Front swaybar installed- First impressions
 

Well as mentioned in a previous post, I was considering my options with a front swarbar. I found my car to be "tipping in" at the front outside corner on corner entry which leads to entry understeer which then lead to some exit understeer (so in general, my car understeered :( ) To combat this, I had to enter corners at what felt like ridiculously low speeds and try to make up for it after the apex. Even then, the car would power understeer and I'd have to compensate with more lock and basically pre-empt the exit line.

Last night I (with the help of one of the guys at Technik) fitted a whiteline 22mm adjustable front swaybar. I used the standard links but used the cradle bushes that came with the swaybar.

From a quick blast night in the hills and this mornings drive to work, I found the car to have much more grip at corner entry. The pivot point at which the car rolls seems to have moved further back on the car and the car was generally flatter through the whole corner. I also found that powering out of the corner, the car had less tendencies to power understeer due to the reduction in weight shift (from less roll). The main concern I've always had with fitting a front swaybar has always been the addition of more understeer, however after fitting this bar, my thoughts have definately changed. The car's is now appreciably more balanced and has made the car more netural and more predictable. I think the car will still understeer once pushed passed it limits but the limits have definately risen. Also I think people that have fitted front bars have gone into corners a lot quicker and found "more" understeer, but in reality, it's the extra speed that has caused it (plus the fact that all that momentum is now forced onto the outside wheel immediately instead of transitioning from roll to tyre) and if they'd just backed off a little at entry , I think overall speed through the corner would have increased.

However, I must stress that this is merely a first impression on some pretty flowing roads, it'll be interesting to see what happens at MC's this weekend with it's very tight corners and slaloms.

This is merely my personal opinion and has worked well with the mods are already on my car and may have a different outcome if matched with other mods.

Suspension and handling mods on my car include:
-Whiteline ALK
-Koni adjustable shocks with Apexi springs
-Sti Lateral links, STi trailing arms and STi rear sway bar links all pillowball jointed
-Cusco rear swaybar (22mm set on the stiffest setting)
-Various bracing throughout the chassis.

Hope this helps someone going down the same road as I did.

Darren

I find once you get used to it you can do more of the slow in super fast out... and avoid the understeer that way... if you go too fast in you just have to Gas off as you plough towards the curb and then steer once grip reappears.

PS try heavy duty neons if the understeer persists.