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sway bar removal...opinoins

  • Thread starter Thread starter woodyy24
  • Start date Start date Nov 13, 2007
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ninety15.0

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Mar 10, 2004
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#21
  • Nov 15, 2007
  • #21
I just cant see it being worth it to remove it. Like someone said...mustangs already handle like chit...WHY would you want to make it any worse? Especially for the extra .05 in your short time. WOW 1 tenth in the quarter.

Just unbolt it when you get to the track. seems stupid to take it off.
 

Hickfied

Member
Nov 9, 2005
413
0
16
Morganton, NC
Nov 15, 2007
#22
  • Nov 15, 2007
  • #22
I drove my 4 banger with the mods in my sig for a month without the sway bar. If you have skinnys, your already going to have to drive cautiously, so take that sucker off. Even with the 4cyl, I noticed the front rise more on launch, and anyone watching did too. I took the car off the road to put a 302 in it, ill get back to you on the handling when i get it back on the road.
 

5spd GT

"the 5.0 owns all"
Founding Member
Aug 7, 2002
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#23
  • Nov 15, 2007
  • #23
Yeah, the gain is next to nothing in my opinion.

"Run what you brung"

I always liked to pride myself in driving straight to the track and get in line and run. I never would remove this or tweak that

It is what makes it a true daily driver/street car in my opinion.

Don't remove suspension, just upgrade it.

I ran without a sway bar once, and I would not recommend it if you hit any number of curves
 

cenok is family

15 Year Member
Jun 25, 2003
1,409
69
79
Norman, Ok
Nov 15, 2007
#24
  • Nov 15, 2007
  • #24
i didn't put one on my old coupe and the handling wasn't anything i'd worry about. it had completely stock suspension with 4 cyl springs, but i had 3.5" draglites up front so i took corners really slow anyway. my current car has HORRIBLE body roll and bounce but thats due to my ultra chitty, worn out shocks/struts/springs. i don't see the point in taking it off of a street car, but for a strip car, i definitely would.
 

blackened88lx

Active Member
Aug 9, 2006
0
4
28
Connecticut
Nov 15, 2007
#25
  • Nov 15, 2007
  • #25
SVT32VDOHC said:
97 Cobra....pointless....
Click to expand...
The only thing pointless was your post. A 97 Cobra is a completely different car. No swaybar makes a big difference in a fox. I noticed the front end rise a lot faster and higher even with my stock motor and street tires, which aids in weight transfer and made it hook up better. The sway bar is very heavy too, and you're taking weight from the most important part of the car.

ninety15.0 said:
I just cant see it being worth it to remove it. Like someone said...mustangs already handle like chit...WHY would you want to make it any worse? Especially for the extra .05 in your short time. WOW 1 tenth in the quarter.

Just unbolt it when you get to the track. seems stupid to take it off.
Click to expand...

Not everyone is interested in just handling. Obviously if that's your interest leave your swaybar on. How did you calculate that it would take .05 off your 60ft? Even if that's all it takes off, that's a lot, and every little bit counts.
5spd GT said:
Yeah, the gain is next to nothing in my opinion.

"Run what you brung"

I always liked to pride myself in driving straight to the track and get in line and run. I never would remove this or tweak that

It is what makes it a true daily driver/street car in my opinion.

Don't remove suspension, just upgrade it.
Click to expand...

So driving your car to the track without a sway bar isn't running what you brought? Believe it or not, I could make it to the track alive without my sway bar and pull right into the staging lanes next to you. No removing anything at the track. Then you'll get left at the starting line cause you had to be a road racer on the way to the drag strip.
 
B

bentley429

Banned
Nov 25, 2004
528
3
0
Connecticut
Nov 15, 2007
#26
  • Nov 15, 2007
  • #26
blackened88lx said:
The only thing pointless was your post. A 97 Cobra is a completely different car. No swaybar makes a big difference in a fox. I noticed the front end rise a lot faster and higher even with my stock motor and street tires, which aids in weight transfer and made it hook up better. The sway bar is very heavy too, and you're taking weight from the most important part of the car.



