so what is the difference between a sway bar and a strut bar??.. what goes where??.. what helps more?? i want to control the front alot more.. are there lower strut and sways??... well anyone can help.. it will be helpful thanks.

 

strut bars connect your struts. sway bars connect the lower control arms. sway bars only go on the underside of the car front and rear. strut TOWER bars only go on the top of the struts front and rear. A lower tie bar goes in the lower rear.

 

a swaybar is often called anti-roll(sway) bar, because that is more of what it does, preventing roll rather than promoting. its just easier to say swaybar. this item is a functional, active part of the suspension. ive not seen any swaybar, either front or rear or both, sold relatively cheaply on ebay. a swaybar connects the suspension of the two sides together and resists the independent motion of each. so if on one side, the wheel is being pushed down, the other wheel is being pushed down as well. same thing if one is going up, the other is pushed up. This will in effect add or subtract to the spring rate on the wheel when you need it most, during turning. it theoretically would not change anything when going straight over a speedbump when both wheels are moving the same amount. however youll feel the effect of the swaybar when one wheel goes over a pothole moreso because youve taken away fro mthe independent suspension. you can have a front swaybar connecting the two front wheels, or in the rear, or both.

a strut bar is a structural addition to the chassis. it is not a part of the suspension. however, it does resist unintented displacement of suspension points when the chassis is under handling forces. this actually is more important in cars with macpherson suspension where the suspension pushes a lateral force at the top of the strut mounted to the chassis. this is why its called a strut bar, even tho not all cars have struts. movement of the top strut anchor would mean an extra change in suspension geometry, basically camber, usually in a negative way. but it actually isnt so much of an effect with honda double wishbone suspension. the strut bar still does function as a structural member and helps maintain chassis rigidity.

a tie BAR is another structural member that is intended to resist any chassis flex. these are placed underneath the chassis and bolts to two points on the suspension, but not on a moving part. its just a chassis stiffener.

a tie ROD, as mentioned is part of the steering, most ppl will talk of tie rods as the actual tie rod END that is at the far ends of the steering rack and connects to the knuckle with a ball joint. there is also an INNER tie rod on each side.

the part (of the ones mentioned above) that will most affect how your car handles is going to be the swaybar, because its the only part that is an active member of the suspension. let me reiterate, a strut bar and tie bar are NOT part of the suspension, a sway bar IS. very general principles of handling are dictated by differences between front and rear traction. oversteer is a CONDITION (*1) where the front tires have RELATIVELY more grip than the rear, so during a turn the rear tires are going to slide out and have a bigger arc, think of a spinning car still moving in one direction basically as ultra extreme exampble. understeer is the opposite - the car does not want to rotate because the rears have more grip. general rule of suspension - stiffen the rear for oversteer, stiffen the front for understeer.

therefore, adding a swaybar to the front will PROMOTE A CONDITION of understeer. and conversely adding a rear swaybar will promote a condition of oversteer. adding both, well you get an all around stiffer car. i recommend the spring/shock setup you currently have, and then adding a rear swaybar. but i also would recommend that adding that front sway bar will give you that "riding on rails" feeling in handling. a lot of ppl seem to like that too. its up to you. you can get a kit and play with it to what you like. you can ask which one is better or "BEST" than the others, they all seem to work, some have adjustable positions. Suspension Techniques is a popular brand.

now theres a lot of cheap options for a front strut bar. when i added a NEUSPEED front strutbar to my otherwise stock CRX, i actually can say i notice a difference in handling, in a positive way it seemed. im not sure if the cheap ones work as well, as i havent tried. but why bother with cheap stuff. now, my opinion from other ppls feedback on REAR strutbars is that they are not useful and do not change anything. looks like it would really get in the way of the hatchspace anyway. doesnt seem worth it.

ive not added any tie bar to my car, my opinion is that either front or rear is unecessary. the crossmembers in the front and back are part of the strongest and most rigidly designed parts of the car. it seems its just flashy metal to me. not saying stock has no room for improvement, i just wouldnt get caught up with adding structural rigidity where its not needed as much. again, its not like it directly affects handling.

Footnotes:
(*1)i say condition because ANY car can be either be driven to a state of understeer or oversteer, without any change to the suspension. changing the suspension to alter the cars handling PROMOTES one condition or the other, but ppl who dont understand this think of cars with certain setups as "oversteer" or "understeer" when either is simply a state during the turn and is always changing in degree. its typical a car can exhibit corner ENTRY oversteer, and corner EXIT understeer. but that alone is dependent on HOW the driver actually drives the car into and out of the turn.

 

well thanks for the reply that really helped.. now im just going for the front sway.. i think that'll help me more.. im running single cam so no lsd. and the right is spinning more.. my point is that when i peel out that front sway will keep it level right??.. wont bounce like hell.. it'll just go right??.. anyone try this.. lemme know.. thanks

 

actaully, no swaybars dont really help in straight lines at all. only on unlevel surfaces and turns, and you dont even want them on unlevel surfaces.

so if youre worried about peeling out with two wheels, then a sway bar is not your solution. only an LSD or welded diff will help.

 

maybe i didn't type it right.. umm i was saying just so that not the both tires spin i knw lsd does that.. but just so that both wheels dont boggle around when you peel causing that bounce.. thats kinda more like it..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hmongyaj7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">maybe i didn't type it right.. umm i was saying just so that not the both tires spin i knw lsd does that.. but just so that both wheels dont boggle around when you peel causing that bounce.. thats kinda more like it..</TD></TR></TABLE>

What you're describing is called "wheel hop". A traction bar will help you out with that. There are a few posts about them here, just do a search and read up on them.

 

i've found stiffening my front engine mount alone significantly reduced, almost eliminated my wheel hop. and i did it with just stuffing pieces of rubber in it. i dont think wheel hop is suspension oriented quite frankly.