sway bars
08-17-2011, 11:13 AM
#1
Member
SL Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 51
sway bars
When I jerk the wheel right and then hard left as if I'm avoiding an animal, it feels as if my car tail whips around and the back end slides for alittle bit. Will sway bars take care if this problem?
08-17-2011, 02:59 PM
#2
Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 39
It won't solve the problem entirely but will definitely help. If you get the rear sway bar it will keep more tire on the ground therefore giving you better control of your car. Lowering your car, getting wider tires etc. will also help. I will have to say that my rear sway bar as saved me from sliding quite a few times.
08-17-2011, 03:05 PM
#3
Member
SL Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 51
I was looking and did some little research and I have a TRD rear sawy bar and it has two settings. One is street and the other is race with stiffen's it up. Right now its on street so later I am going to put it on race. Hopefully its makes a bog difference. There are two holes about 1 inch apart so i have to move it to the lower hole from the higher hole on the rear sway bar
08-17-2011, 08:59 PM
#7
Member
SL Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 51
i think i have a trd suspension.
I have a problem. I was trying to take off the sway bar by the ends on by the rotors and i was unscrewing the one screw for five minutes and it didnt come out. is there something i am missing? plese let me know thanks
I have a problem. I was trying to take off the sway bar by the ends on by the rotors and i was unscrewing the one screw for five minutes and it didnt come out. is there something i am missing? plese let me know thanks
08-18-2011, 12:05 AM
#8
You mean your endlinks? You need have another wrench to hold the other side of the bolt from spinning. Otherwise you will be trying to take the bolt off until who knows when.
08-18-2011, 12:36 AM
#9
Member
SL Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 51
Ok because now the bolt is loose and I can't tighten it. When I go over bumps now, it makes a clinking noise. So the bolt on the other side you are talking about is in between the sway bar and something else?
08-18-2011, 02:19 AM
#10
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 774
You need to put an Allen wrench in the end, and remove the nut.
Use a HIGH quality Allen wrench, like craftsman, snapon, etc.
Clean the threads with a wire brush.
Use penetrating oil.
Your back end coming out was your driving.
Using a rear antisway bar will help your car rotate better. As an autocross racer, I use the largest rear bar, a Hotchkis, on the tightest setting.
Sounds like that's the opposite of what you want.
You can make the back end come out on almost any car. It's called throttle off oversteer. Imagine your car pivots on a large ball under the center of the car. When you accelerate, weight is shifted back. Your rear tires have more weight, therefore usually more traction. Your fronts have less weight, and are more prone to spin.
The opposite, when you slow, weight is shifted forward. That is why your front brakes are considerably larger than the rears. Anyway, your rear is unweighted, and prone to instability, especially if braking while turning. Two things can happen in an extreme situation: your car will understeer- go straight when you try to turn. If you get the car to turn, the back end can lock the brakes and oversteer.
Use a HIGH quality Allen wrench, like craftsman, snapon, etc.
Clean the threads with a wire brush.
Use penetrating oil.
Your back end coming out was your driving.
Using a rear antisway bar will help your car rotate better. As an autocross racer, I use the largest rear bar, a Hotchkis, on the tightest setting.
Sounds like that's the opposite of what you want.
You can make the back end come out on almost any car. It's called throttle off oversteer. Imagine your car pivots on a large ball under the center of the car. When you accelerate, weight is shifted back. Your rear tires have more weight, therefore usually more traction. Your fronts have less weight, and are more prone to spin.
The opposite, when you slow, weight is shifted forward. That is why your front brakes are considerably larger than the rears. Anyway, your rear is unweighted, and prone to instability, especially if braking while turning. Two things can happen in an extreme situation: your car will understeer- go straight when you try to turn. If you get the car to turn, the back end can lock the brakes and oversteer.
08-19-2011, 01:34 AM
#14
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: North NJ
Posts: 450
I'll add that more(stiffer) rear sway bar will make the car more likely to oversteer. Also, you should never just jerk the wheel. You should gently steer the car trying to feel what the tires are doing.
08-19-2011, 01:16 PM
#15
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 774
The hole away from the end of the anti sway bar is the stiffer setting=more rotation. Your car will be more responsive, but easier to oversteer.
