Sway bars?

[Project240]

I have the opportunity to pick up a Cusco rear sway bar on the cheap. The problem is, I checked the stats, and the Cusco bars are 18mm in the rear. Stock is 16mm (I think, if not it's really close), and most aftermarket rear bars are ~20mm or more. Considering our 'verts are pretty heavy (close to S14 weight, which have ~20mm bars in the rear stock), I'm wondering if a Cusco bar would really do that much for me in the way of increasing roll stiffness.

I want a pretty neutral setup; I don't drift, it's just my DD, and the only track time it would see is maybe an autocross day here or there. My thoughts were to pick up this bar for now, get a stiffer front bar sometime soon, and switch to coilovers when I can afford it (currently have AGX/Sportlines).

Does anyone have any experience using the Cusco sway(s)? Or, any experience on what kind of sway bars work best for the 'vert, being heavier than the other S13s?

[-RJ-]

i was gonna get godspeed sway bars, i know a guy who has them on his hatch and he says its great, not only that its 30mm in front and 28 in back. I figured that bigger bars would benefit the heavier vert.

[Trae]

the size of the bar should depend on the type of driving you entend to do. If it were for drift you could get a larger rear bar and keep the stock or get a slighty larger one for front. This would let weight hit the out side tire in front giving a bite to the tire while the rear will have less shift and help induce the over-steer. For grip you wouldn't want to go to stiff depending on how fast you are entering turns. If this is for dailly driving then it wouldn't really matter what size you got because you shouldn't be doing too much to increase a ton of body roll in a turn.

There are some helpfull articles on sway bar tuning and which way best to fit your needs around. Talk to some guys(preferably guys that win) on an auto x forum with RWD setups and ask how they pick thier setups. I know a few local guys in town that autox on a notional level and are always helpfull with susp tips. Hope that helps

[-RJ-]

i know some people for autox take out their rear sway bar. i think that was supposed to help get more grip in the back

[Trae]

yeh its a fairly common trick

[DeXteR]

I did that with my old geo...



Nico has suspension forums as well. You might want to go digging through there.