Looking into buying a 5 bar no wing sprinter, BUT have no clue on how a sway bar works or what it does.:help::help:

Thanks
Pat

Nobody wants to help out huh

Patience bud!!....Leaders Edge will be here....or send him a P.M.....Brucer'

Not being a driver, I can't have an honest opinion. I do think they help make the car more stable, but I know guys like Clayton or Bacon who don't always find them very comfortable to run.

Many say that it makes you feel like Super Man getting in, but they will take the nose in the corner if you don't work the pedal right.

It's like alot of things, try it and see if you like it. As someone once told me about something else: If you believe it will work; it will and if you believe it won't; then it won't.

I would talk to some drivers and see what they feel.

Good Luck.

I also noticed you had some well described examples on yur post on SCRAFan!!....Brucer'

Just trying to get as many opinions as i can before I make a decision on a chassis.

Thanks, Pat

These boards are great tools for questions,answers, n help!!...good luck when you hit da track!!......Brucer'

the biggest difference i feel is that it take the left to right sway out of the car when you lift and return to the throttle, thats probably why its called a sway bar... if you want pm and i can give you a more specific idea on any certain ??? you may have, but i will say i am partial to the sway bar

To Young Pat,

A lot of guys run sway bars on the West Coast and I'm sure a lot
of guys don't.

If the sway bar came from the MFG of the Chassis, I would suspect the
handling would be in the ball park.

Be careful when you buy a 4 bar car from somebody who installed the 5th bar
themselves.

We did do just that. Bought a sway bar kit and installed it ourselves.

We had mixed results:

1) I don't believe our sway bar was made for our car.

a) I was told it was really made for a coil car.

2) Too make a long story short. If you are goin' to attach a sway bar,
make sure the sway bar is located exactly like the guy who is winning
with one.

a) That means to the chassis and how it is attached to the front axel.

I'd even go with the same length arms and sway bar diameter.


3) When we ran without the sway bar our car over-steered.

a) When we ran with one our car pushed.

b) The mistake I think we made was we didn't decrease the spring
rate of the front bars normally associated with the front
suspension. They say you should decrease this rate by 20-30
percent when you attach the 5th bar.


c) I think if we would of decreased the rate of the front bars that are
associated with the front suspension, that sway bar would of come into
play and worked rather nicely. We only ran the car a few times, before
it was sold for financia reasons. It was a great car.


d) The reason I think the kit we bought was wrong, is the sway bar
arms can get into a bind if they are not located on the front axel
correctly. Because the arms and radius rods are attached
the front axel they can start fighting each other if the "geometry"
is not correct and as the axel moves up and down.

a) In general on the West Coast I see the sway bar attached to the
to the frame directly below the other two front sway bars for
the front suspension.

b) And the sway bar arms attached directly below the front axel where
the other two arms for the front suspension are llocated above the
front axel. This is idea and very "neutral".

1) This arrangement gets rid of any binding you may have.

a) The sway bar arms are level to the ground at ride height.

2) I have noticed this setup on fast cars running with 5 bars.


3) Another thing you will see is the sway bar mounts attached to the
frame are welded solidly and beefed up/big tubes and a few
extra ones. A kit will not have all this solidly mounted stuff.
It's a kit.

The reason is when that sway bar starts working/bending
and twisting you want those forces transferred directly
through the frame to the other side of the car.

It only takes a litte bit of sway to make those bars work
corrcectly if they are mounted correctly, with the right
geometry and solidly.

Sincerely,

Larry "O" from the West Coast...lol:applaud:

My crew chief and I decided to take my sway bar off toward the end of the season. We got faster...not saying that a sway bar is going to make you slower. What I am saying is I got more comfortable without it. To me the sway bar gives a false sensation of feeling to the car. Without it I feel the car rollover and can tell where my right rear is better and tell more of what the car is doing. I found myself driving harder and running upfront more once the sway bar was gone.

I did learn the hard way that you need stiffer bars without the sway bar...:doh:

Todd Kimmel