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Author Topic: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?  (Read 3937 times)

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Offline ChopTop

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WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« on: July 08, 2014, 03:02:59 PM »
So what F&R swaybar adjustable settings have everyone been using?

I ran mine to a local powdercoater and should have them back in a week.

Feel free to post pics or relate handling impressions.

Offline Sting Ya

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2014, 03:53:35 PM »
Chop Top :Per Matt at Performance Auto Werks for a street car the full  soft /outer hole  is the best set up I also have some things at the coater and should start to put the car back together soon so I'll give everyone a heads up when I'm done and have had a chance to try it out on some local twisty country roads.

Offline Treeman

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2014, 09:06:41 AM »
I am running outer hole on the fronts, middle hole in the rears.  Leaves just a smidgen of understeer (and I mean just a smidgen), which I want since this is a daily driver.  If I was going just for performance, I would move the rears to the inner hole to have just a smidgen of oversteer.
2009 Aggressive GXP
DDM Race Backbone, ProBeam, Coil Cover, Alignment, and Oil Catch Can
Solo Mach Shorty Exhaust
GMPP Tune
LatinVenom Front Brace
Werks Adjustable Sway Bars
Michelin Pilot Super Sport Summers/Pirelli 240 Sottozero Winters
Sound Deadener Showdown
Beach Party Central Custom Fusebox Cover
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Offline CLH

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2014, 02:58:19 PM »
Granted that I have drastically different spring rates then stock (450f/500r on custom a Koni coilover setup), but I tried full stiff on both ends at my last autocross and it was very prone to snap oversteer. I'm going to back off the rear to full soft (outer hole) and leave the front at full stiff (inner hole) to see what that does for the balance.

Offline Treeman

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2014, 04:58:54 PM »
Right and I should say I am running stock springs.
2009 Aggressive GXP
DDM Race Backbone, ProBeam, Coil Cover, Alignment, and Oil Catch Can
Solo Mach Shorty Exhaust
GMPP Tune
LatinVenom Front Brace
Werks Adjustable Sway Bars
Michelin Pilot Super Sport Summers/Pirelli 240 Sottozero Winters
Sound Deadener Showdown
Beach Party Central Custom Fusebox Cover
JPM Arm Rests
Lead Foot!

Offline ChopTop

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #5 on: July 15, 2014, 09:57:26 AM »
Received swaybars & probrace back from powder coater (Wh*reRed), but forgot to take LV brace w/me, so that still at the PC shop.  I've read the installation threads but still not sure I want to tackle swaybar installation myself.  Since I'm a cruiser I'll go w/the recommended F&R outter settings, though tempted to go rear center because I do like to go around corners as smoothly and fast as possible.  But will start with rear center setting until I get a feeling on handling.

Offline Sting Ya

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #6 on: July 15, 2014, 10:44:54 AM »
Chop : I'm going with the soft settings per Matt at Werks I think if you change from those settings you will have to get the car realigned which I was going to do anyway as I have not had mine done for a couple of years plus I'm adding the braces .

Offline ChopTop

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2015, 09:09:21 AM »
The below thread contained a comment by DDM (specifically the paragraph in bold) and I was wondering if the PAW sway bars would/could fall into the category of effectively turning the Kappa's independent suspension into a solid axle, regardless of what adjustment point is chosen?

SolsticeForum: http://www.solsticeforum.com/forum/f42/25mm-mallett-sway-bars-118298/

Post 19:
Not sure why they would be selling 25mm sway bars for the front and the back unless the wall thickness was really substantially different between them, since with the geometry of the rear bar compared to the front would cause a lot oversteer with that setup given a normal suspension on the car.

The stock 2.4L bars in the front were 27.2 and 24.2 in the rear, the stock LNF had 33.3 front and 24.4 rear and the Z0K bars had 33.3 front (6mm wall thickness instead of 4.5mm on the stock LNF) and 27.2mm in the back.

Be careful with going with too much bar also, the stiffer the bars you go with the less independent that the suspension becomes ( I know a couple guys that call them solid axle conversion kits). On really smooth tracks, where you do not have a lot of independent suspension travel, you can run really stiff bars without too much of a penalty, but on irregular roads, a little softer sway bar with stiffer springs allows the suspension to work more independently and provide more grip.

Hope that helps,
Dave

Offline mkriebs

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2015, 11:50:27 AM »
That comment really caught me off-guard over there. I get what Dave is saying, but I have my PAW rear bar set on the middle setting, on hard touring tires and couldn't be happier. I won my class in AutoX this way and was not very far behind much better prepped car.

I thick, heavy rear bar does take some of the independence out of the rear suspension though, it's just another way of suspension tuning. Dave does have a point that a stiffer spring and a looser sway bar would have the same effect. However, with a stiffer spring, most of the shocks I see Kappa people using don't have valving specific to stiffer springs. I have noted that my car prefers the rear shocks on the softest compression and rebound settings. Putting a stiffer spring on that would make the car bounce and would negate the softness of the compression and rebound. Therefore, I stiffen the rear by using the sway bar.

I am by no means a suspension expert though, but this is my take and my real-world experience for how I prefer my car to feel.

Offline ChopTop

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2015, 08:25:13 AM »
I was glad to see Dave clarified his comments.

"Don't read too much into it and think you are going to somehow destroy your handling putting those bars on, they will work fine. Most people like stiffer sway bars on the cars since it gives that quick turn in response that makes the car feel sporty. There are a lot of factors though that are going affect the choice of what to do with the suspension though. Things that can be taken into account when setting up any car include, spring rates, sway bars, suspension geometry, ride height, tire structure and size, corner weights and how the driver likes their car to handle all make a difference in how the car is going to be setup. Often here we are dealing with lowered vehicles also, which means that you have a decrease in shock travel so the stiffer spring option will help keep the shock out of the bump stops, which is a good thing. Going bigger on the sway bars or stiffer on the springs though doesn't necessarily give you better handling, you need to look at the suspension and the car as a system and make the changes and have an objective way to make sure you actually made it better. Honestly though, most people are happy with a little bigger sway bar or some stiffer springs and better dampers that make the car more sporty and do not come close to the limits of the handling on these cars, so if the handling capability was slightly decreased, it really doesn't matter since the car "feels" how they want it to feel. Hope that wasn't too much of a ramble and makes sense.  Dave"

My main concern was wondering if I was F---ing up my suspension because I know that that OEM suspension settings are a science and not an art.  For example, I have different tires & wheels, coilovers, and the DDM brace bundle (plus the PAW swaybars still to installed).  So the thought is I may have already Frankensteined my suspension.

Offline Sting Ya

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Re: WERKSracing Adjustable Sway Bars Settings?
« Reply #10 on: October 24, 2015, 04:47:01 PM »
My set up I have the swaybars set on the "soft " setting per Matt at Werks  ,DDM Works brace bundle ,Koni 's, Eibach Sport Springs,Dunlops Sport Maxx on Kazara rims (lighter then stock) . I  enjoy taking the car around all the twisty roads in my area the car is very responsive compared to stock and I still get a fairly nice ride .
« Last Edit: October 24, 2015, 11:45:44 PM by Sting Ya »

 

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