09-13-2011, 01:00 PM
#16
ok you guys seem very knowlegeable on this subject and i know whats been posted in this thread. the reason i want a trd sway bar is bc i was driving like a ____ed off teenager one day and i took a turn too fast also the person i was following was a tard bc he let off at the top of the turn. long story short i went broadside at 90 and almost hit a truck but it was an epic save thank god 
bc my car had 3k miles. i want to prevent this from happening again i also wanna get trd lowering springs and a front strut bar. anyways what setting do u reccomend with this setup, street or race?
bc my car had 3k miles. i want to prevent this from happening again i also wanna get trd lowering springs and a front strut bar. anyways what setting do u reccomend with this setup, street or race?
09-13-2011, 03:05 PM
#17
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: North NJ
Posts: 450
What happened: You stabbed at the brake mid corner and weight transferred to the front wheels. This combined with the scion's light rear caused the rear wheels to lose traction.
Go autox, learn to control skids. Scions, and a few other toyotas, are known to snap oversteer in extreme conditions(what you experienced). This happens very rarely because to get it to do this you really need to something stupid to unbalance the car that much. Better tires would help but the only thing you can really do to prevent this is learn the causes and avoid them.
The suspension is tuned to understeer from the factory(front wheels lose traction first and you slide off the road head first). I assume that trd springs don't change this, they just make your ride fell more "planted" in corners. The rear sway would make your car oversteer more and understeer less(what happened to you is more likely to happen). This is generally desirable in a race car because oversteer is more controllable and it points you in the right direction. The goal is to keep your inputs gentle(fast but gentle if that makes sense) and feel what the car is doing while turning. Idealy you want just a touch of oversteer(street tires grip best when they have a very small slip angle).
And don't be a dumbass on public roads.
Go autox, learn to control skids. Scions, and a few other toyotas, are known to snap oversteer in extreme conditions(what you experienced). This happens very rarely because to get it to do this you really need to something stupid to unbalance the car that much. Better tires would help but the only thing you can really do to prevent this is learn the causes and avoid them.
The suspension is tuned to understeer from the factory(front wheels lose traction first and you slide off the road head first). I assume that trd springs don't change this, they just make your ride fell more "planted" in corners. The rear sway would make your car oversteer more and understeer less(what happened to you is more likely to happen). This is generally desirable in a race car because oversteer is more controllable and it points you in the right direction. The goal is to keep your inputs gentle(fast but gentle if that makes sense) and feel what the car is doing while turning. Idealy you want just a touch of oversteer(street tires grip best when they have a very small slip angle).
And don't be a dumbass on public roads.
09-13-2011, 09:14 PM
#18
haha yes i tapped the brakes to avoid hitting the person infront of me. i understand why it happened and it was stupid i get that too but im young and dumb and ____ happens it was a learning experience i guess. im not inexperienced thats why i saved it i have raced dirt track and that taught me ALOT. thing is i dont know suspension and new tech i raced four bangers on dirt it was cheap and fun. i just want a setup thats more reliable/ stock tc is decent but the body roll sucks and i can handle oversteer better than understeer i have alot of practice between dirt and all the snow we get every winter. i just want somthing to stick in the corners for when i get that urge and i dont know where to set it.
09-13-2011, 09:46 PM
#19
Also what a few people mentioned, get good tires. I have some cheap Kumho Ecstas and whatever handling improvement I felt from my TRD rear sway bar is gone now because the sidewalls aren't very stiff and it feels like I'm floating on the road. I bought some wheels with used tires on them and love getting my handling back.
09-13-2011, 11:53 PM
#20
Senior Member
SL Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 774
Taint,
A couple things:
a strut bar will have minimal effect on handling. Your strut towers are against the firewall. Not necessary.
There was nothing you could have done in the curve. You had to hit the brakes, you unweighted the rear, and it came around. Unlike on a rwd car, you can sometimes step on the gas on a front driver to pull it out of a fishtail.
All the mods you speak of will make your car more responsive.
Like somebody said, give autocross a try. It will really teach you car handling that you can't (and shouldn't ) learn on the street.
A couple things:
a strut bar will have minimal effect on handling. Your strut towers are against the firewall. Not necessary.
There was nothing you could have done in the curve. You had to hit the brakes, you unweighted the rear, and it came around. Unlike on a rwd car, you can sometimes step on the gas on a front driver to pull it out of a fishtail.
All the mods you speak of will make your car more responsive.
Like somebody said, give autocross a try. It will really teach you car handling that you can't (and shouldn't ) learn on the street.