I have a ES swaybar on my crx. There are three holes for adjustment. Which one is the stiff setting? I have searched all over and can't find a straight answer. Is it the one closest to the rear bumper?

 

Stiffer would be the one that makes the shortest lever arm-- so the closest hole to the chassis mount or furthest from the end. The longer the lever arm, the less resistance to roll.

 

maybe I'm reading this wrong but aren't you condridicting yourself? Maybe I need to be more forward, I want to make my car rotate more than the middle setting. Which hole should i move to?

 

move it toward the rear of the car.

 

If you stand her up and bend her over in front of you, the top hole is usually the stiffest... On the swaybar it's the hole that's closest to the bend that is stiffer....good luck.

 

ES as in Energy Suspension? I thought they just sold bushings


Anyway this is the ASR and from my understanding:

 

What is rotation? The body is rolling more on the softer setting. Oversteer (or understeer) and sway bar setting depends on the overall roll of the car and which sway bar it is. You can actually over soften or over stiffen the roll of a car and cause oversteer OR understeer... just a simple lesson-- not likely applicable to your car since a harder rear bar and a softer front bar will probably create "rotation".

 

I assume since he said "closest to the rear bumper" he meant the rear bar. I just meant rotation of the rear, but I can reword the image if I'm in incorrect in any way, I'm no expert!

 

Well technically, yes. On a CRX a stiffer rear bar will create more rotation. Its just an important note to take that, depending on your spring rates, dampening settings, and relative front roll rates and stiffness, it is VERY possible to go the other way. The reason why a stiffer rear bar creates more rotation is because it is taking some load off the inside rear tire, and applying it to the outside front by connecting the two rear wheels [more] and allowing the body to roll. If you have too much compliance or too much roll on the front (too little spring rate, not enough compression dampening, not enough anti-roll) then the rear bar will do almost nothing and the characteristic may be unchanged. It is easy to go the other way as well. If there is not enough compliance and the front is too stiff (in the opposite manner explained previously) then the outside front tire could become overloaded, and the stiffer rear sway bar is actually making the understeer WORSE.

Much of this won't apply to a lightly modded car using only off-the-shelf parts made for a specific application, but I do feel it is very important to avoid giving information that can be misunderstood and therefore poorly applied.

 

sorry wrong two letters. It an ST bar. and yes is the rear bar.