Sway Bars on NB8B/8C

Hellmun · Postby **Hellmun** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:03 am

Now that I'm upgraded the springs/shocks the next thing I plan to do is bushes and sways. Problem I'm finding is that with the NB8B they're incredibly tail-happy with the standard rear bar, I could imagine what it'd be like with a larger one. The Americans recommend a 1.25' hollow front bar...which is quite franklyENORMOUS and really needs a welding job to change the mount points for the bar. That's Racing-beat btw. That guide is here

I've been trawling over the whiteline webpages and all their development advice seems pointed at the NB8A and then NC skipping over the NB8B. They only seem to supply the 26mm front bars and I'd rather skip the trial and error process with a few varying diameter front bars so does anyone have any helpful advice/experience with the NB8B/NB8C already?

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:03 am

I put the thicker Whiteline front bar on my car with their rear 16mm bar but found it a bit taily. I tried the factory 12mm bar with the bigger front bar but found it to be an understeering pig in the wet so I got a 14mm rear bar made up and I'm pretty happy with that set up. I'm running the standard springs though so things would be different on your car with your uprated springs.

Benny · Postby **Benny** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:35 am

I would recommend NOT to change the rear bar as any additional stiffness in the rear will make it even more tail happy.

If however, you feel the need to change it, buy an adjustable rear bar so you can soften it up when needed.

Stiff bars feel good on the street up to around 7/10's, but after that............ :shock:

NB8C · Postby **NB8C** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:01 pm

I have first put the front sway bar (with the soft setting) on without putting the rear one, and I found that when the car turns within its limit, it turns pretty well, however, when it reaches its limited or over speed, it start to oversteer slowly and suddenly snap over and its extremely difficult to do counter steer and control the car back on track, in this case, I hv been told that the stock rear sway is too soft to match with the Racing Beat's front sway bar.....

hving a stffer front sway and a rear stock sway bars, the car should b understeer, but however, it wasnt too obvious on mine...

CT · Postby CT » Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:21 pm

I run the massive RB bar on the race car and it is awesome. I also run the RB brace kit and regularly check the mounts. For a road car, run the big whiteline bar with a stock rear bar or even an SE rear bar as they are little stiffer - but not as stiff as the 16mm whiteline adjustable. The big whiteline adjustable on the rear can make them slow speed oversteer which is not nice entering or exiting corners. Mind you on semi slicks and the whitelines front and rear, I did a 1:13 at wakefield so it's not so bad...

Hellmun · Postby **Hellmun** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 8:10 pm

Well I would say my car spends more time on jack-stands than the road these days. It was bought as a trackdog. All I ever find is praise for the 1.25' hollow RB bar. Been trying to source one without paying $260 air freight I got quoted from goodwin..... I tried SelectMaz in Melbourne but they're been really poor at responding to emails. I've had one reply from 4 emails in about 3 months. Was thinking of trying Mazfix in Queensland and see if they're happy to get an Miata bar through with their next sea freight.

Was planning on getting the endlinks, brace-kit and HD mounts(just incase) with it. Just as it stands it'll be about $730 total for just a front bar...

Hellmun · Postby **Hellmun** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:17 pm

So just an update. I ended up skipping the RB bar due to the expense. I ended up ordering a 24mm Signiture sway bar through Mx5 mania. I set it on medium and took it to wakefield on the weekend. Made the car understeer like a pig, thankfully I had an EDFC. To finally balance the car I ended up running full 16 soft on the front, 5 soft on the rear to stop it ploughing. In comparison the car was relatively balanced with the 22mm front and 11mm rear. So perhaps a 14mm bar would bring me much closer to inline. I'm not really happy running the front shocks at full soft as I'm increasing the pitch under hard braking. I had suggested to me to get the 16mm bar as it'll cover a similar range but I think it's just going to be far too hard even on the softest setting.

Also in regards to endlinks..the standard ones look like they'd have to get under a MASSIVE amount of pre-load to hit the hardest setting. Endlinks are only designed to cover a similar range as the drilled holes on the swaybar right? Is there a point I really need to consider replacing the standard ones even if the swaybar itself is adjustable?

Steampunk · Postby **Steampunk** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:34 am

Flying Miata has a set of adjustables.
They quoted me $60 freight just for a rear bar, so I assume double that for both.

Yet another plug for MX5 Plus ... a few weeks ago, he had a MASSIVE front sway bar measuring 32mm dia, and a 16mm rear. Richard (the owner) said it's from Autoexe, but it looks very much like Racing Beat items (they were red), especially the rear bar as it has RB's unique \"stopper\" thingys.

I wouldn't buy one without the other as they are probably one of the most extreme dimensions you can buy. (The front bar was hollow but it was HEAVY .... which is leads to believe that it may be from Autoexe as RB states that their one only weigh a pound heavier than standard)