Lots of questions about sway bars on 2gnt fwd.

[jacobevan611]

Been through this a million times... can't post in handling tech blah blah blah.
Well anyways I have a bunch of questions on sway bars.

1. What exactly is the purpose of them?
2. Do you need front and rear or just one or the other.
3. How much do they improve handling?
4. What will you notice differently after the sway bar (bars) are installed?
5. Are they a direct bolt on, no modifications required?
6. Are the tanabe ones any good?
7. Do they help eliminate body roll?

Feel free to tell me anything else important that i should know. Thanks.

 

[RoninEclipse2G]

Basically the sway bars function is to resist the tilting motion of the body of the car when turning. They assist the springs and dampers in keeping the car as level as possible. Sway bars function by resisting torsional forces created when one side of the car goes down and the other lifts. Stiffer sway bars are NOT a replacement for proper suspension tuning, just a further refinement to help your car handle better. A good sway bar is like the icing on the cake.

A nice upgrade for an RS without the rear sway bar is to find a stock one from a GS/GST/GSX and get the other parts needed to make it bolt right up. This will prevent the inside rear wheel from lifting on hard turns

 

[jacobevan611]

Thanks alot. My car doesnt have any sway bars at all if I am correct? I know haveing one in the back is really important but how about the front. How important is that and can I buy one that bolts right up to the front without modification? And I am very unclear on what I have to do to get one to bolt up to the back. Thanks again.

 

[RoninEclipse2G]

you have a front bar already. All 2g's have them. If you have an RS then you don't have a rear bar.

2gnt has a good writeup on adding the rear Rear sway bar install

 

[JonathanNL]

Thanks alot. My car doesnt have any sway bars at all if I am correct? I know haveing one in the back is really important but how about the front. How important is that and can I buy one that bolts right up to the front without modification? And I am very unclear on what I have to do to get one to bolt up to the back. Thanks again.

RoninEclipse2G is completly right: all 2G's have front swaybars, only the RS versions don't have rears.

I have the RM Racing front and rear swaybar set. The front seems to have helped reduce bodyroll. Some people say that only replacing the rear makes for a more balanced setup, unfortunately I have no experience with just the rear bar installed.
I have to say that I love how the car handles with the swaybars installed. It felt like a finishing touch after installing ES bushings, tokico shocks and eibach springs.

For adding a rear bar on the RS you will need a few items that can be found thrue sellers like MachV: RM Racing Sway Bars (95-99)

 

[jacobevan611]

Thanks. Everyonehas been a ton of help. After I get my tokico blue hp suspension kit i'll probably get a rear sway bar and maybe upgrade the front? What do you guys think?

 

[RoninEclipse2G]

Be cautious, too stiff of a front bar will cause the car to understeer more, while too stiff of a rear bar can cause snap oversteer. I like having a touch of oversteer dialed in on my FWD, it really makes it whip around corners nicely, but if I had anything stiffer than my rear GSX bar without upgrading the rest of the suspension heavily (not street friendly) it would kick around way too easily. Alternately I've run an adjustable bar on the front and set it to the tightest setting. That was scary, the damn car wouldn't turn for shit

 

[jacobevan611]

So what your saying is that I should just get a rear sway bar and stick with the oem one in the front? because I definately don't want any understear but a tad bit of overstear would be nice. Dies anyone else have Any opinions on what I should do? Thanks

 

[RoninEclipse2G]

I would suggest starting with a rear sway bar. Everyone has different driving styles and needs. If it feels like you still need a little more in the front after adding a rear bar go for it. Tune the car for you, not what someone else says.

Just do things step by step so that you can learn what adjustments are good for you and what aren't. The worst thing you can do is make a BUNCH of changes and find out that the result is crappy. Then you have to go back and figure out what didn't work. One small change at a time and you'll learn so much more and be much happier with the results once you've got the car sorted out the way you like it.

Handling modification is much more time intensive than power, but much more rewarding IMO

 

[jacobevan611]

Thanks RoninEclipse2g. I think I'll just buy the rear sway bar first and work from there.

 

[tegster1]

Just so you know the swaybars at MachV are ALOT cheaper if you buy both. $269 for both instead of the $169per bar. Ive got the tokicos on now and I would wait until you are done with installing those to make sure you want something. Depending on how hard you drive, it may just be what you want anyway without the bar/s.

 

[jacobevan611]

Thanks for the input tegester1! I'm worried if I also buy the front one I will just get a bunch of understeer and I definately dont want that. And ya i'm definately not going to order sway bars untill I order the Tokico blue hp suspension kit.

 

[JonathanNL]

Again I have no experience with just the rear swaybar replaced with a RM Racing one, but I can tell you that with both there is almost no understeer whatsoever. I would really have to push the car to far to get understeer. And if wanted the car can be made to oversteer as well.
RM Racing actually tracktested an Eclipse with their swaybars, before taking the bars in productions. (I am not sure if Tanabe did this aswell.)

From what I read about the swaybars on this forum, it seems that AutoX-ers advise just the rear bar to set the car up with some oversteer.
But having both bars on seems to be the most balanced between understeer and oversteer (as was probably the intention of RM Racing). I have to say that I love both bars on my mostly street driven 2G. They give a feeling that the car will not ever surprise you with sudden understeer nor oversteer.

 

[jacobevan611]

Thanks alot Jonathan. If I ever get the money I will most likely get both.

 

[RoninEclipse2G]

one of the best resources that I believe everyone that is going to do suspension work should have is How to Make Your Car Handle

one of the greatest resources EVER

 

[jacobevan611]

Thanks a lot Ronin

 

[Fotowntalon]

sorry to revive a dead thread, i am pretty sure i will be getting these sway bars. I just had one tiny question (its really not going to affect my decision on buying them) could sway bars theoretically reduce wheel spin on launches?

 

[Locke]

Maybe a wee bit, since the sway bar will act as a torsion spring. The best things to prevent wheel hop would be roll stoppers, tires with a softer sidewall, and shocks/springs.