Stabilizer Bars - Do they worth the money?

[Rasteirinho]

Hi,

Anyone has uprated stabilizer bars (larger diameter) fitted to yours AE86?
Do they worth the cost?

I'm thinking in fitting some Whiteline uprated stabilizer front and rear bars.

Opinions please.

Thanks

[Rasteirinho]

So, no one got an opinion about this issue?

[Apolan]

well i can only say that implementing anti-roll bars in LFS, dramatically improves the ride. Im really curious how thicker stabiliser bars and strut braces influence the ride of the 86.

[DJexor]

mux has a small strutbar at the front and i thought circuitfreak has a whiteline.. ask them for the difference

or do you really mean de stabilisers?

[oldeskewltoy]

sway bars/stabilizers should be used in conjunction with the rest of your suspension plans....

What are your plans???

In my cars case I went with a 25.4mm front sway bar up from the OEM 22mm bar. Turn in is quick and sharp.

My suspension package is 4.5kg/mm front with 3.0 kg/mm rear. I also have Tokico Illumina adjustable dampers, and a strut bar.

[Mux213]

I do think thats a problem with a lot of cars. Going all out on the suspension but forgetting rollbars and such.

I still believe that going for less stiff suspension combined with a stiffer rollbar would give a much better effect then the 8F/7R suspensions so many people drive with which in my eyes atleast, is only good for pure trackwork. But I'm sure many will disagree with me on that opinion

That said, so far I've only got experience driving with cars with uprated suspension and strut bars but none of these cars had their suspension properly setup (damper strength and alignment) so whether that gives a good enough impression....

Anyways, thinker roll bars are on my list of wanne haves to try out and see what they do.

[domi]

It can't be helped, Mux - most people don't really get the concept of rollbars as something that can influence laterral behaviour of the suspension without actually stiffening it. I know i didn't for the longest time. Caster, roll bars and toe in/out seem to be the most often skipped suspension settings out there and that is quite understandable. Too often have i heard people comment on roll bars ranging form a setting semi-irrelevant to suspension reaction all the way to near-godlike power over it that should not be unleashed. Scary. I myself have it on my To-Do list after i get decent enough spring/damper combination and get my rear end sorted out, but everything with its time. I haven't looked into what there is on the market for the AE86 in the affordable segment, but i bet there are a lot of options. If people could share their experience/thoughts on such manners it'd be lovely. It would be best if we get some math into the whole ordeal and stamp the topic with a *WARNING - SCIENCE CONTENT* sign. I have, myself, fiddled with such settings in LFS and the like and the results were enlightening. From solid steering, coupled with the occasional flip-on-the-roof when i launch the car off a tall rumble strip to a comfy, grippy controlled roll that turns slide into grip as soon as throttle is applied to immense roll with spring bottoming and hopping around when i soften it even further. It truly introduces a great opportunity for fine tuning suspension, but reality is rarely as easy. Is there a way to adjust roll bars short of swapping the one you have for a stiffer/softer one? I'd love to rid myself of my 'armchair philosofies' and replace them with more solid knowledge, but i don't have the money to test all the options out and gather the experience myself.... luckily we have a forum...

[Fallguz]

I don't have much AE86 suspension experience so far, but plenty with my other car. (S14)

I'd mainly like to back up the thoughts posted here already - In my opinion roll bars are an essential modification for the S14. The hachi has less weight, I don't know how much that comes into calculation there.

As mentioned before, I think a 'balanced' suspension setup should include thicker stabilizer bars because a balanced setup should, imo, have SOFT dampers / springs settings.

Of course you can get a D1 spec coilover kit with 10kg springs, set the dampers to one of the hardest settings and drive around with virtually no body roll. However, that is not what I call a good setup. I don't want to offend anybody running hard coilovers of course It's just not the right thing for the kind of driving I do... (i don't go to drift events often)

Because what I want in a good setup is as much traction as possible. So opinions may differ, but esp. on the S14 with more power than the hachi, traction becomes harder and harder to get..

On the s14 i run a pretty soft spring / damper combination (H&R + Koni). The combo works really well for the type of driving i'm doing (alot in the mountains, streets, autocross and occasional track). The stabilizer bars were one of the best investments I've done to the s14 suspension. It helped a great amount in terms of Turn-in, reduced body roll and general stability without compromising traction.

All the other mods like fresh bushings, lots of strenghtend suspension arms, harder rear axle subframes and struts only were slightly noticable compared to the immense change in driveability the stabilizer bars offered.

Note that I think it's important to change the sway bars AND the sway bar end links, at least on the s14. Thicker sway bars on stock Links also work, but we made the obvervation that the stock links are quickly worn out when using thicker sway bars.

well, just my 2 (long) cents.


edit: since there seems to be a confusion in the posts below: I am talking about ANTI ROLL BARS / Sway Bars / Stabilizer bars (all the same thing)

The s14 also has various other struts (see strut braces) installed to increase chassis rigitidy but these only made a insignificant effect on overall handling compared to the sway bars.

Oh and for the record: I installed cusco strut braces front and back on my hachi. Their effect is only slightly noticable. (like, a barely noticable decrease in roll and slightly slightly better turn in characteristic.. really very subtle.)

[NoHachi]

Adjustable ANTI roll bars (rollbars are the stuff you find on the top of Jeep Wranglers) are widely available. Would guess that the whiteline stuff might already be adjustble, otherwise its pretty easy to make em adjustable. Question of drilling two extra holes or so and fabbing up some adjustable end -links.
Playing around with swaybars is pretty easy, even with the stock bars you get to play around by disconnecting them when needed..think of it as 0.5 kg/mm les or more at one end (or both ends) of the car.

[Apolan]

what about lower stabiliser bars compared to upper strut braces? How do they differ? And what about 3 point strutbraces? What is to gain with those?

EDIT. this should be moved to technical, along with "What type of street shocks you use"