Not everyone is interested in just handling. Obviously if that's your interest leave your swaybar on. How did you calculate that it would take .05 off your 60ft? Even if that's all it takes off, that's a lot, and every little bit counts.


So driving your car to the track without a sway bar isn't running what you brought? Believe it or not, I could make it to the track alive without my sway bar and pull right into the staging lanes next to you. No removing anything at the track. Then you'll get left at the starting line cause you had to be a road racer on the way to the drag strip.
Click to expand...

 

ninety15.0

New Member
Mar 10, 2004
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Nov 16, 2007
#27
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #27
blackened88lx said:
The only thing pointless was your post. A 97 Cobra is a completely different car. No swaybar makes a big difference in a fox. I noticed the front end rise a lot faster and higher even with my stock motor and street tires, which aids in weight transfer and made it hook up better. The sway bar is very heavy too, and you're taking weight from the most important part of the car.



Not everyone is interested in just handling. Obviously if that's your interest leave your swaybar on. How did you calculate that it would take .05 off your 60ft? Even if that's all it takes off, that's a lot, and every little bit counts.
Click to expand...

You really think .05 of your short time is a lot? Dude i want what you are smokin! Who cares about .05 off your 60' time when it compromises the safety of your car. I dont care who you are or how good of a driver you think you are. If something random/unexpected were to happen on the way to or from the track, or even on just the streets for that matter, and you needed to make some evasive maneuvers...i would hate to be that poor bastard that lost control of his car, or wrecked, or even worse hurt someone else just b/c they wanted to cut .05 off their short time. WOW! just doesnt seem worth it to me. I think you are just off base bro.
 

Strype

Cuthbert catcher
Founding Member
May 11, 1999
61
34
104
Huntsvegas, AL
Nov 16, 2007
#28
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #28
ninety15.0 said:
You really think .05 of your short time is a lot? Dude i want what you are smokin! Who cares about .05 off your 60' time when it compromises the safety of your car. I dont care who you are or how good of a driver you think you are. If something random/unexpected were to happen on the way to or from the track, or even on just the streets for that matter, and you needed to make some evasive maneuvers...i would hate to be that poor bastard that lost control of his car, or wrecked, or even worse hurt someone else just b/c they wanted to cut .05 off their short time. WOW! just doesnt seem worth it to me. I think you are just off base bro.
Click to expand...




I swear to God above if some queen hit my car or property and said "sorry I took my front sway bar off" I'd knock his teeth down the back of his throat. When you take cars apart YOU TRAILER THEM.
 

5spd GT

"the 5.0 owns all"
Founding Member
Aug 7, 2002
9,516
6
99
Arkansas
Nov 16, 2007
#29
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #29
blackened88lx said:
So driving your car to the track without a sway bar isn't running what you brought? Believe it or not, I could make it to the track alive without my sway bar and pull right into the staging lanes next to you. No removing anything at the track. Then you'll get left at the starting line cause you had to be a road racer on the way to the drag strip.
Click to expand...

Want to make a bet

I believe ninety5.0 set you straight
 
B

bentley429

Banned
Nov 25, 2004
528
3
0
Connecticut
Nov 16, 2007
#30
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #30
.05 IS alot off of a 60 for just removing the sway bar. That will equal out to quite abit on the other side. How the hell is removing the sway bar "compromising the safety of your car". Do you guys even know what a sway bar is or does? If you need to turn....you turn the wheel and it goes. It was already stated before that there was some body roll. ANYWAYS woody's car has big and littles it will make NO difference at all and with that setup...guess what! he is planning on driving in a straight line! If anything having 3.5" wheels up front is more dangerous then removing the sway bar. I wish there was someone with a stupid fast street car that would chime in and say their 1000 rwhp street car without a sway bar drives perfectly fine. Anyways, Iam not trying to pick a fight its just clear that the people that have removed the sway bar and didnt like how it drove want to take corners also which is fine. The ones who removed it and didnt care/notice anything clearly want to go straight plain and simple.
 

