Swaybars = Horrible Ride...

[Mark B]

Hey everyone,
I have always thought my 3rd gen rode terrible. I figured it was the normal ride for anyone that has my suspension mods. That was till last week when I disconnected my 36mm front swaybar at the dragstrip and then drove home without reconnected it. What a difference. If I knew that the sway bar made that much of a difference, I would have went back to the stock 22mm one a long time ago. Is this normal for swaybars to make ride quality so much worse?

Mark

[Joe 1320]

Some of the difference is the amount of deflection that the bar allows. There is a fine line between ride control and a harsh ride. Polyurethane bushings don't help matters. They are more firm and transmit more vibration and shock to the rest of the chassis. What you may be feeling is not the stiffness of the bar, but the bushing quality.

[Rob B (shoebox)]

Sway bars should not significantly impact straight line ride quality. Perhaps your end links had the bar loaded too much.

[Mark B]

Sway bars should not significantly impact straight line ride quality. Perhaps your end links had the bar loaded too much.

How could I check this? As long as both endlinks are tightend to the same point & the swaybar can pivot on the chasis freely, how can that load the bar?

[Rob B (shoebox)]

I guess if the end link adjustment was mismatched, that might cause a load imbalance.
But, like you say, if they are equally adjusted and the bar can pivot, how can that cause straight line ride quality issues?

[Mark B]

If the drivers side tire hits a bump, a thick sway bar will transfer that movement to the passenger side therefore making the suspension stiffer. Without the the bar, the drivers side suspension would be allowed to travel and isolate the bump to the one side.

Make any sense?

[Injuneer]

But unhooking the front bar should have resulted in major deterioration of handling in turns. The increase body roll should have caused the front end to "plow" through hard corners. I've seen and driven cars with broken front links, and the handling is atrocious. On one 97 SS, it allowed enough body roll that the rear inner fender liner sliced open the sidewall of a 315/35 rear tire.

[Rob B (shoebox)]

I guess I am thinking more of a smooth, straight road. Basically, it is a torsion rod and transfers load based on the twisting motion. Probably most people don't go taking the bar off and comparing. Maybe it is normal for such a large diameter bar. I can't say I noticed a difference when I put 1LE bars on my car (not as big as yours).

[TraceZ]

I didn't notice any loss of ride quality when I installed 1LE bars on my car with Energy Suspension bushings.

[Mark B]

I guess its possible that the bushings are binding up the bar. If they were too tight, the extra tension would add resistance to the suspension travel. Maybe I will try new bushings with some grease to see if that helps.

As suspected, I have more body roll now that the bar is disconnected. But its not drastic. I think the stiffness of my Eibach Prokit springs are keeping the body roll to a minimum.

[dochidalgo]

I didn't notice any loss of ride quality when I installed 1LE bars on my car with Energy Suspension bushings

Same in my car.

The front sway bar maximum diameter is 35 mm (30 mm stock & 32mm 1LE)and rear is 22 mm (19 mm stock and 21 mm 1LE) hollow or solid. This combo is the right balance in the F bodies.
Why install a 36 mm front sway bar??

Regards
dochidalgo

[Mark B]

3rd gen 1LE cars come with a 36/24mm combo which is what I am running.

[ConElite]

I recommend you charge the Bushings. When I did my 1LE Front bar, I put the Bushings and end links. I felt the difference right away. Now its like whatever but when i first installed it, It made the car feel like it was on rails.

[Injuneer]

I added the ES poly bushings and new end links, and it tightened up the handling a lot, similar to putting a stiffer sway bar in. Maybe there's something different about the 3rd Gen front end, with its strut type suspsension, that causes the problem. Don't they put something called the "Wonder Bar" on the 3rd Gen front suspension, to tighten things up?

[Mark B]

The car is pretty tight. I have the wonder bar, 3-Point STB & Sub-Frame Connectors. I guess I will just have to try new rubber bushings and see what happens.