[renesisdrms]

i read thru some threads that some have used methods of removing sway bars, either front or rear...but mostly rear. no what is the exact gain in having the rear bar removed? why would one invite more body roll in the rear? and as for removing rear bar for drifting... how would that be easier? is it by letting the rear end let go with more weight transfer and bodyroll?
i don't know...am i missing something here? or is this just one of those useless mod ppl use maybe to come up with a feel for choosing some other products. i can't find the reason...pls, shed some light on me here someone who has many expertise and has tried many many sway bars and concluded that just removing the rear completely has the most advantage.

 

[freedomgli]

People remove the rear sway bar to gain traction when running stiff spring rates.

 

[y8s]

it's to balance the ends of the car to your liking. typically if you run a smaller front sway, you'll need less rear sway.

also if your front to rear spring rate bias is lower than stock, you may want to decrease the rear sway bar diameter (or remove it) to get the handling or feel you want

 

[cheesefries]

Removing the rear sway bar is a very helpful trick for driving the car and just starting to learn how the car handles. Once you have mastered the feel and potential of the car put the rear bar back in, relearn it, and you will be much faster.

 

[renesisdrms]

thanks guys... but i'll try to find more info and come back with posts on what i find.

sorry to refer to hondas, but FF or most production cars therefore, inherently are built with lrg front and small rr (or non) sway bar for understeer thats engineered into the car. it made a world of difference in the oversteer i wanted at autox on my prelude when tanabe rear sway was installed, and thats what shocked my to read in a past thread that someone believed that they wanted a larger front sway for more oversteer...odd. anyway...i will find the source and add my reply to what i find. here's to some reading.

 

[ExHondaMan]

sorry to refer to hondas, but FF or most production cars therefore, inherently are built with lrg front and small rr (or non) sway bar for understeer thats engineered into the car. it made a world of difference in the oversteer i wanted at autox on my prelude when tanabe rear sway was installed, and thats what shocked my to read in a past thread that someone believed that they wanted a larger front sway for more oversteer...odd. anyway...i will find the source and add my reply to what i find. here's to some reading.

You just answered your own question right there. Think opposite of FWD handling. The understeer in FWD isn't so much "engineered" as "inherent". With over 50% of the weight on the front axle, physics will play a role. All of my Honda friends use the biggest, fattest, rear bar they can find combined with the stiffest rear springs their teeth can handle (most run 800# and up) for the sake stiffening the rear end as much as possible to induce oversteer.

In a RWD car, and Miatas especially, the inherent handling behavoir is oversteer. Autocrossers remove the rear bar for tight-courses because you can "feel" and predict the body-lean better. Its hard to explain, but just imagine if you were autocrossing a RWD car with 800# front springs and 900# rear springs with the fattest roll bars front and rear. You'd be all over the place. Now for road tracks and HPDE at places such as Buttonwillow or Big Willow with it's big, long sweepers, you want the rear bars in order to corner as flat as possible.

Hope that helps, I can get more technical if you need.

 

[ThePass]

Body roll is not all bad - don't subscribe to idea that you will make the car faster by eliminating body roll - yes a stiffer suspension setup can make the car faster, but not in all cases. Especially if you run street tires. Some compliance is good, so don't think that by having a bit more roll in the rear equals being slower.

I run a Jackson Racing tubular front sway bar from a 94+ miata and a stock rear sway in my CSP miata. That front bar is the absolute stiffest one you will find, moreso than the tubular Racing Beat, and if I had any front bar that was softer than the one I run I would have disconnected the rear sway bar.

Most people who 'canyon race' and drive aggressively on the street won't ever actually push the car to 10/10ths of its capabilities for more than a few seconds at a time - and even then, generally through incorrect driving technique or because a mountain road contains variables that a track does not, alot of understeer or oversteer situations are not due to the car's balance being biased for either characteristic - they are just caused by the driver's input.

The miata has a very nice weight balance and is RWD - not an ounce of FWD honda/acura suspension tuning translates over. Not to say an integra can't be fast in an autocross or in the mountains - it just requires a completely different setup to be fast.

And as for removing that rear sway - trust me you won't notice much of a body roll change by having/not having the rear bar - the front bar has a much larger effect on perceived body roll. However, the removal of the rear sway will produce a noticeable change in handling balance - but in a good way. Just don't expect to see it when you turn left through an intersection - its a change that you make to really adjust the car's 10/10ths personality - not to alter its every day feel.

-Ryan

 

[renesisdrms]

THE PASS: i think i may just try that one of these days...but not after all that drama of fitting and adjustments made and end link lenghtening done...i'll try to extract first of all if positive handling characteristics before jumping on ur suggestion. not sayin i won't try it...but so far,the rear end judders were gone after the bar.(its very high miles and diff bushings, etc. are probably shot, so having it was probably the best mod considering stability issues).

thx. i think i can see it in my head now why u use bigger front sways.

 

[cocoinablanco]

could removing damage the car what so ever?

 

[freshbuzz]

could removing damage the car what so ever?

No - I've haven't had a rear sway on my car for the last 3ish years because I'm too lazy to install adjustable end links.

On a track, you'll probably have terminal understeer (you could damage your car if you understeer off the course, I suppose), but no rear bar works well in low speed applications, such as autocross because it allows the rear to jack up. It increases the droop of the inside rear wheel, resulting in less wheelspin/more traction/reduced oversteer/etc.

 

[sdemo45]

This thread is 7 years old. I was a freshman in college when this was made. It would be acceptable to create a new thread at this point.

 

[ThePass]

Haha, I responded to this thread in 2006. Interestingly, I now run no rear sway bar.... 3 lbs less weight

 

[customfab87]

yea not much roll on the rear... especially with everything that I removed from back there. On the NB "sport" suspension it's still not much thicker than a pencil.

 

[Leafy]

I set my spring rates for no rear bar, because on our cars the rear bar limits the droop travel so it can leave you dangling an inside rear wheel rather than using that wheel to apply power coming out of the turn. On a car with under 350lb rear springs I would leave the bar in because you're not really stiff enough anyways.

 

[Flyin' 92]

I'm going to agree with Leafy. Most miata owner's who run 350lb (~6k) remove the rear bar because the rear is just sprung stiff enough to help the rear rotate. However, some people will keep the stock rear. It's all in what you feel comfortable with.