ill advised

Member
Apr 29, 2003
656
10
19
West L.A.
Nov 16, 2007
#31
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #31
blackened88lx said:
Holy **** people, it's not that bad. He's running a drag setup, just take the thing off. Maybe I just don't corner hard enough to notice a huge difference. You guys shouldn't be road racing on the street anyway. I barely notice it in daily driving, and it's just a little body roll, it's not gonna kill you. It's not like the car flips over anytime you're not going straight.
Click to expand...
I too think he should remove the sway bar just to see how it works for him but
there is no need to exaggarate to make your point. You do not have to "road race" in any shape or form to notice the difference in handling. Obviously it's a matter of what one person is willing to tolerate and it's clear that some people learn to live with it.
 

5spd GT

"the 5.0 owns all"
Founding Member
Aug 7, 2002
9,516
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99
Arkansas
Nov 16, 2007
#32
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #32
bentley429 said:
.05 IS alot off of a 60 for just removing the sway bar. That will equal out to quite abit on the other side. How the hell is removing the sway bar "compromising the safety of your car". Do you guys even know what a sway bar is or does? If you need to turn....you turn the wheel and it goes. It was already stated before that there was some body roll. ANYWAYS woody's car has big and littles it will make NO difference at all and with that setup...guess what! he is planning on driving in a straight line! If anything having 3.5" wheels up front is more dangerous then removing the sway bar. I wish there was someone with a stupid fast street car that would chime in and say their 1000 rwhp street car without a sway bar drives perfectly fine. Anyways, Iam not trying to pick a fight its just clear that the people that have removed the sway bar and didnt like how it drove want to take corners also which is fine. The ones who removed it and didnt care/notice anything clearly want to go straight plain and simple.
Click to expand...


A sway bar, or also commonly known as a ANTI-SWAY bar, gets it's name for obvious reasons.

The loss of a little weight off the front is where some of the time loss comes from. It is not from just loosening up the suspension.

I have gained .1-.2 at times during a launch on the same night. So I take .05 (the equivalent of "5 hp") at a pretty insignificant gain.

For the track, sure go for it. I would not do it where I live

Since you believe that many do not know what a sway bar is, I will clear that up with a little quote from wiki.

A sway bar (also stabilizer bar, anti-sway bar, roll bar, or anti-roll bar, ARB) is an automobile suspension device. It connects opposite (left/right) wheels together through short lever arms linked by a torsion spring. A sway bar increases the suspension's roll stiffness -- its resistance to roll in turns, independent of its spring rate in the vertical direction.

In a turn, the sprung mass of the vehicle's body rotates around its roll axis. The roll axis is a line that joins the front and rear roll centers (SAEJ670e). If the vertical distance between the roll axis and the center of gravity is not zero, a torque (roll moment) equal to the centrifugal force times the distance between the center of gravity and the roll axis will be exerted on the sprung mass, causing the body to lean towards the outside of the turn. This force is called the roll couple. One effect of body (frame) lean, for typical suspension geometry, is positive camber of the wheels on the outside of the turn and negative on the inside, which reduces their cornering grip (especially with cross ply tires).

Roll couple is resisted by the suspension roll stiffness, which is a function of the spring rate of the vehicle's springs and of the anti-roll bars, if any. The use of anti-roll bars allows designers to reduce body lean without making the suspension's springs stiffer in the vertical plane, which allows improved body control with less compromise of ride quality.

The spring rate of an anti-roll bar is based on the fourth power of the torsion bar's diameter, the stiffness of the material, the inverse of the length of the lever arms (i.e., the shorter the lever arm, the stiffer the bar), the geometry of the mounting points, and the rigidity of the bar's mounting points. Some anti-roll bars, particularly those intended for use in auto racing, are adjustable, allowing their stiffness to be altered by increasing or reducing the length of the lever arms. This permits the roll stiffness to be tuned for different situations without replacing the entire bar.

