Are sway bars needed?

[jazzyjay]

I was wondering if I could remove my Sway bars. I use the car mainly for drag racing and the ocasional drive on the street, I would say 80/20. Would my car leave harder or not, would is the advantage or disadvantage of doing this. Thank in avance

 

[aemperformance]

I don't know for sure, but I would advise you trying it both way, with the bars off and then on or vice versa. Race both ways and see which way you push off harder. It's all up to you.

 

[underradar92]

In rwd drag cars, removing sways is very common to allow the car to weight-transfer better. With awd, unless you have a locked center diff. its probably no help, aside from weight loss. Can't hurt to try, though.

 

[Highwayrun]

The sway bars don't get loaded in torsion unless the car is turning. Therefore, they can be removed for drag racing.

Your street driving will be affected though. If you have adjustable shocks you can stiffen them to reduce some of the newfound body roll from the removal of the sway bars.

 

[FourGdrvr]

The swaybars basically will act like increaasing the spring rates. Removing them will allow more weight transfer, but might lose little in stability off the line. Honestly, the major reason would have to be weight loss as mention before. For cars that will see any street time, i would leave them on as most of drivers will enjoy the drive more w/ better stable handling car.