Sway Bar thoughts

I'm going to upgrade my fronst sway bar on my 92, and I'm looking for thoughts ont he choices. I was leaning towards the Racing Beat solid bar, since the price is great and I'm not too concerned about it being slightly heavier than hollow.
I also saw that FM has a couple of used aftermarket bars intended for 94-97 for half the price, but they are 1" bars. Is that too big for a mostly-stock AutoX setup? I'll be running Azenis' and KYB AGX's, but all-stock beyond that.
Also, I do plan on using the beefed-up FM mounts for whatever bar I buy.

I use the RB Hollow but I personally think it has too much understeer. (With stock suspension, at least).

But, the solid won't be as bad, so I'd say go for it.

I ran a 1" FM bar on the front of my '99 Sport for years and liked it, YMMV.

I liked my FM 7/8ths on my 93. I am now running a RB hollow, but it is too early to judge.

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Originally Posted by altiain

I ran a 1" FM bar on the front of my '99 Sport for years and liked it, YMMV.

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+1, it's what I'm currently running.

I think the hollow bar produces too much oversteer in an NA with stock suspension. I'd stick with the 7/8" solid.

I liked the 7/8" FM bar on my 93LE

I assume you are looking at front only because of Stock class autocross rules? When you upgrade the front bar only, you go from a well-balanced setup to one tending to understeer. Use as much front bar as you want but make sure you see an alignment guru like BAM! afterwards. I put the big RB hollow bar on my NB and he tuned most of the understeer out of it. I'd say ultimate grip is better but it is not as easy to find now. If I knew then what I know now, I would not change the bar until I could prove it was limiting my car's performance. Even now, most days the problem is the loose nut behind the steering wheel. :rolleyes:

Great input. Thanks. I do plan to get a full autox alignment, which is why I thought I'd replace the bar now. Food for thought.

What's a nice alignment spec to get to compensate for a bigger bar up front?

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Originally Posted by bmcreider

I use the RB Hollow but I personally think it has too much understeer. (With stock suspension, at least).

But, the solid won't be as bad, so I'd say go for it.

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add more horsepower.

That seems to be a rather expensive solution.

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Originally Posted by sammm

I think the hollow bar produces too much oversteer in an NA with stock suspension. I'd stick with the 7/8" solid.

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Did you mean to type oversteer? General car dynamics are that stiffer front rollbar induces understeer and a stiffer rear rollbar reduces understeer thus causing oversteer. So replacing just the front bar with a larger (which=stiffer) will cause understeer.

*note, Oversteer is when the rear of the car slides towards the outside of a turn, just like me in my avatar picture. And understeer is when the car "plows" meaning the front of the car drifts towards the outside of a turn. - Just had this dispute for second time with the father! lol He keeps getting it backwards so just making sure we all on the same page!

I picked up a front bar from a soon-to-be-Spec car many years ago for mine and have yet to get a rear bar for it and even with a track alignment my car had some noticable understeer.

...even before I cooked the different pads I tried out! :punchout: