Author Topic: Rear Sway Bar  (Read 372 times)

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Offline surypap3

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Rear Sway Bar
« on: Monday,October 19, 2020, 02:15:57 PM »
I have a sway bar in the garage I have never used and thought to give it a try. Supposedly is for the Europa (been a long time and my history on it is vague). Is it possible to add too much stiffness to the rear and cause handling problems. My experience before is matching front upgrades at the same time. Thoughts?

Offline Clifton

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Re: Rear Sway Bar
« Reply #1 on: Monday,October 19, 2020, 02:59:32 PM »
If your car is neutral and you increase rear roll stiffness it will oversteer, rear looses grip first, you spin if you don't catch it.   Unless you know you car has a lot of understeer, I wouldn't. 

Offline Nero

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Re: Rear Sway Bar
« Reply #2 on: Monday,October 19, 2020, 03:23:49 PM »
It depends what your current setup is. When you rear springs are quite hard already it’s not really a good idea. I’m running one as the car is still on the softer side regarding spring rates. it’s a possible way to dial out the europa typical understeer. There is much more to it then just bolting one on.

Offline Pfreen

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Re: Rear Sway Bar
« Reply #3 on: Monday,October 19, 2020, 03:36:11 PM »
I have a rear sway bar "Addco 3/4" but I have springs in the drop links.  If you have the full 3/4" spring rate, it oversteers.
I have a 3/4" front bar and a 3/4" rear bar with sprung links in the rear.  Handling is about right for me.

Offline E Paul

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Re: Rear Sway Bar
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday,October 20, 2020, 07:34:09 AM »
On my Special, I have always found the stock setup or in my case very close to stock setup very good for spirited street driving. There is understeer initially, but when you just back off the throttle just a touch it transitions to light oversteer...then back on the gas. It makes it wonderful to throttle steer around a bend. Earlier in life, I had made a few changes with shocks and springs and at some point I said to myself "you are not driving this on a racetrack". I confess, it took a couple of big spins to convince me to put stuff back to stock. I was lucky not to hit anything although one of the spins was a wild ride across someones front yard on grass where I deliberately took down some small shrubs to avoid hitting the house. I did not hang around...I was younger then.  I do have stickier tires and +1 wheels, but otherwise all stock with NOS shocks and springs that Ray had on sale at one point. Tell you the truth, the car was more fun with the less grippy OEM sized tires and wheels, but this is pretty darn good.

Offline surypap3

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Re: Rear Sway Bar
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday,October 20, 2020, 01:34:42 PM »
I may defer for now. There is plenty to enjoy about the car after 5 years of storage. Thanks ..... you all affirmed my thinking.