Quote:
Originally Posted by GTB/ZR-1
Hey dogbone-
Did you find that the front bar helps keeps the rear settled w/ the square setup? Also, are you running less rear rebound? Thx
Nice driving...
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The front sway bar was a recent addition and, thanks to Steve at EAS, I had the awesome opportunity to switch the sway bar while at Buttonwillow between run sessions, so I could really feel the effect of the swap. I started in the morning with my standard setup that I've driven for over a year unchanged; ran a couple sessions, and then Steve jumped under the car and swapped out the sway bar. And we started with the sway bar in the stiffest setting possible (which is where I've left it). Then I immediately jumped back out onto the track and-----I liked the difference. The car felt-----tighter, but in a good way. The front end felt like it's leaning over less. And I felt like I had more precise control on turn in. At a track like Buttonwillow, I felt like the car carved into Cotton Corners better than it did before. I feel like I'm waiting less for the weight transitions to occur. (My times improved after the sway bar was installed…..I don't know if the sway bar was directly responsible, but the day got quite hot, and most people did not get faster, but I was getting faster……we were all scratching our heads on that one.)
People ask me if the sway bar adds a lot of understeer. On my setup, I run Hankook TD soft compound in 295 square. And I run maximum allowable camber. And I have JRZ. I have a LOT of grip up front. In fact, I'd say I have grip to spare in some cases. If the sway bar is inducing some understeer, it's not unwelcome. I can say now having tracked at Big Willow and Buttonwillow twice, that I haven't induced any understeer that is objectionable----but again I had a TON of front grip to begin with.
Honestly, I pursued this mod because of a conversation on this forum about tire edge wear. Billy Johnson said I should try a sway bar to help save the edges. So, I was really approaching the sway bar from a tire preservation standpoint versus a performance standpoint. Interestingly, the new pavement at Buttonwillow is WAYYYYYYY easier on tires than the old pavement. It's INCREDIBLE how much less wearing the new surface is on tires. In the past, Buttonwillow would destroy tires very quickly. Now we're seeing tires heat cycle out and seriously lose performance while still showing decent tread. But regardless of Buttonwillow's new pavement, I think the sway bar is helping some with tire edge wear. Big Willow is also very nasty on tires because Turn 2 and 8 are very high speed and long turns and they both go the same direction, so I've seen the front driver tire get SERIOUSLY abused there. Usually, I'll rotate tires after only two sessions there. Last week, I purposefully did not rotate my (not new) tires and ran the whole day. Normally, that would spell doom for a soft tire like a TD. While the front driver did show a fair amount of edge wear by the end of the day, it was by no means destroyed, and when I went to Buttonwillow on Friday, I used those tires to drive DSC-off and still ran 1:58. I just put that worn tire on the least used corner at Buttonwillow which is the passenger rear corner and it was fine. So, I think the sway bar IS helping with tire wear in the front.
As far as the specific question of the rear being settled more with the sway bar-----I may not be the best person to ask. Since most of my running has been done with Euro-MDM on, the computer ensures that the tail of my car stays in the rear. However, I have driven a fair amount of DSC-off with the stock sway bar, and assed the car out many times. I ran 20+ laps on Friday DSC-off with the new sway bar, and I never had any oopsy moments with the ass coming out when I didn't want it. I did push it through Off-Ramp and purposefully rotated the car, but the tail of the car did feel planted (and I have a blower, so it's easy to power oversteer the car if you're not careful).
Regarding my suspension settings, yes, I run lower rebound and compression in the rear-----compared to the front, on my JRZ, I run four clicks less rebound and two clicks less compression in the rear.
There's another guy on the forum here who has a VERY similar setup to me----same suspension, same brakes, has a blower, he even has solid bushings which i don't have, but I do have 50lbs more springs on front and back. There was a guy at the track on Friday who rode passenger in both our cars that day. He said my car felt stiffer. And as it turns out, I was running softer suspension settings than the other car. I'm going to say the sway bar had something to do with that.
My conclusion is that I'm happy with the RD Sport sway bar. I'm leaving it on and leaving it on the stiffest setting. The car is a little stiffer on the streets, especially on a rough road but thats ok. C'mon, we all do this BECAUSE RACE CAR!!!!!!
