adjustable sway bar...now what?

[240knockout]

Can someone point me in the direction of a good resource for setting up sway bars. I installed some Progress sway bars, but have a feeling that I could adjust the links better (shorter/longer, maybe 3rd hole on bar as opposed to middle) etc....

Any help is appreciated.

[Croustibat]

For droplink length, you need the car corner weighted. There is a getto way to do that, by using 3 mechanical home scales, putting a big plank on top of them, then the 4 corners of the car, one by one. You need to disconnect ARBs first.

For the hole used... that is up to the drivers taste. Think of a roll bar as additional spring stiffness that only happens in corners. holes near the front make the bar stiffer.

Basically, on a FR setup, big rollbar front (lifts front interior wheel, allows to cut corners) and small rollbar rear (keeps both wheels on the ground, more traction if you have an LSD, just traction if you dont -OEM VLSD counts as no LSD, considering most of them are already dead). works quite well to grip.

It also depends on your tyres, alignment and shock/damper/coilover setup.

edit: until you get the car corner weighted, adjust droplink length so that the bar is not preloaded. This of course has to be done with the wheels on the ground, so use ramps. If you drive with a preloaded stiff bar, the car will be all over the place every time you hit a wave/hole/bump/corner/accelerate/brake. Which you dont want.

[aga]

so let me see if i got this straight.

you corner weight with the ARB disconnected, you see the difference, then you preload the ARB to counteract the difference in weight , thus creating a kind of "balance"?

[Croustibat]

No, you set the droplinks so the bars are never preloaded.

Corner weight changes are done by changing coilover height.

[Mikester]

edit: until you get the car corner weighted, adjust droplink length so that the bar is not preloaded. This of course has to be done with the wheels on the ground, so use ramps. If you drive with a preloaded stiff bar, the car will be all over the place every time you hit a wave/hole/bump/corner/accelerate/brake. Which you dont want.

Could you explain this? Are the drop links and end links one and the same? If so, with urethane bushings and the car on the ground, how can you tell if they are preloaded? I assume you just snug them up without going too tight? Other than looking at how 'compressed' the bushings are, is there an easy way to tell if each side of the sway bar is approximately the same in terms of tension/preload?

[Croustibat]

He has a progress bar, which comes with adjustable droplinks. I guess end link is the same. What matters is not urethane or ball joint, but length adjustability. With urethane, you can stack shims on one side to remove preload.

The easiest way to see if it is preloaded is to load the car on a ramp, disconnect both sides(only remove the lower nut on both side) and wiggle the bar a bit to remove the preload. If both links are flush with the mount without preload, you are golden. If they arent, use shims to move the urethane bushes (or if you have adjustable droplinks, adjust them :d )

The bigger the bar, the nastier preload is. I had 1/2" of preload on my front 30mm hollow bar when i installed adjustable droplinks (i was sure i did remove preload before... guess i forgot). Removing the preload made the car predictable again (although i still had bumpsteer issues).

[aga]

very interdastering. thanks!

[240knockout]

So once I corner weight...what do I do with that info?
...and thank you for the info so far. I installed mine with car up on jackstands....def not the right way to do it....lol.

[Croustibat]

corner weighting:
Understanding Corner Weights: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine Articles (http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/understanding-corner-weights/)

something to consider when buying ramps is their angle ... most will rip your front bumper. Good luck finding one which does not.

Or you can get a pro do their job. It will cost money, but it will also be way better than what you can achieve by yourself.