kdeitrich said:
please explain then. just because you've posted 20,000 times on this website doesn't make you special.. He said he wanted to keep the stock sway up front and stock endlinks. then put an aftermarket sway on the back and i believe end links also. When you tighten up the steering up-front too you get good handling and some oversteer (good) esp when cornering hard. So please, explain your logic.
You're correct that my post count "doesn't make me special". However, my experience wrenching on and tuning these cars does...
In laymen terms:
- Understeer = Front runs wider than rear
- Oversteer = Rear runs wider than front
By upgrading the rear swaybar, you're causing the rear to "push", and will make the car more "neutral" in terms of handling. However, that doesn't address the original issue of the front running wide in a corner, it just means that the rear end is running wider than necessary, as well. Fixing understeer by slapping a larger rear swaybar on the car is essentially like trying to get someone to quit smoking by giving them a tin of Copenhagen.
The MacPherson strut used in the front causes significant camber loss in Subarus on turn-in, by design. As you enter a turn, the outside spring gets loaded, and compresses. As it compresses, camber on that corner moves towards zero/positive. As a result, the front end will "push" as a result of not having optimal contact patch.
By increasing the front swaybar stiffness, you decrease the amount of dynamic camber loss as you enter a corner. As a result, you see more contact patch at the front; therefore, the front end does not "push" as badly as before, and understeer is decreased.
kdeitrich said:
All Im saying is that I would just buy a sway bar kit and save the dough to the OP because I'm happy I did.
Buying F/R swaybars and endlinks is ideal.
That said, if you're looking for a single bar, I would argue that the front bar is more important than the rear for reasons stated above.
kdeitrich said:
Companys of sways don't matter very much IMO and mechanical experience, Eibach is cheap and is big into making suspension components for many cars (reliable, reputable).
If you buy from a reputable company, the manufacturer of the bar shouldn't matter. The composition, however, absolutely DOES matter. A hollow bar (e.g., Eibach) is significantly less rigid than a solid one (e.g., Whiteline).