Like the title says, those of you that have upgraded front swaybars like the RB unit, do you have your rear bar installed as well?

I've been running without my rear bar for a couple of years now but I just got a killer deal on an used RB unit and now I'm wondering if I should reinstall a rear sway bar to keep the car balanced.

Thoughts?

 

I like it without. I got a RB adjustable in my other FB but I may remove it.

 

I was running a RB front without a rear for a very short period of time (just before I parked the car for the winter). The car seemed to handle very well and turn on a dime, but this was probally also because of the brand new RB springs and tokico struts all around. Theres only one way to tell if you like it or not, take your car to a auto-x, try a race with it attached, and then one without.

 

Dan is exactly right, it depends upon your driving style, your cars set up, tire pressures and a lot of other factors.

Install the bar for an autocross, run it attached then disconnect one end for a run, back and forth until you find which way you prefer it.

I like a car to oversteer, it suits my style, I hate understeer, so I never run a rear bar on any 7.

 

That is a contradiction. If you like oversteer, then put the rear bar in and make it real tight.

 

That's kinda what I was thinking as well...

Ah well, I'll hook mine up and see how I like it.

 

Before the wide tires went on,I tried unhooking my rear bar and I didnt like how it felt.Too mushy......Thats with the RB front bar,175lb springs and Tokiko Blues.
For now,I run the stock bar out back,but Ill likely upgrade to the RB rear bar since my fat rear tires help control rear oversteer(as best they can!).
I also like a loose car,so running without the rear bar just didnt feel right.

 

Well it's been a few months before I got a chance to test it, but I just did last night.

Yoiks!

Lots of oversteer, more than I'm used to after driving the car without a rear bar for the last two years. I've got the larger '79 bar on right now, once I find the proper bushings I'm going to try a smaller '83 bar (15mm vs 18mm) and see how it feels. I don't want to remove the bar entirely unless I have to as it really flattens out the car.

On the '84 and '85 models, the suspension pickups are different, ostensibly to improve handling and calm the rear end down. Has anyone here driven an '84/85 and an earlier car and felt a difference? Maybe I should look into getting an '84 GSL axle housing and try it out...

 

Running W/O the rear sway bar will increase overstear at the limit due to the suspension reaching the infinate roll point, or bind in the 4link and watts. W/O the resistance of the sway bar slowing body roll, the rear suspension will lock up earlier under the limit and cause what our cars are known for SNAP OVERSTEER!

 

The pickup point on the 84-85 housing is unchanged, to my knowledge. It's the lower mounting points on the body that are different. This can easily be seen by looking at the lower attachments on a 79-83, then looking at the same spot on a 84-85.
79-83, the lower mounts are almost flush with the rocker, while the 84-85 models have a noticable downward angle.

 

That makes sense and I would totally buy that if my practical experience didn't say otherwise. With stock bars front and rear my car oversteered earlier and more abruptly. Without the rear bar the car was much more confident through corners and was generally neutral progrssing to slight understeer. Now this is during a Solo II event, mind you. On the street having the rear bar installed makes little difference so far as oversteer is concerned, but does limit body roll some.

I'll be running no bar at the next event to see how it feels and if its too biased towards understeer I've got a smaller '83 rear sway bar to try (14.5mm vs the 18mm '79 bar.)

Rogue_Wulff, thanks for that info on the '84/'85 cars. I'll have to see if I can inspect one and verify that. If your recollection is correct, there is little benefit to switching to the later model axle housings unless I have a Torsen or am looking for the more common bolt-pattern, particularly when you consider the massive weight difference between the S2 and S3 axle housings. That 50 pounds of unsprung weight isn't something I'd want to add to the car unless I really had to.