2edybrd

I have the SLP Lvl 1 suspension. It's great for the street but is starting to get a little boring. I'm thinking of getting a larger sway bar for the rear to keep it more level in the turns, but I was wondering if I really need to do that. Would changing the bushings/ endlinks out to polyeurathane make the car "think" it has a larger sway bar or do you guys think I should just change the whole thing out? Any help is surely appreciated.

Dom

iTrader: (2)

You'd be better off getting a bigger front sway bar. Bigger rear bar will not help you much. It might hurt you since you will oversteer more and forget about throttle when cornering since it will kick the rear out.

2edybrd

Thanks for the advice Dom. I do have a larger sway bar up front. It just seems that the car tends to roll a bit more than I would like. It feels like a lot of that is coming from the rear. I know alot of people say that a large rear sway bar makes the car way too tail happy(I ran into that problem with my old '86 IROC.) That's why I was thinking maybe just changing the bushings would make a big difference without ruining rear end grip. Or maybe some koni shocks instead of the Bilsteins I have now.

AZ28driver

Have you thought about adding a strut tower brace?

Dom

iTrader: (2)

I just looked at the contents of the SLP level 1 suspension. You shouldn't really be understeering with just a 32mm bar in the front. You can try a 21mm bar in the rear and see if that helps to neutralize the car. Those spring rates must be pretty biased towards the front I guess. Poly bushings/endlinks are nice and cheap, but I don't know if much can be noticed from them. There is probably some difference. I put mine on at the same time with 1LE sway bars. Your shocks are already pretty good.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

Springs support the weight at each corner.

Sway bars control the amount of roll weight

Any chassis mounting point that is not ome sort of bearing surface, adds spring rate.

Shock slow the acceleration of a spring loading or unloading.

Hard parts like SFC, STB make the frame more rigid and do nothing for weight control.

open wheel

The sway bar is to control the weight as it transfers from one side to another on initial turn in. You need to explain when the car is getting loose in the corner.

2edybrd

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sometimes the car will begin a fishtail right at the apex of the turn. Before anyone says anything, I'm keeping the throttle neutral when I enter the corner and then ease into it just before the apex. It's always a very controlled slide and I bring it back into line very easily. I just don't like the way the car is leaning so hard when I get deep into the turn. There have actually been times when the car has bottomed out on the outside rocker panel when going through a dip in the middle of a turn. Maybe stiffer rear springs would do it? Here are my current suspension mods:
BMR Strut Tower brace
LG Motorsports welded subframes
SLP Lvl 1 suspension w/ boxed LCA's and
boxed panhard.
Wheels are aligned at .5 Deg. neg. camber otherwise factory alignment

<small>[ September 03, 2002, 08:52 AM: Message edited by: 2edybrd ]</small>

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

If you change your roll rate or spring rate, it will change the handling of your car.

It actually sounds like your car does damn good right now. If it were me, I'd leave it alone and get used to the roll ...

BraemerZ28

iTrader: (2)

I'm not sure if this will help or not, but I just installed the same SLP suspension that you have in addition to their 21mm 1LE rear sway bar.

I have not had any problems with the rear end coming around when I don't want it to. The rear has noticeably less body roll than before. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the springs, but the 21mm rear bar also helps.

I think you'll enjoy it. It's only about $75.00 and 30 minutes to install so if you don't like it, you can put the old one back on and get most of your money back by selling it on the board.

Good luck,

2edybrd

Thanks again for the replies everyone. BraemerZ28,
I thought about a larger rear sway bar, but I was wondering if I might get the same benefits if I simply switched the bushings and end links for polyeurathane. I don't know, maybe it costs the same either way. I was thinking of switching the rear springs out for 1LE springs as they have maybe 10 - 15 more pounds of spring pressure. Do they lower the rear at all. I've heard yes about 1/2 inch and I've heard no, not at all. does anyone know?