{"id":3336,"date":"2023-04-01T04:15:18","date_gmt":"2023-04-01T04:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/suspensionsetups.com\/?page_id=3336"},"modified":"2023-04-07T18:29:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T18:29:07","slug":"sway-bars","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/suspensionsetups.com\/sway-bars\/","title":{"rendered":"Sway Bars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Sway bars, also known as stabilizer bars or anti-roll bars, are a very popular first upgrade. In contrast to other mods like coilovers, they provide a significant improvement in handling for not a lot of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the name suggests, anti-roll bars are designed to limit body roll. They also allow you to change your car’s handling profile by altering its tendency to understeer or oversteer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They prevent roll-overs to some extent, however this isn’t a common concern with lowered tuner cars or race cars in general. It’s more of a concern with overlanding rigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read on to learn more about sway bars and why you should totally install them in your car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
A sway bar is a U-shaped cylinderical bar that couples two opposing sides of the suspension. In other words, it connects opposite (left and right) wheels together, with the purpose of altering roll stiffness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This connection is made by short lever arms (end-links) that are bolted to the lower suspension members. The two opposing end-links are connected by the actual sway bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sway bar is basically a torison spring, which means it resists twisting motion \u2014 the ends always want to remain parallel to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is intended to force the opposing wheels of the car to lower or rise in equal proportion when driving over road irregularities or when cornering at high speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Confused? Consider 2 driving scenarios:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In scenario 1, the sway bar will do nothing at all, it will simply move up and down along with the two wheels. But in scenario 2, it’s going to undergo a twisting force as it tries to level the wheels out. Remember, sway bars want<\/em> to stay parallel on both ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each end of the sway bar is connected to an end-link, which is connected to the lower suspension arms. This effectively links both sides of the suspension.<\/p>\n\n\n As one side compresses, the sway bar twists and tries to compress the opposite side as well. Here’s how that plays out in scenario 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During cornering, when there’s a lot of lateral acceleration, the weight of the chassis shifts towards the outside of the turn, which compresses the spring on that side. Meanwhile, the spring on the inside wheel extends a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n As the suspension on the outer wheel compresses, the sway bar twists in the direction of that force and transmits some of it to the opposing wheel. With that, the inner wheel compresses as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, load and traction on the inner and outer wheels is equalized to some extent. This improves lateral grip, making your car safer, faster, and more predictable when going around a corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n