Can someone please explain the use of a front swaybar in autocross on a civic or Integra. I have heard of people adding larger bars, others smaller bars, and some no bars at all. The job of the rear bar seems pretty obvious but the front bar and its effect on the car, steering, accelerating out of a turn, and autocross in general confuses me. Can anyone point to a good resource or discussion here.

 

Unfortunately you're going to have to figure out what works best for you through tuning and testing and tuning and testing.

The advice you've gotten from others is based on their experience with their setups and driving styles, types of courses/tracks they run on, tires, and so forth.

RJ

 

The bigger the front bar the less the front of the car will roll and the more it will push.

 

and in laymans terms. More front sway bar = more understeering!

 

what if you increase both front and rear bars dramatically? For example, put a fat *** 35mm bar up front and a 30mm bar in the rear? Can this decrease body roll and keep the car neutral? Would there be any disadvantages to doing this? I always wondered if doing something like this would be safe and if anyone or any team has done something this drastic with good success.

 

Your best bet is to try to find a balance between the two bars. 25mm up front and a 19mm-22mm in back gives a pretty neutral effect while keeping your tires flatter on the pavement while turning.
Going overboard with super size bars that don't allow any roll could just create a negetive effect on your subframe if not reinforced correctly to handle that added stress and force.

 

Dont forget that antiroll bars should work in sync with the spring rates that ur running.
One thing about running a large front bar is that it can decrease the available traction for the inside tires. If you have stiff spring rates and R comp tires, the problem will magnify.


[Modified by SUPERAUTOBACS, 1:07 AM 3/29/2003]

 

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First of all, you are going to run into fitment problems with a 35mm front bar. That will require some fab work and quite honestly I have never seen a solid bar that big - not say they don't exist for a Honda, I've just never seen one.

I've tested without a front bar on several different cars. My personal opinion is that it is not an ideal set-up autocross. The front bar helps control weight transfer and body roll during trail braking. I also noticed more wheel hop and wheel movement with power-on exits. Most importantly I was .5-.3 slower without the front bar.

 

matt...as RJ already said...for autocross alot of sway bar tips you've gotten are based on personal preference. in your case....i would look into a bigger front bar since you have indicated (to me) you would like to stay with softish spring rates. i'm getting ready to invest in a larger rear bar myself....something along the lines of 25 or 26mm...or whatever the largest size saner perf. can make for me.

as a general rule of thumb...on honda's more front bar tends to lead to more understeer unless you add more rear bar/stiffen up the rear/or take away front spring with the larger front bar.

 

To save money on testing, I would first try running with out your factory bar up front. Maybe changing the set up (bar on bar off) on the same course, same day, may give you a better idea of what works for you.

 

At what point do you think increasing the size too much will become a problem? My main concern with going too big is the inside wheels coming off the ground because the sways are too stiff. What do you guys think is the largest you can go in the front and rear without having to worry about this?

 

the wheels coming off the ground is not a "problem". If the wheel stays on the ground its completely unloaded anyways and its not doing anything for you.

What you want is a balanced setup and the question of "whats best" or "whats the biggest bar i can go" is going to be a very tough one to answer.