before front.

have a read of the second link - rear 22mm whiteline bar.

http://autospeed.com/cms/title_Impreza-WRX-Handling-Part-One/A_111375/article.html

http://autospeed.com/cms/A_111376/article.html

http://autospeed.com/cms/A_111377/article.html

http://autospeed.com/cms/A_111378/article.html

http://autospeed.com/A_111379/cms/article.html

standard on my non sti v5 wagon is 21mm rear.

[funkytown]

as a general rule sti's are set up for gradual understeer from factory.

on a non dccd car putting a rear one on first will push the car back to neutral or slight oversteer which most enthusiasts prefer.

but this has to be measured against the drivers ability as a general rule people find understeer easier to control than over.

from my OWN experience the rear bar made the front end more pointy and what i liked, the bigger front some time later neutralized it but made it progressively faster in the corners - so what people above are telling you.

starting with increasing the front even more (they are set larger front from factory) would make it feel worse IMO - although actually probably faster.

[tez n u]

^^so under steering will make it faster ???

[albaru]

Nope - balance makes it faster.

A rear swaybar gives more turn-in, plus more oversteer.

You can then balance that with a larger front swaybar which neutralises oversteer and gives flatter turning.

[Swindog]

Ideally you want controlled limited grip for best cornering...ie setup chassis so you inside wheel lifts on turn in, therefore reducing wheel drag and increasing corner speed.

You could dial you adjustable struts up to acheive this.

[tez n u]

So when i get a front sway bar do i get one bigger then the rear sway bar or slightly smaller for that neutral feeling?

[funkytown]

lol when we talk bigger we mean relative to what you already have. usually 18mm in the rear of GCs (AFAIK) and usually people aim to go to a 22 or 24mm adjustable in the rear.

Usually 19mm in the front of GC's and when the time comes (usually after doing the rear) they go for a 22front bar.

Whether you get it smaller or larger than the front is up to your personal preference and car set up.

[Swindog]

As long as its adjustable and not just for looks. Adjustable means you can tighten or loosen the chassis as you need for each track and wet or dry.

Typically you tighten it right up for dry/slicks and loosen it right off or soften it for wet.

[albaru]

My GC STI front was 19mm and rear was 20mm which was really good for a long time but after a while...

...I upgraded to adjustable 22mm front and adjustable 24mm rear, to keep a similar balance because the car was good, and adjusted them until I had the right combination of flatness, turn-in, oversteer, understeer for my driving style in tarmac autocrosses. They're set on softer of the settings 21.5mm front and 23mm rear. When I set the fron to 22.5mm I got a appreciable amount of understeer. When I set the rear to 24mm I got oversteer. When I set them both at the same time I got both understeer going into a corner and oversteer coming out of the same corner and it was unmanageable and unnerving.

I running standard STI V4 springs (which are softish).

[Swindog]

Thats the other thing people dont realise. It doesnt have to be perfect. If its abit oversteery...thats ok...but as long as its controllable.

Sounds like you have a good understanding Al.