Anti roll bars provide 2 main functions:

The first is the reduction of body lean. The reduction of body lean is dependent on the total roll stiffness of the vehicle. Increasing the total roll stiffness of a vehicle does not change the steady state total load (weight) transfer from the inside wheels to the outside wheels, it only reduces body lean. The total lateral load transfer is determined by the CG height and track width.

The other function of anti roll bars is to tune the high g / limit understeer behavior of the vehicle. The limit understeer behavior is tuned by changing the proportion of the total roll stiffness that comes from the front and rear axles. Increasing the proportion of roll stiffness at the front will increase the proportion of the total weight transfer that the front axle reacts and decrease the proportion that the rear axle reacts. This will cause the outer front wheel to run at a higher slip angle, and the outer rear wheel to run at a lower slip angle, which is an understeer effect. Increasing the proportion of roll stiffness at the rear axle will have the opposite effect and decrease understeer.

One thing also, is that a driver is going to notice the sway bar delete much more if they take many curves or mergers.

If you do just a lot of highway and/or interstate driving, you are not going to notice it so much.
 
B

bentley429

Banned
Nov 25, 2004
528
3
0
Connecticut
Nov 16, 2007
#33
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #33
5spd GT said:
A sway bar, or also commonly known as a ANTI-SWAY bar, gets it's name for obvious reasons.

The loss of a little weight off the front is where some of the time loss comes from. It is not from just loosening up the suspension.

I have gained .1-.2 at times during a launch on the same night. So I take .05 (the equivalent of "5 hp") at a pretty insignificant gain.

For the track, sure go for it. I would not do it where I live

Since you believe that many do not know what a sway bar is, I will clear that up with a little quote from wiki.

A sway bar (also stabilizer bar, anti-sway bar, roll bar, or anti-roll bar, ARB) is an automobile suspension device. It connects opposite (left/right) wheels together through short lever arms linked by a torsion spring. A sway bar increases the suspension's roll stiffness -- its resistance to roll in turns, independent of its spring rate in the vertical direction.

In a turn, the sprung mass of the vehicle's body rotates around its roll axis. The roll axis is a line that joins the front and rear roll centers (SAEJ670e). If the vertical distance between the roll axis and the center of gravity is not zero, a torque (roll moment) equal to the centrifugal force times the distance between the center of gravity and the roll axis will be exerted on the sprung mass, causing the body to lean towards the outside of the turn. This force is called the roll couple. One effect of body (frame) lean, for typical suspension geometry, is positive camber of the wheels on the outside of the turn and negative on the inside, which reduces their cornering grip (especially with cross ply tires).

Roll couple is resisted by the suspension roll stiffness, which is a function of the spring rate of the vehicle's springs and of the anti-roll bars, if any. The use of anti-roll bars allows designers to reduce body lean without making the suspension's springs stiffer in the vertical plane, which allows improved body control with less compromise of ride quality.

The spring rate of an anti-roll bar is based on the fourth power of the torsion bar's diameter, the stiffness of the material, the inverse of the length of the lever arms (i.e., the shorter the lever arm, the stiffer the bar), the geometry of the mounting points, and the rigidity of the bar's mounting points. Some anti-roll bars, particularly those intended for use in auto racing, are adjustable, allowing their stiffness to be altered by increasing or reducing the length of the lever arms. This permits the roll stiffness to be tuned for different situations without replacing the entire bar.

Anti roll bars provide 2 main functions:

The first is the reduction of body lean. The reduction of body lean is dependent on the total roll stiffness of the vehicle. Increasing the total roll stiffness of a vehicle does not change the steady state total load (weight) transfer from the inside wheels to the outside wheels, it only reduces body lean. The total lateral load transfer is determined by the CG height and track width.

The other function of anti roll bars is to tune the high g / limit understeer behavior of the vehicle. The limit understeer behavior is tuned by changing the proportion of the total roll stiffness that comes from the front and rear axles. Increasing the proportion of roll stiffness at the front will increase the proportion of the total weight transfer that the front axle reacts and decrease the proportion that the rear axle reacts. This will cause the outer front wheel to run at a higher slip angle, and the outer rear wheel to run at a lower slip angle, which is an understeer effect. Increasing the proportion of roll stiffness at the rear axle will have the opposite effect and decrease understeer.

