Re: front sway-bar problems

[William J Erikson <williamjosiah@juno.com>]

This is not the gospel truth. Many people think this, but I for one
disagree for the following reasons:
1. The fastest people at DSP Nationals this year were running huge front
bars, NO rear bars (in Rabbits, that is).
2. My car feels better with the front bar. I have a 28mm rear and 22
front, and I felt the handling improved more with the 22mm front than
with the 28mm rear. I have very stiff front springs as well. I also
prefer a car to understeer than oversteer- it feels more predictable and
safe to me. I don't like body roll, and rear bars do little to control
body roll on our cars, since most of the weight is up front.
That said, I drove Joe's car with the Shine setup (no front bar, massive
rear bar, 500# front springs, coilovers, Bilstein sports), and I love it.
The front springs make up for the lack of front bar, which is usually
considered to be a good thing because then the front suspension retains
its independence and therefore the tendency to spin the inside front
wheel on corner exit is reduced. However, I'm not sure that I like the
handling feel BETTER than my car (although his is much better set up -
his has better exhaust and race tires, and overall is just... well,
better, so I do like his car better).
	YMMV and obviously people are doing everything from one end of the board
to the other and a lot of different things work.
	-Josiah



On Wed, 30 Jun 1999 20:07:56 -0500 "H Jones" <hjones1@airmail.net>
writes:
>The best solution would be to remove the bar completely.
>The Scirocco will understeer / push even without a front bar.
>Dump the front bar and install a "beefy" rear bar. If the front
>bar was being used to control body-roll, get stiffer springs.
>
>Your Rocco will handle much better without the front bar!
>
>----- Original Message -----
From: J Buck <vwpride@mixi.net>
>To: Michael Leach <scirocco16v_1@yahoo.com>
>Cc: <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 6:30 PM
>Subject: Re: front sway-bar problems
>
>
>> I have that bar, and autocrossed it for 2 seasons without any 
>brackets
>> breaking, but during last winter, I went into a steady-state curve, 
>and
>got
>> a "whump-whump, bhump-whump" sound from down there, where the 
>bracket that
>> goes on the a-arm had severed, allowing the bar to come in contact 
>with
>the
>> cv boot on heavy corner loads.  Unbelievably, it didn't damage the 
>cv
>boot.
>> Just make sure it's installed properly, i.e. bar is centered, and is 
>not
>> coming in contact on the ends with the cv boots.  There may be 
>another
>> problem afoot as well.
>>
>> jim
>>
>> Michael Leach wrote:
>>
>> > I recently purchased a used ABD 22mm front sway bar and ever since 
>I
>> > get all kinds of rumbling and bumping noises whenever I hit any 
>kind of
>> > bump I must have done something wrong because it sounds terrible.  
>I am
>> > sure it is on right and Brett V did check it briefly and said it 
>looked
>> > right....does anyone else have this bar?..Jim Jarrett said 
>something
>> > about being sure it is installed unloaded but I am not really 
>clear
>> > what that means...it sounds soooo bad I have to fix this soon!!!!
>> > TIA
>> >
>> > ===
>> > Michael Leach--Rochester,NY
>> > 87 16v Red semi-show
>> > 87 16v Black winter(thanks Neal Tovsen)
>> > 85 Jetta getting rid of!!!!
>> > 91 Ford Explorer XLT(thanks Jim Jarrett)
>> >    any input on maintenance would
>> >    be greatly appreciated
>> > _________________________________________________________
>> > Do You Yahoo!?
>> > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>> >
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>
>
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