Rear Sway Bar v Caltrac in corners

This is a broad stroke so forgive me as I know each individual car and driver will differ BUT....

I once read that a "caltac" style rear suspension can be beneficial to corner carvers as it tends to create a what the right word, a slight axel pivot or wheel track? Or maybe I miss understood the article, sorry no link because I have NO clue where I read it years ago.

Is this true or what type of handling issues would be created with this style of rear suspension (oversteer, understeer) versus a stock style b-body sway bar?

Id be calling Calvert to confirm or deny this question...

Cal Tracs are not a replacement for a sway bar. While both are designed to keep the tire in contact with the pavement, sway bars bars are designed to minimize body roll (side to side)thus keeping the tires planted, whereas Cal-tracs are design to resist a beam motion (fore/aft) to keep the tires planted.

Cal Tracs were created by a guy who races a super stock Ford. The whole premise behind the Cal Trac was to create a leaf spring motion with the center mounted Ford spring to match that of the offset mounted Mopar super stock spring while still being within the letter of the rules (ie; stock mounting points must be retained).

I could see some some advantages and disadvantages to using them on a handling car.

Since they are adjustable, dialing in a good drag launch means you have created a preloaded spring. This means you could have a car that oversteers turning left while it understeers turning right. That's not good. If you back off the adjustment far enough to eliminate the preload, will they still be effective in planting power, I don't know. They do create an addition link point so they likely won't have wheel hop under accelleration or braking, both good things.

Combined with their split mono leaf, you can tune in the desired spring rate more precisely while eliminating weight. Both good things. Adding a Caltracs to a stock leaf set up is adding additional weight which isn't a good thing.

If you are not a very smooth driver, having the Cal-Tracs alter the geometry of planting power could allow you to have a smoother corner exit than you get from simply stabbing the throttle. That could be good, but that also means the geometric changes may not be linear which could create a situation of suddenly loading or unloading the tires, and that would not be good.

Once you starting allowing the suspension system to move around like the Cal-tracs do, you need to have very good shocks to dial in the motion and tune it to the application. That is going to add cost and may need regular changing depending on the type of driving you are doing. That could be a good or bad situation depending on how much you like to tinker.

Honsetly, I have not seen a lot of feedback on Caltracs in the handling community, whether they are Ford, GM or Mopar. Most users tend to be drag racers or dual purpose cars with an emphasis on drag nights. Could they work, sure. Will they be as effective as on the drgastrip, I don't think so. They aren't a pancea for traction on a high powered car, you still need good tire compounds, but they may allow you an additional tuning tool if you use your car in multiple ways.

I think CalTracs got the "rep" simple because they are less worse than slapper bars for handling, not because they are good.

This is a great question!

To be honest, Kilroy, I'd like to see what the results would be running both .

You would think the Caltracs would work well in a high-horsepower car in wide sweeping corners.

Broad stroke indeed, the comparison is going from a sway-bar, two-link rear suspension to a hybrid four-link.

Quote:

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Cal Tracs are not a replacement for a sway bar. While both are designed to keep the tire in contact with the pavement, sway bars bars are designed to minimize body roll (side to side)thus keeping the tires planted, whereas Cal-tracs are design to resist a beam motion (fore/aft) to keep the tires planted.

Cal Tracs were created by a guy who races a super stock Ford. The whole premise behind the Cal Trac was to create a leaf spring motion with the center mounted Ford spring to match that of the offset mounted Mopar super stock spring while still being within the letter of the rules (ie; stock mounting points must be retained).

I could see some some advantages and disadvantages to using them on a handling car.

Since they are adjustable, dialing in a good drag launch means you have created a preloaded spring. This means you could have a car that oversteers turning left while it understeers turning right. That's not good. If you back off the adjustment far enough to eliminate the preload, will they still be effective in planting power, I don't know. They do create an addition link point so they likely won't have wheel hop under accelleration or braking, both good things.

Combined with their split mono leaf, you can tune in the desired spring rate more precisely while eliminating weight. Both good things. Adding a Caltracs to a stock leaf set up is adding additional weight which isn't a good thing.

If you are not a very smooth driver, having the Cal-Tracs alter the geometry of planting power could allow you to have a smoother corner exit than you get from simply stabbing the throttle. That could be good, but that also means the geometric changes may not be linear which could create a situation of suddenly loading or unloading the tires, and that would not be good.

Once you starting allowing the suspension system to move around like the Cal-tracs do, you need to have very good shocks to dial in the motion and tune it to the application. That is going to add cost and may need regular changing depending on the type of driving you are doing. That could be a good or bad situation depending on how much you like to tinker.

Honsetly, I have not seen a lot of feedback on Caltracs in the handling community, whether they are Ford, GM or Mopar. Most users tend to be drag racers or dual purpose cars with an emphasis on drag nights. Could they work, sure. Will they be as effective as on the drgastrip, I don't think so. They aren't a pancea for traction on a high powered car, you still need good tire compounds, but they may allow you an additional tuning tool if you use your car in multiple ways.

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Great reply!