Sway Bar "The Facts"

Sway Bars "The Facts"

Sway bars used on a race car do not do as the name sounds. They are not for stopping sway, in the old days, the sway bar acted a lot different then what the use is for today in racing, The sway bar SHOULD NOT BE USED ON DIRT RACE CARS!!!! I stress this; do to how It funtions, I will explain in the next paragraph.

Sway bars are to be used on asphalt cars with respect to the following function. Picture this, a race car going around a turn, as the car turns left, the chassis wants to roll to the right side, you feel it in your daily driver when you take a sharp turn to fast..This is called a controlled roll in racing. The sway bar is basically a longer version of a torsional bar that links the left and right side lower control arms together. On a dirt driven race car, the right side depends upon maximum chassis roll to the right, this action causes the right front tire to grip the loose stuff and helps steer the car through the turn. On an asphalt car, if the chassis is allowed to roll the same amount as a dirt race car, the front of the car will slide out or push, plow, or what ever you want to call it. The sway bar being linked to both front lower control arms, is mounted by a bolt and normally some bushing.

When the car makes a left turn, the chassis starts to roll to the right, the right side lower arm moves upward forcing the sway bar to move in an upward motion, thus moving the left side up also, when this happens the left side does not lose any of its static weight and can keep traction. Remember, the sway bar keeps weight transfer from moving from one side of the car to the other. And it keeps it at a minimum, this equalizes the weight..

Now for the tricky stuff:

The sway bar must have adjustable points on it, this allows for preload adjustments, the preload helps with cross weight transfer. This is a useful tool in setting up your race car. In using it to fine tune the cross weight remember this rule, when the left side is shortened, it adds cross weight to the chassis. when its lenthened, it takes cross weight out of the chassis.

You do not want to keep the suspension from moving, making the front end to rigid will NOT allow you to plant the front end to turn, If you use to stiff a sway bar you will develop a heavy push, To small of a sway bar will let the chassis roll to much to the right and again, your going to have problems.

Sway bars come in several configurations, and designs, some are one piece, some are multi-piece, some are configured to fit with in a confined space, also coming in different sizes, where only a few thousandths of difference in size will make big changes when mounted up to your race car. smaller bars with large preloads are not the same as larger bars with less preload, the small bar may act or look like its doing the same job as its bigger counterpart, but when the car enters a turn the right front will roll more and the front balance will be lost. If there isnt enough preload on the sway bar, the front end will bounce up and down by use of the springs, and when the car enters a corner the sway bar will start working, but may not be to its advantage.