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New Improved- Does a rear sway bar ALWAYS improve the handling of a car?

OLD (Does EVERY car require a rear swaybar to handle better?)

YES or NO?

What say you? Define "handle" in your own way if needed.

I have an opinion.

Majority doesn't necessarily win

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New Improved- Does a rear sway bar ALWAYS improve the handling of a car?

OLD (Does EVERY car require a rear swaybar to handle better?)

YES or NO?

What say you? Define "handle" in your own way if needed.

I have an opinion.

Majority doesn't necessarily win

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I know that my 70 Charger is more fun to drive with the current setup, which includes a rear bar.
I don't like understeer. I don't like excessive body roll either. The bar made huge reductions in both.

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Personally I try not to use a rear bar on rear drive cars. An anti-roll bar always trys to lift the inside wheel. This can make trying to get the power down on corner exit pretty tricky especially if you have good power or marginal grip. As for defining "good handling" I see it as having good balance, sharp turn in and a good general feeling of confidence that it won't do anything weird.. Predictability is certainly desirable, but if the balance is really off it dosen't help your confidence just because you know ahead of time that the car is going to either try to suddenly swap ends or push itself off the outside of the corner.

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Personally I try not to use a rear bar on rear drive cars. An anti-roll bar always trys to lift the inside wheel. This can make trying to get the power down on corner exit pretty tricky especially if you have good power or marginal grip. As for defining "good handling" I see it as having good balance, sharp turn in and a good general feeling of confidence that it won't do anything weird.. Predictability is certainly desirable, but if the balance is really off it dosen't help your confidence just because you know ahead of time that the car is going to either try to suddenly swap ends or push itself off the outside of the corner.

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Isn't omitting a rear bar on a RWD car really only of benefit on autocross where you have high grip + very tight turns? In any other situation I think you would want the roll stiffness.

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Personally I try not to use a rear bar on rear drive cars. An anti-roll bar always trys to lift the inside wheel. This can make trying to get the power down on corner exit pretty tricky especially if you have good power or marginal grip. As for defining "good handling" I see it as having good balance, sharp turn in and a good general feeling of confidence that it won't do anything weird.. Predictability is certainly desirable, but if the balance is really off it dosen't help your confidence just because you know ahead of time that the car is going to either try to suddenly swap ends or push itself off the outside of the corner.

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Isn't omitting a rear bar on a RWD car really only of benefit on autocross where you have high grip + very tight turns? In any other situation I think you would want the roll stiffness.

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Usually in an Autox scenario a rear bar is a help. In theory in would make the car rotate in the tight turns of a tight turned course. I installed a rear bar on my Dart toward the end of last summer and it made a difference for sure. I can induce oversteer pretty easy with the throttle. And on long sweepers the car is definitely more confident and flat. One down side to it on my car is on turns where the pavement is broken up with cracks,seams or small potholes the rear is alot less compliant and wants kick sideways a little.

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Personally I try not to use a rear bar on rear drive cars. An anti-roll bar always trys to lift the inside wheel. This can make trying to get the power down on corner exit pretty tricky especially if you have good power or marginal grip. As for defining "good handling" I see it as having good balance, sharp turn in and a good general feeling of confidence that it won't do anything weird.. Predictability is certainly desirable, but if the balance is really off it dosen't help your confidence just because you know ahead of time that the car is going to either try to suddenly swap ends or push itself off the outside of the corner.

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Isn't omitting a rear bar on a RWD car really only of benefit on autocross where you have high grip + very tight turns? In any other situation I think you would want the roll stiffness.

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Usually in an Autox scenario a rear bar is a help. In theory in would make the car rotate in the tight turns of a tight turned course. I installed a rear bar on my Dart toward the end of last summer and it made a difference for sure. I can induce oversteer pretty easy with the throttle. And on long sweepers the car is definitely more confident and flat. One down side to it on my car is on turns where the pavement is broken up with cracks,seams or small potholes the rear is alot less compliant and wants kick sideways a little.

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I only know that the only situation where Miata owners omit the rear bar entirely is for autox because it helps keep the inside tire on the ground in extremely tight turns that transition to hard acceleration. Otherwise you want a rear bar to keep the car balanced at higher speeds. It is possible to have too much rear bar and get the wheel lifting at something more than a full-lock turn at 20 mph, but I don't think the answer is no rear bar at all.

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My thinking has been, if adding a rear bar helps a lot, you likely don't have the proper front bar/spring combination in the first place. Of course I am sure there are chassis' not stiff enough to transmit roll resistance and a rear bar bypasses that shortcoming, but that's a different topic.

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I think there is some truth to that. But do you carry sets and sets front and rear springs in 50 lbs increments out to the racetrack? And those springs should be rated with a Longacre type checker before install too. Advertised rates are rarely correct. Especially with leaf springs.

And it depends what track you are running at. And depends on your driving style and skill level.

I know at the tighter and slower Horse Thief Mile track at Willow Springs I liked running my rear sway bar.

But at the wider turned and faster Big Track at Willow Springs I like the rear sway bar disconnected. It got me in trouble the first time out with a decent motor. After that incident, I just disconnect one end link with two 3/4" wrenches. I should have taken the link totally off, but this time I just unhooked the end Oh well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLOrFexa6Fk

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Personally I try not to use a rear bar on rear drive cars. An anti-roll bar always trys to lift the inside wheel. This can make trying to get the power down on corner exit pretty tricky especially if you have good power or marginal grip. As for defining "good handling" I see it as having good balance, sharp turn in and a good general feeling of confidence that it won't do anything weird.. Predictability is certainly desirable, but if the balance is really off it dosen't help your confidence just because you know ahead of time that the car is going to either try to suddenly swap ends or push itself off the outside of the corner.

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Isn't omitting a rear bar on a RWD car really only of benefit on autocross where you have high grip + very tight turns? In any other situation I think you would want the roll stiffness.

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