Sway bar upgrade worth while or not on a ws

[Suh401]

Hi guys,
I'm looking at doing some track work with my 2010 was fiesta Zetec. I was on eBay looking at front and rear sway bars for my car. Has anyone installed them before is it worth while? This is also my daily driver and I don't want the car uncomfortable to drive.
Thanks guys

[DZFord]

Absolutely. Have a read here if you haven't already: http://www.whiteline.com.au/vehicle_swaybars.php
At minimum, a larger sway bar on the rear.

[Suh401]

Thank you dzford I have been told that the sway bars are more beneficial on the street rather then the track but I guess I use the car on the street 99% of the time.

I wonder why the front wheel drive cars benefit from the rear sway bar I thought it would be crustal for the car to be equal front and back. Wouldn't it make the car unpredictable?

[DZFord]

Not at all. FWD cars tend to understeer, and stiffening up the rear end reduces understeer.

[Suh401]

Ok that makes sense I'll look into a replacement the next question is can you go to large?

[lukits01]

Usually normal commuter cars are setup to be understeery as to promote stability at high speed. E.g. swerving to avoid obstacle at freeway speed without losing control. Unfortunately this numbs down the handling at day to day cornering speed. Adding a rear swaybar will make a difference to the feel of the car on day to day cornering speed, but of course now you've moved away from that factory "safe" setup.

As to how big, it's all relative really, the rule of thumb at least on the track is for FWD cars, you just want the rear swaybar to be just big enough to be able to lift up the inside rear wheel when cornering and no more.

[Suh401]

Ok, that really explained it quite well. Next question is that my car has esc that cannot be turned off will this be an issue if the rear wheel is picking off the ground?

[lukits01]

it is unlikely that you'll be cornering hard enough on the streets that you would lift the inside rear wheel on the streets.

On the track to be honest, I'm not sure, it all depends on how the ESC has been programmed. It wont break the car or anything but cars with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) based ESC can sometimes get to a state where the ESC tries to straighten the car out (it's assuming you're avoiding an obstacle) instead of helping you turn-in. That assumption makes a huge difference between a "sport" setting ESC and a "safety" setting ESC.

[Suh401]

Sorry mate the question was for on the track I'm very sedate on the road not worth endangering myself and others...

I think I should not jump the gun as I normally do �� and see how the car goes as you said the esc may course more issues with a larger sway bar... Best to see first. I'll let you know and see what your thoughts are. Thanks mate

[lukits01]

Originally Posted by Suh401

Sorry mate the question was for on the track I'm very sedate on the road not worth endangering myself and others...

I think I should not jump the gun as I normally do �� and see how the car goes as you said the esc may course more issues with a larger sway bar... Best to see first. I'll let you know and see what your thoughts are. Thanks mate

Nothing beats just giving it a go and see how it feels really. If the ESC becomes an issue on the track, I doubt adding a rear swaybar will make it any better or worst. Since the system will basically be limiting how you drive the car on track.

To give you an example, my mate races his 370Z and while you can disable TCS, you cannot disable EBD in that car. So under braking it would not turn in smoothly as the ESC would be fighting his inputs, he got so fed up with it that he disconnected the G-sensors that the ESC uses to force the system into fault mode.