Re: [Opinion] Front End Anti-Sway Bar Theory

[Iain Mannix <mannix@secretignition.com>]

At 7:40 PM -0400 08/17/1998, Mark A Peele wrote:
>I'm bored at work so heres a question: Anybody check out Shine Racing's
>Web Page?
>
>http://www.srsvw.com/
>
>They advocate no front swaybar. They say it promotes understeer.
>Interesting contrast to the normal 16mm to 22mm upgrade.

This subject has been debated several times over on the newsgroup -
rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled - no real consensus has been reached.
Search dejanews for it, or catch up on the latest entitled "Re:correcting
understeer?"

NFB(no front bar) seems to work for some people.  Long story short, in my
experience, a front swaybar is a good thing on a VW.  Basic rule of thumb:
stiffen the end you want to stick less, soften the end you want to stick
more.  Basically.  Rear bars are larger than front bars on VWs, at least in
the aftermarket - if a larger rear bar than front is good, no front must be
better, right?  I don't believe so.

Basically, you want to wind up with a suspension setup which allows the
tire to contact the road fully, providing maximum grip.  For cars with good
camber curves/gain, soft/NFB might work well.  VWs, however, tend to roll
off the contact patch, even with a mile of negative camber and a grippy
tire.  A front bar, in my experience, helps keep the car flat, hence
increasing front end grip.

SRS has a point - a front bar does impede power application upon corner
exit, as the bar tries to lift the inside tire off the ground.  IMHO, the
tradeoff is worth it - with the bar, corner speeds are higher, and one has
to be a bit more reserved when accelerating out of a corner.

Even with super-stiff front springs, I prefer to use a front bar - without
it, the car rolls over too much, creating understeer.  Eric Parkin is one
of the biggest advocates of NFB on the newsgroup, and he recently told us
that he uses Hoosier autocrossers on the front, BFG street tires on the
rear.  I can see it "working" there, but I can't imagine it being fast.

For the street, I think a bar is a good idea, but that's up to you - I
don't drive fast enough on the street to make a front bar worthwhile.  I
think your 22mm bar on the front will make a big difference in absolute
handling - try it, I'd bet you find it to be good.  I see Shine's point, I
tried NFB when I first got into this stuff, have since put one on, lessened
its effectiveness to see what happened, wound up with a 22mm bar firmly
affixed and fairly stiff springs.  Swaybars are good at the front of a VW!

I.Mannix(IMHO, of course....YMMV, etc......)


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