I installed my greddy front/rear strut bars yesterday and im loving the difference while taking turns. Im installing tien S-springs next week. I have a question though. i want to stiffen my suspension even more. How much of a difference will a sway bar make?? Is it even worth getting now that i have strut bars??

 

Sway bars will make a far greater difference than the strut bars. Many here will recommend Hotchkis front and rear, but personally, just the Progress or TRD rear should be more than enough if you don't AutoX or club race.

 

Sway bars serve a different purpose, and will serve a MUCH bigger purpose. A sway reduces body roll. If you get just the rear, go with TRD or maybe progress. Stiffening the rear pushes the car more towards oversteer than understeer, which is great for a FWD that understeers by nature. If you go too stiff though, you will be increasing snap oversteer and throttle lift oversteer. If you go stiffer in the rear then go ahead and do the front to balance it out.

 

So i should get better results when cornering if i get the sway bars eh? Now what do you mean by snap overstearing? Im know alot about cars and engines but very little about suspension and handling.

 

Snap oversteer is when the car "snaps" into oversteer quickly. So instead of a nice, steady breakaway, you go from hard corner to @$$ around sideways very quickly

Throttle life oversteer is just that, when you are high in the rpm band and drop off the throttle quickly, the back becomes light and loses traction. 99% of the time this is due to bad driving habits, as you should never go from WOT and wound up tight to no throttle at all.. especially in a turn. This is like applying the brakes at high speed.

 

Its funny u say that. i used to have a celica and one time i took a turn going on to an onramp for the freeway. i was going like 80 and then i felt my car slipping so i let off the gas and it slid even more so i braked and slam!!!! the car went into a spin and i lost total control. i actually though the i was going to die. but i made it out ok. my car turned back on and i drove off. i felt like total idiot though . so whats the difference between a sway bar and a strut. i know struts reenforce the frame... i think. but sway bars, well i dont have a clue. HELP!!

 

Sways bars fight sway. They do so by leveraging the springs so that in turns, the force that comes down on one spring is partially given to the other spring. The stiffer the bar is, the more evenly the force is distributed.


If the bar is overly stiff, in a turn, rather than having body roll, one side of the car will simply lift off the ground.

But otherwise, sway bars are the most cost effective mods out there for suspension.

 

Yeah two things to remember, never touch the brakes in a hard corner and never let off the gas suddenly in one. The latter is even worse on a FWD car. You should always brake in a straight line, and accellerate through a corner. If you need to let off the gas, do so smoothly and easilly.

The above is correct about the sways. When corner, the outside spring compresses (the body leans). The sway imparts this force to the spring on the inside of the turn, thus compressing it. This trys to make the car squat rather than lean since both springs are trying to compress together. A stiffer sway will do more for this. On the same note, you are also reducing some of the suspensions independence, which is why they dont put a super stiff one on to start with.

 

I don't even have a strut bar, but have coilovers and rear sway and it's pretty good. Didn't want to spend money on a strut bar that doesn't really help. The strut bar does make it look pretty under the hood, but the only person who would see it would be me when I pop the hood to change my oil.

 

yuup! think in terms of physics..... if your back is sliding out, than means the back has lost traction. Apply the brakes or lift throttle, the car jerks forward and even more loss of traction in the rear. That actually applies to all cars! Also, if you do decide to let go of the gas, do not slam the throttle back down afterward as that will also cause problems. Of course this is all easier said than done.
I was riding my in cousin's xA and he took a high speed hanging left turn and he dropped the throttle mid corner but quickly got back on the gas (partial throttle)..... and I told him simply, 'your car wasnt too happy there'.................. and I was the passenger!