Sway bar compromises

[Wishno87]

since almost everything automotive is a compromise ie: stiffer springs, rougher ride. bigger motor, more gas. stickier tires, more wear. what compromise do i have to deal with if i run bigger sway bars? im thinking of getting a ST kit in about a month or so. i searched but couldent find anything so if anyone can link a thread or give me some advice that would be great.

[Wishno87]

anyone? UP

[erik325i]

Your suspension becomes less independent. So, if mid-turn, your inside tire hits a bump, that shock will get transmitted to the outside tire that is trying to grip the ground.
I am a strong believer that you should be playing around with your spring rates rather than installing big swaybars.
That's just me though...

-Erik

[Wishno87]

well i have a set of M3 springs and sport shocks coming in the mail. dont really want do go any stiffer with the springs though because its a cabbie. i also read somewhere that a stiffer rear bar would make the back slip out more, is this true? would stiffer bars give it a rougher ride?

[smonkbmw]

regarding stiffer springs. what does it matter if its a cabrio?

[Wishno87]

i thought since its not as stiff as the coupes hard bumps shake it up more

[Wishno87]

speaking if which hey smonk you wanna come give me some tech support when i throw in the shocks and springs:p havent tore that far into my car before so im a little nervous about it

[nefarious7907]

Your suspension becomes less independent. So, if mid-turn, your inside tire hits a bump, that shock will get transmitted to the outside tire that is trying to grip the ground.
I am a strong believer that you should be playing around with your spring rates rather than installing big swaybars.
That's just me though...

-Erik

Bingo!

For a track car yes bias towards stiffer springs over stiffer sway bars

For a DD/track car sway bars>springs

But this argument that comes down to preference of ride quality could go on forever, if the track driving your going to be doing doesnt include hitting every apex at 90mph then you will be fine with a beefy set of sway bars.

[Wishno87]

i just noticed that the ST kit that i plan on getting has a 22mm front bar which is only 1mm thicker than my stock bar. is it even worth it or should i get the IE kit with the 25mm front? does 1mm make that much of a diffrence?

[1991 318is]

There is no best setup for a car! There is a best setup for a car in a set of conditions with a specific driver. An obvious example is a qualifying setup and a race setup. Ultimately everybody has to set their own car up to suit themselves. I have had four different spring sets and two sets of bars on my own car before I got what I wanted. If you set your car up like mine you will have your car the way I like it.
The best advice I could give anyone is try to buy used springs and bars and save some money.

[Wishno87]

i guess i will try to find if used first. but can anyone tell me if +1mm on the front bar will make a significant diffrence? my stock cabbie bar is 21mm to start with

[nefarious7907]

possibly, but you might just want to try picking up a set of E36 sway bar endlinks and having some tabs welded onto your strut tubes. Or if you have a bit more money to spend you can get adjustable sway bar endlinks, either E30 M3 or E36, they interchange.

[VacMan]

There is a terrific sway bar post by Emre either here or on bf.c that explains how different thicknesses work. I'm going off of memory of that post, but I think every 1mm makes the bar 4x stiffer.

That said, I have Eibach sways front and rear on my cabrio and soft springs (BavAuto.) I don't get as much cowl shake as my buddie's bone stock cabrio got when I drove it and my car handles very neutrally and flat. I'm a proponent of bigger sways/softer springs for a street car, especially a cruiser like a cabrio. If cornering at the limits is in your future, I'd go with stiffer springs, but if you're looking to keep decent ride quality you'll find stiffer sways to be a really nice upgrade.

Tim

PS If you upgrade your front sway you'll be able to sell your stock one since it's the stiffest factory E30 bar.

[moatilliatta]

Dont mean to steal the thread but. i have an ix and i got a little front end push im trying to get out. Im running H&R sports, thinking about going down to some H&R races with stiffer rates or trying out a bigger adjustable rear sway first. What do you guys think?

[PiercedE30]

Bigger rear bar will get rid of the push.