Removing sway bars.

[Robert Evans]

I am going through the whole car right now, torn apart all the way down to the bare frame, and am making upgrades to the suspension, front and rear. Among other things, I am increasing the spring rates considerably.

I spoke to Joe Traut the other night quite extensively about the mods he has made to his car, and he said that along with going with very stiff spring rates, he has removed the front sway bar, and there is also no rear sway bar. I can understand where he is coming from by trying to reduce alot of his body roll by the use of heavier springs, but I would like to know what some of you others have experienced with sway bar/no sway bar suspensions.

I would welcome not having a front bar, as it would then leave alot of clearance behind the radiator for a puller fan. Joe has gone from the stock 300lb. springs on coil over shocks, to 900 lb. springs. I'm going somewhat less than he has, but much stiffer just the same, somewhere around 600 lb. rates.

Any comments?.....

[a427sc]

See my response under tires. I have a very different opinion, but he and I run together often and are about even (even though he won't admit it) but he is a far better driver than I in general.

[Hank Dondero]

Now Don, stop being so modest.

Seriously though, I have been talking to as many folks as possible regarding use/non-use of sway bars with the IRS install I have. Bottom line is that with sway bars you can go with a softer spring which allows for a more forgiving suspensions when transitions and bumps occur. I guess if the car is driven mostly on the track then stiffer springs would be the way to go. Of course, the track layout and abrupt transitions on that tracka would impact that situation.

Bob, with the great road conditions you folks have in So. Cal. you don't have to deal with our bumps and potholes. This could impact your decision in favor of stiffer springs.

Still up in the air on this decision, with an eye towards next winters teardown.

Hank
FFR 1776

[Rich]

Bob, what did you decide on the front sway bar? How does the car ride with 600# springs?

Rich

[CobraEd]

I always felt that softer springs with stronger bars gave you the best of both worlds, . . a nice ride with flat handling. But then what do I know???

DV (Ed Combs) is a strong advocate of removing the bars. He races, I don't. Talk to him too.

Ed

[Bob Putnam]

On the track there are some advantages to stiffer springs without anti-sway bars. Roll and pitch are well controlled. With the short wheelbase and considerable power that the typical track car has, that can mean less camber change between power-on and power-off. Trailing-throttle oversteer will be reduced. Even so, I would run small bars, front and rear, just for the adjustability factor.

On our street cars we compromise a bit. We run a stiffer spring in the back with a smaller anti-sway bar.

[Dominik]

Bob,
nice input!

I ran my car without bars and heavy springs (900 lb / in front).
Frankly, that was too hard when I hit some bumps. Ride smoothness is defined via the front axle spring rate.

Plus, as mentioned before the front tires are loosing contact to the road surface with heavy springs.

I heard that Ken Miles loved to race without sway bars as well.

Dominik