Front + Rear Sway Bars?


8krpm

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2017
Messages
71
Car(s)
EK Civic
Hey guys, was wondering what people think of the front sway bars on FWD?

I got the ASR rear subframe + 24mm sway bar kit which has really tightened up the rear end since I got it quite some time ago, but I'm looking into getting a front sway bar and have been reading mixed reviews on the front one for a FWD.

I've read that a rear subframe is supposed to decrease understeer by loading the "outer wheel" i.e pushing the wheel out for wider track during heavy cornering which is supposedly supposed to increase traction, but I've also read that introducing a front sway bar does the opposite.

Obviously all EK9s and DC2s run both front and rear, and if Honda backs it then I'm sure it's a no brainer, but I had a few questions I guess.

  1. The benefit of running a front one
  2. The size that would be suitable in running a front with a rear one (I was thinking probably a 27mm one? Or pretty close to whatever the OEM spec is. Though the rear one being a 24mm is 2mm thicker than OEM I believe so would I need to compensate for this?)
  3. In general, if the front should be bigger than the rear
I know it all pretty much depends on what the suspension set up is and what the aims/goals are but a basic suspension overview of what I am running at the moment are coilovers (soft front hard rear... or maybe I have that the wrong way around), camber arms, rear bolt in cage and the ASR subframe and rear sway bar kit in 24mm.

Goals are obviously to run it on the track so reduce understeer ultimately.

Food for thought?
 
Food for thought- Sway bars are related to how your car "rotates" around corners. Bigger front sway bars give you more under steer and bigger rear sway bars give you more over steer. Best advise is to drive what you have and play with different settings to see what kind of "suspension setup" works best for your style of driving.
You can "compensate" for a lack of thicker sway bar by getting stiffer springs- Stiffer rear springs will result in more over steer. But rotation from simply stiff springs will grip the road different than thick sway bars due to how they keep the "contact patch" of the tire on the road. So it does matter what kind of suspension you have.
I ran a 24mm front sway, and a 22mm rear sway on Function and Form Type 2's last year at auto cross- I found that balance of rotation perfect. The ass end never "kicked out" on me by surprise. Going around tight corners at high speeds felt safe, and using the brake before/at the apex caused gentle back end rotation that I massaged out with the front wheels pulling me in the right direction.
 
Interesting, thanks for the input.

I've not had a chance to properly test out everything in a very high speed environment. I have been to the track once though unfortunately, it was my first time and I knew nothing about taking lines, hitting an apex etc so while I know a lot about where I need to improve, and have improved since I last went I'm not sure where the points I had a lack of control was due to complete inexperience or if my suspension may have not been set up right. I was running the same set up then I have now.

And unfortunately I'm too scared to bash it on public roads for fear of losing control or going sideways into an unfortunate innocent third party hahaha.

I'm going to need to find an empty patch of road or go to the track soon to see where I'm at I think.
 
Its all about seat time. And it takes time to be in that seat. Read other past threads, search, Google, read, and search some more. You'll find alot of info out there to feed your intellectual hunger.
 
Back
Top