i'm deciding if i want understeer or make my car neutral. is understeer good? did a lot of search before i posted. from what i read, a bigger front swaybar will make the car understeer. if the handling is neutral, what would there be any benifits of a 22mm front and 22mm rear swaybar? would i be better off not spending any money?

hope u guys understand. it's pretty late and i'm tired.

 

Understeer is "good" for production cars, in that it makes them inherently more stable and less likely to pitch into the bushes, if a driver gets in over his head. If the front stops sticking before the rear, speed is scrubbed off creating an essentially self-correcting situation: As the speed lowers, eventually the front tires grip and the car turns.

In competition settings we strive for more oversteer, to get the car to change direction more quickly. This typically requires more driver skill to catch when the limit is exceeded but the assumption is that racers HAVE more skill than the average commuter.

If you are going to race or drive on race tracks for skill development or fun, you might worry about bars. If you are driving on the street, I'd recommend worrying about other stuff.

K

 

Tell us a bit more about you, your car, and what kind of driving you do. That'll help you get better responses.

Whether or not understeer is good or bad needs to be considered in a context or situation. Most cars from the factory are prone to understeer, mostly due to safety reasons. And this is a good thing. If you autocross, understeer is much less desirable, so you'd want do things to decrease understeer. It all depends....

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2 point 0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
hope u guys understand. it's pretty late and i'm tired. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Taking the time to write a clear and thoughtful question will increase dramatically the probability that you get the answers you're looking for. It's not our job to figure out what you're trying to ask...

 

Understeer is fine if you:

1) Want to save yourself from yourself
2) Want to see what you are going to hit if you lose traction
3) Want to build excessive front tire heat if you are driving hard.

Beyond that, most of us head at least towards neutral and those with confidence play with oversteer.

 

Understeer very very bad. Oversteer helps you turn.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITAcelica &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Understeer very very good. Oversteer helps you turn around and into the shubbery.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Since he didn't mention the track, I'm assuming he's talking about a street car.

 

i've been to 1 auto-x session. i love it but would like to learn more about what kind of swaybar i should get. what would u guys recommend? 26mm front and 22mm rear or 22mm front and 22mm rear?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2 point 0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i've been to 1 auto-x session. i love it but would like to learn more about what kind of swaybar i should get. what would u guys recommend? 26mm front and 22mm rear or 22mm front and 22mm rear?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

What makes you think you need to get different swaybars? I'm thinking you'd want more than one autocross under your belt before you start making changes in your suspension. A large majority of folks here would say, and I'm one of them, leave car alone and spend the money on becoming a better driver.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2 point 0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i've been to 1 auto-x session. i love it but would like to learn more about what kind of swaybar i should get. what would u guys recommend? 26mm front and 22mm rear or 22mm front and 22mm rear?</TD></TR></TABLE>
I can completely relate to the desire to get new parts once you autocross. But like Neo said, leave the car alone and just get some seat time on course.
A lot of the street tuner guys come on here asking about some part or another and get the same response. Some think we have an attitude about it, and never realize that people are trying to a) help them not waste their money by buying a wrong or useless part, and b) make sure people don't end up endangering themselves using a part made for one thing but using it for something else.
So please don't get frustrated like they do because you didn't get a 'you should buy this and this'.

You're not going to get a specific answer here on what bar to get. Mostly because we don't know what car you have. A 22mm rear bar on a prelude would be pathetically useless but on a GSR might be a vast difference for dialing out understeer. Also, we don't know what you use the car for. Autocross only? Road racing? Autocross and street? Mostly street and only occasional autocross? Autocross, street, and drag strip?
All that is important because what's good for autocross may not be good for the street, and what's good for autocross is usually not that good for drag racing.
Heck, there's quite a few differences between autocross setups and road racing setups.

 

Listen to Steppin Razor. He speaks truth.