hansken_yo wrote:Can you explain this to me? I under the impression that the sway bars are to keep the car from wanting to roll, which when the car rolls gives added inertia so the back end will feel like its coming around. With the sway bar it suppose to give more stability and then the only reason why the car would slide is from going excessively fast. This is how I understand things, and if i'm wrong I would love to be corrected. Also, if what you say is correct how does this not diminish the purchase of the product? (I'm not trying to be confrontational, so please take this sincerely.)
Essentially, it has to do with the sway bar not allowing the rear suspension to flex/twist as much as normal. Think of it like this: when you have the sway, it tries to keep the rear tires linked together for optimum handling. You know what I mean?
Here's a better article:
http://www.stockcarracing.com/techartic ... esnt_sway/
Wikipedia wrote:Anti roll bars provide 2 main functions:
The first is the reduction of body lean. The reduction of body lean is dependent on the total roll stiffness of the vehicle. Increasing the total roll stiffness of a vehicle does not change the steady state total load (weight) transfer from the inside wheels to the outside wheels, it only reduces body lean. The total lateral load transfer is determined by the CG height and track width.
The other function of anti roll bars is to tune the high g / limit understeer behavior of the vehicle. The limit understeer behavior is tuned by changing the proportion of the total roll stiffness that comes from the front and rear axles. Increasing the proportion of roll stiffness at the front will increase the proportion of the total weight transfer that the front axle reacts and decrease the proportion that the rear axle reacts. This will cause the outer front wheel to run at a higher slip angle, and the outer rear wheel to run at a lower slip angle, which is an understeer effect. Increasing the proportion of roll stiffness at the rear axle will have the opposite effect and decrease understeer.
At the bottom of the wikipedia article, it lists drawbacks. Such as "waddling". I can attest to that. Broken/bumpy pavement sucks, MOSTLY while cornering. That sway is trying to keep those two rear tires linked together, so you "skip" across the pavement. This will depend on tires as well as your torsion struts in the rear. I replaced mine with the Mopar ones for ~$50 and I DID notice a difference. Bumpsteer in the rear, if you can call it that, is reduced a little. Hard to believe since the rubber is a harder compound, but it worked.
I'll try and find a good article on this for you. It's on someone cardomain, a Miata guy, and Miata guys are crazy about handling. He went as depth as doing writeups on each tire he bought, each suspension piece and how it affected the ride, handling, etc. I'll search for it, as I think it would help everyone out, it's not just Miata-specific.
TIRE PRESSURE: If you lower the pressure in the rear tires, you have more of a contact patch, thereby increasing grip. If you RAISE the pressure, there's less of a contact patch, giving you LESS grip. Try it sometime. (That really applies to dry pavement only--wet or snow is opposite, the more of a contact patch, the more the tire "floats" on top of snow/rain and you will slide easier, whereas a skinny high psi tire will attempt to cut through to the pavement below)
what should i do to correct it? ive got an 04 SXT (duh!) and have installed 00 struts with eibach springs, the reaosn i put in the 00 struts is cuz the 04 rear struts didnt have the tabs for the rear sway bar, so it currently has a stock 00 sway bar as well. what would help this problem more, sway bars, or strut tower braces...?
Could just be your struts causing your problemo.
