Sway bar choice which to go with?

None! haha i have no sway bars on my car, dont even notice it. Every pound counts right.

I wouldn't waste my money on aftermarket sway bars. Stiffer sway bars are a kind of band-aid fix for the mustangs poor suspension geometry. If you want to see a real difference in handling, spend that same amount of money on coilovers for the front which will actually make a difference in handling.

Ohh, for 1/4 mile, no sway bars on my 88 mustang too. It went 1.706 in the 60' with nittos and an otherwise stock suspension.

Ya the front is plenty stiff from the factory. The rear really only needs to be upgraded if your going to go with an adjustable one. So save the money and use it elsewhere in the suspension. Control arms and coilovers are where I would start. And if its corners you like to carve then look no further than maximum motorsports.

I don't suggest upgrading the rear swaybar unless you want the car to plow through the corners (understeer) more than it does already.

Stiffer front sway will counter-act the understeering a little bit, but as said, sways aren't going to make a world of difference alone.

BurningRubber said:

I don't suggest upgrading the rear swaybar unless you want the car to plow through the corners (understeer) more than it does already.

Stiffer front sway will counter-act the understeering a little bit, but as said, sways aren't going to make a world of difference alone.

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Isn't it the otherway around? Stiffer sway bar in the rear results in more oversteer, while stiffer swaybar in the front results in more understeer?

Sway bars: AKA an anti-roll or stabilizer bar is a torsion device that resists the leaning action of your ride upon taking a corner. The stiffer or stronger this bar, the less lean you will experience on said corner. This lean is often referred to as body roll and is a necessary "evil" to the street car. Without it, you would likely be in constant upset of the cars balance and be hard pressed to drive confidently fast around your average corner on the street. The sway bar responds to body roll in much the same way as your springs, but with at least one fundamental difference. If one is going straight down a road and hits a rut or bump perpendicular across the road, the sway bar offers no resistance or change in ride quality. If this bump is one wheel only, the sway bar will apply force to that wheel and attempt its return to un-loaded or neutral position. The sway bar can be seen as a compomise between softer springs for a comfortable ride and heavier springs for decreased body roll.

Griggs front anti-roll bar:
This is a major design improvement over the traditional front sway bar of the Mustang. This has all spherical joints and eliminates the suspension bind created when the bar is put under load. This bar requires some welding to the cars frame and will add some NVH to your cars ride. See Griggs Anti-roll bar description.

The rear sway bar is often replaced with a heavier one due to inhearant understeer in the Mustang. I have chosen to run an adjustable rear sway bar for the ability to address understeer in very aggressive driving I do at AX events. This bar installs much differently than the stock one and begins with a "base" stiffness of 1~7 and will have 3 additional settings beyond it.

Ultimately, the sway bar is really a tuning device to address understeer/oversteer conditions. As such, one bar is NOT for every situation and don't recommend one just install a heavier sway bar in the effort to improve ones handling. This should really be the final step in setting up good balance in your cars ability to take a corner.

This pretty much sums it up well.

I used to AutoX my 2.3 mustang when I could and played around with the sway bars some. With one particular setup, I found the rear end could get VERY loose around some transition corners. A few times, I went through sloaloms more sideways than correctly. It was great fun, but SLOW. Each turn of the sloalom, the rear would set out more and more. So you really do have to be careful about adding rear sway bar. A stiffer rear sway bar effectivly reduces the grip in the rear. Yes, it can make the car more balanced if it has very bad understeer, but can cause problems in transitions.

Night Shifter said:

Ultimately, the sway bar is really a tuning device to address understeer/oversteer conditions. As such, one bar is NOT for every situation and don't recommend one just install a heavier sway bar in the effort to improve ones handling. This should really be the final step in setting up good balance in your cars ability to take a corner.

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MoneygrubbinCar said:

Forgot to mention also plan on doing MM sfc's and a strut tower brace at the same time.

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Do that first, along with the stock swaybar bushings/endlinks. Then figure out how you want to change the car's behavior before buying a part.

If you want it to "handle better," identify what it is that you wish to change before spending money.

Simple things like front and rear tire pressures have a big effect on the car's behavior when turning, and are obviously cheaper to mess around with then swapping parts. And helps you start understanding what you wish to change and what needs to happen.

There's nothing wrong with spending money on parts, but it just sucks to watch somebody spend a bunch of money and end up with something worse than they started with.