mx5cartalk.com

i have an adjustable sway bar. it has 3 holes, and is currently in the middle position. i want to soften the rear end, do i move it to the outer hole, the one right at the end of the bar, or the inner hole?

also, i'm softenning the rear end to try to reduce oversteer, this is correct yes?

Yep and yep.

Fatty wrote: do i move it to the outer hole,.. or the inner hole?

d-mag wrote:Yep ...

ok, now i'm even MORE confused

but actually what i might do is leave the rear one where it is.. and instead of softening the rear i'll stiffen the front. . the front is on the softest setting (at the far end of the bar if i've got that right???? ) , so i might move the front into the middle position. yes?

well i'm pretty sure i've got it right.. this thread was just to confirm that i was thinking correctly. i've moved the front bar to the middle setting, so hopefully the car will be more neutral now and not as taily. it was pretty difficult to get the end link int he right position, required a lot of force to get the holes to line up . now i can see why those adjustable end links are so popular!

anyway i'm hoping i got this the right way around. if i didn't, and i go spearing off the track backwards at sandown tomorrow, at least i'll know why!

Fatty wrote:

Fatty wrote: do i move it to the outer hole,.. or the inner hole?

d-mag wrote:Yep ...

ok, now i'm even MORE confused

Hahahaha sorry mate. The outside holes will soften, as you already know now.

Fatty wrote:it was pretty difficult to get the end link int he right position, required a lot of force to get the holes to line up . now i can see why those adjustable end links are so popular!

I heard THAT!
I tried for a couple minutes and gave up and left it at the middle setting.


Be careful not to put too much stress on the bolts where the D-bushes/brackets connect to the subframe.
I've had first hand experience at watching it go *SNAP* (not my car BTW)
Lucky we had ready access to all the right gear to drill out the bolt.

The furthest from the pivot point of the bar the bolt is, the softer the swaybar. The bar is a lever and the longer it is the less effort required to move it. That's how I understand it works but you already figured it out

I think on my car I use a full hard 24mm front and a full soft 16mm rear for balance. Though that's testing my memory....I havn't changed my sway bar settings in a long time.

thanks for confirming my thoughts guys and i can now report the results. my car had been oversteering before i moved the front bar from the softest setting, to the middle setting. on my first session at sandown today the car was exhibiting some mild understeer. so when i got back to the pits i backed the front teins off 2 clicks to soften the front up a little bit. on my next session i was very happy to find that, finally, the car now goes exactly where i point it!! very neutral.

so it goes to show that with a little bit of knowledge and experimentation, you can get really good results.