It drives me absolutely NUTS that the go-to handling mod for any car is a swaybar/s upgrade.
Its absolutely the LAST thing to mod on a cars suspension, and then only for fine tuning handling at the limit on track or closed circuit.
Car makers don’t put weak swaybars on their products to hobble the handling, they match the swaybars and dampers to provide the best real world handling tendencies.
As the dampers wear out, this balance is affected, but the solution is better found in new or upgrade dampers, not just making the car roll less with less compliant swaybars.
member wrote:Agreed. I haven't gotten into coil-overs, but front & rear swaybars have made a real difference to the handling of my awd suv (among other suspension modifications).
Maybe for these top heavy cars but bear in mind swaybars are for fine tuning handling characteristics on the limit on track, not adding spring rate or reducing roll.
You’re effectively hobbling your crappy dampers and the whole car.
For a more naturally handling car that’s capable on any road, you want a digressively damped shock, eg Koni’s or Shockworks.
You properly wouldn’t get it till you drove one thusly equipped.
*told off for ragging on above member for recommending upgrade swaybars*
The statement needs emphasis to overcome years of misinformation.
Swaybar mods were born on the track and on smooth jdm roads.
Stock dampers are worn out at 100-150km.
The solution is a damper upgrade, then swaybars if required, and then for the purposes of handling fine tuning, not supposedly holding the car flat in corners at the expense of overall compliance and grip.
Its a ridiculous dogma supported mainly by the aftermarket wanting to put $1k worth of useless metal under cars that are predominantly street driven.
Next up they’ll have 40mm bars or swaybars for swaybars!
Too much is never enough when you’re starting on the wrong foot to begin.
If it sounds like I’m substituting one dogma for another, I’m not.
I’m suggesting that handling mods should be approached from the core of the system: the springs and damper combo.
Get that aspect correct and the car will need less in the way of bandaid mods to handle properly.