[idrivearocket]

On a stock car the difference would be like night and day, but if you have a good coilover suspension which independently control ride height, spring preload and dampening at each corner, are you really benefiting from putting bars on as well?

Rather than put bars on in addition to the coilover setup, could you not just adjust the coilover setup in such a way that the car would act nearly the same as having the bars too?

I imagine if you make the spring rate higher to control body roll and play around with the rebound dampening as well, you could effectively generate a similar effect to what the bars will do? Am I wrong?

[WESTI]

i got sways first then coilovers and i can tell you the sways really do help with the responsiveness of the car and the overall stability through high speed turns. I also got corner balanced and aligned and my car is basically neutral through turns

[flatthump]

You could easily run more corner rate with a good set of coilovers than a stock strut/spring combo with big sways. If that answers your question.

[Nasioc_STi]

heard this somewhere . if you run very high spring rates then you don't need the sway bars .

[stretch]

To get as much roll resistance with springs as you do with a 27mm front sway bar, you'd need to increase your main spring rate up front by nearly 1370lb/in (for about 1770lb/in total). A more modest 24mm sway adds 860lb/in to your wheel rate, still roughly double what front coilover springs typically do (and four times stock). Either way, sways have a huge effect.

Because sway bars provide so much more roll resistance than springs, even mild sway bar increases are very easily felt. You simply cannot practically reduce body roll with springs as much as you can with sways. The real debate is whether those cars running a ton of roll resistance are faster than the cars with body roll, and that gets complicated.

[Hitman83]

Sways make a huge difference. I dare say more than any other supension mod

[Turninconcepts.com]

At the very core of your question - yes you can run springs stiff enough to negate the need for bars. it would ride like absolute crap though, and your kidneys and spine would hate you.

For as simple a device that a bar is it has a HUGE HUGE HUGE impact on handling for a car.

In fact, we are becoming very strong believers in the setup of softer springs, stiffer bars on these cars (bars to a point - you can go overboard here).

[tyler_sti]

I love the soft spring super hard bar combo. But to each their own on the degree of the sways effective-ness.

[Szumita]

for sure.

[Draco-REX]

Listen to Stetch.

To put it more simply, sways will give you the effective springrate needed to stop roll, while letting you run a more compliant rate when not in a turn.

Heavy springs are ALL THE TIME.

Sways are when you need them.

Unless you are going to be drving on smooth-as-glass F1 circuits, I'd recommend goign for sane spring rates and good sways.

[idrivearocket]

Originally Posted by Turninconcepts.com

At the very core of your question - yes you can run springs stiff enough to negate the need for bars. it would ride like absolute crap though, and your kidneys and spine would hate you.

For as simple a device that a bar is it has a HUGE HUGE HUGE impact on handling for a car.

In fact, we are becoming very strong believers in the setup of softer springs, stiffer bars on these cars (bars to a point - you can go overboard here).

This is similar to what you said too Stretch? Thanks for your comments guys. But I don't understand the fundemental physics going on here... if the bars add the equivalent of so much spring rate, how come the car would ride like crap with springs that are so stiff, but when the bars add so much stiffness the car rides more comfortably?

How can bars resist body roll with so much force and maintain a comfortable ride while springs having 'equal' amounts of preload to combat body roll ride like a kidney crusher? Is it because you are leveraging the force against the other side of the car when you use bars, but you have no such leverage when you adjust spring preload?

[flatthump]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

Unless you are going to be drving on smooth-as-glass F1 circuits, I'd recommend goign for sane spring rates and good sways.

Depending on the speed of the track, that is very arguable.

[flatthump]

Originally Posted by idrivearocket

This is similar to what you said too Stretch? Thanks for your comments guys. But I don't understand the fundemental physics going on here... if the bars add the equivalent of so much spring rate, how come the car would ride like crap with springs that are so stiff, but when the bars add so much stiffness the car rides more comfortably?

How can bars resist body roll with so much force and maintain a comfortable ride while springs having 'equal' amounts of preload to combat body roll ride like a kidney crusher? Is it because you are leveraging the force against the other side of the car when you use bars, but you have no such leverage when you adjust spring preload?

Because sway bars only provide resistance when the control arms/lateral links are moving in opposing directions.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

Listen to Stetch.

I'd rather listen to Stretch!

i have installed 2 different aftermarket springs and big sway bars and the only thing I have left on my car is the aftermarket sways. I think they make the car feel more responsive.

[Thejoyofdriving]

Sways are probably one of the best and cheapest suspension upgrades you can do. Very noticeable difference.