One thing also, is that a driver is going to notice the sway bar delete much more if they take many curves or mergers.

If you do just a lot of highway and/or interstate driving, you are not going to notice it so much.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that information, and that you agree that it shaves your 60' down. Now I dont really live in the boonies but my parents do and I visit there often and the road I usually take is basicly a big S and I have no problems going around them. Not to mention all the other curvey roads CT has. I do drive on the highway also clearly which is fine. Baiscly you just have to be smart thats all. Woody rip that thing off. If you dont like it put it back on its that simple. But your going to
 
B

bentley429

Banned
Nov 25, 2004
528
3
0
Connecticut
Nov 16, 2007
#34
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #34
Double post
 

blackened88lx

Active Member
Aug 9, 2006
0
4
28
Connecticut
Nov 16, 2007
#35
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #35
So adding skinnys to the front, slicks to the rear, all the other drag suspension, people running no power steering, manual drum brakes, all that is ok. Pulling the sway bar off which is a MINIMAL difference, is the deciding factor of life and death on the street. I really can't believe some of the stuff you guys are claiming. How fast are you really driving around corners to notice that much of a difference? I barely noticed any difference at all, and it's just body roll, it doesn't seem to affect handling. When I first pulled mine off I messed around with the car a lot in fast corners, evasive maneuvers, and heavy breaking just to make sure it was safe and comfortable, and it was fine. It will actually aid in breaking by dropping the front end faster and reducing skid. So, if my family gets rearended by you because you couldn't stop because you didn't pull your swaybar out, I'm gonna punch your teeth out. This is rediculous.
 

Dean85GT

New Member
Nov 27, 2004
502
1
0
Thorold, Ontario, Canada
Nov 16, 2007
#36
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #36
You guys who think its dangerous driving without a sway bar are babies....seriously, unless your taking a corner at 90mph it is not ****ing dangerous.
 

5spd GT

"the 5.0 owns all"
Founding Member
Aug 7, 2002
9,516
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99
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Nov 16, 2007
#37
  • Nov 16, 2007
  • #37
blackened88lx said:
So adding skinnys to the front, slicks to the rear, all the other drag suspension, people running no power steering, manual drum brakes, all that is ok.
Click to expand...

It is not ok in my opinion. But I am different than most


blackened88lx said:
Pulling the sway bar off which is a MINIMAL difference, is the deciding factor of life and death on the street.
Click to expand...


It could be. This is the basis of "near-death" accidents. It could be the difference between inches from a tree during an "evasive" sudden turn, or the difference between hitting the tree head-on.

Just my opinions and personal experience.

Nothing wrong with everyone's opinion. I have mine, and you have yours. No need to get personal with name calling.
 

woodyy24

New Member
Mar 30, 2005
290
0
0
illinois
Nov 17, 2007
#38
  • Nov 17, 2007
  • #38
thanks for all the input guys. but shes coming off today. i take corners and such real easy anyway because of the big and littles, and my car is going in the direction of a drag car. if i ever decide to make it more of a street car ill put it back on
 

Mr. Rustypwnz

Advanced Member
Jun 1, 2005
1,761
63
69
indianapolis/ valdosta ga
Nov 17, 2007
#39
  • Nov 17, 2007
  • #39
well a stock fox sucks at braking and handling so why not just take it off? and believe me, the swaybar is not the deciding factor in the life-saving dept. mine wasnt on when I totalled my vert and it actually made my front left tire hook up better, if the bar would have been on it would have slid right in the back of that truck and i probably wouldnt be here right now!!
 

5spd GT

"the 5.0 owns all"
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Aug 7, 2002
9,516
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99
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Nov 17, 2007
#40
  • Nov 17, 2007
  • #40
So slow95gt, make an already dangerous car, even more dangerous

My experience was the opposite of yours.

To the original questioner, take it off, since you are going the way of a drag car anyways. It will help pull a little weight off anyways, which is where I believe most of the "gains" come from.
 
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