[SpeeDemon]

Ok, let me preface this by saying that my "fine tuning" skills need to improve. As far as mod installs and knowing the basics of how things work, I can do that. So my question is, we all know that the gti has some understeer issues and a rear sway bar definitely helps the problem. but there's a 24mm, 26mm, and 28mm swaybars that a few companies put out (I'm looking at getting H&R's). What mm would be ideal and why? is there much difference? Also, I saw from another post (I can't remember which one) that said something to the effect of "if you have both a rear and a front sway bar, you're pretty much cancelling the adjustment out."

I used to have a modded civic back in the day and I had both front and rear upper and lower sway bars/tie bars and man, could it handle! So I don't quite know what to think about that post I quoted. Your thoughts?

 

[BlueFrogPosse]

The way I learned it, and as you alluded, the stiffer your rear sway bar, the more the car will tend to oversteer (or less understeer). Same goes for the front sway bar but the opposite effect with respect to over- or under-steer. So where that aspect is concerned, yes, increasing the stiffness of both the front and rear will have null effect. It will, however, improve handling by reducing body roll.

As for the question of which mm is best: that's your call. Keep in mind the function of the sway bar; if one side of the suspension compresses the sway bar will compress the other. The bigger and stiffer the sway bar, the more compression will be transferred. The tradeoff is in ride comfort vs handling. You'll feel the difference in ride quality mostly on bumpy roads, and reap the performance benefit on curvy ones.

 

[HoldDaMayo]

^^^^good post...

I'd start with the smallest MM bar. Really, the car does have some understeer, but it's not too bad, i'd be concerned that the stiff bars might make the car oversteer too much which will really hurt it's balance. 24mm imo or 26 at the most

 

[Dragon]

^^^^good post...

I'd start with the smallest MM bar. Really, the car does have some understeer, but it's not too bad, i'd be concerned that the stiff bars might make the car oversteer too much which will really hurt it's balance. 24mm imo or 26 at the most

I have the 24mm H&R rear only...

 

[SpeeDemon]

Thanks for the info. I was leaning toward the 26mm -- middle of the road in stiffness. I really could care less about ride comfort. I raced a lot on tracks back when I lived in Chicago, but now that I have a real job that takes up a ton of my time, I have yet to get out on a track here. My junker civic is my daily-driver and my gti is my joy-rider >

 

[sayyid1]

I have the 24mm H&R rear only...

So what do you think about leaving the front sway bar alone and simply upgrading the rear sway?

 

[CMAK]

thats what most ppl do

 

[sayyid1]

thats what most ppl do

do you have this upgrade?

If so, what do you think of it? worth the upgrade?

Right now I have apr stage 1 and an ecs dogbone mount on the way.

What would be the next step?

1 )downpipe to go stage 2 ?

2) engine mounts to handle the stage 1 power better?

3) neuspeed p flo air intake to replace the k and n swap i have right now?

4) rear sway for better handling in corners?