Adj. sway bars - which ones?

[don911]

Looking at sway bars. Who's using what? My top picks are Smart Racing's bars or The Racers Group. I'm leaning towards Smart Racings.
Also, what size for a daily driver/4-5 track events per year car?

Thanks,

[ZCAT3]

Don - I installed TRG bars on my 86 930 and the handling difference is amazing. The car now feels totally neutral. The first time I drove it I got goose bumps. TRG and Smart Racing have very similar products. I would defer to the tech people at the vendor for sizing the bars based on your needs.

[Steve@Rennsport]

Hi Don:

We use and sell the Smart Racing ones now as they are a better execution of these products.

You did not mention what car you have but I'd tell you that street cars usually get 20mm ones and race cars get 23 or 25mm ones. This preserves ride quality.

[dd74]

Steve: Aside from the adjustability, are the bars you sell better than equally-sized Carrera bars? If so, how?

Thanks.

[bigrubberjeep]

What is standard size (from factory) on a 85 Turbo look?

[89911]

Originally posted by dd74
Steve: Aside from the adjustability, are the bars you sell better than equally-sized Carrera bars? If so, how?

Thanks.

One reason is the quality. It's a shame these have to sit under your car and get covered with crud!

[don911]

Sounds like SRP sways are the way to go. Car is a 87 btw.

89911 - How was the installation? I assume the fuel tank has to be removed. Also, any clearance issues in the rear?

[dd74]

I have the same question: does the fuel tank need to be removed?

Thanks.

[Randy Webb]

SW didn't mention this but the SRPs were the first like that, and they are made like fine jewelry. I was down there to take Bruce & Jerry's engine rebuild class just before these came out, walked into the other room during a break and was nearly struck dumb when I saw the initial set. Almost got struck dumb again when Craig told me the price...

If you want the best or just want to reward the inovators and not the copyers, get the SRP ones -- better yet get 2 sets and send one to me.

[addictionMS]

I have SRP ones and have abused them for two years now without a problem, everyone running the Toyo Cup is running SRP so they are well tested.

I am running 31 front and 27 rear on a race car, way too stiff for the street.

last I looked logician (pelican name) is selling a rear bar

Jim

[Bill Verburg]

The smart racing bars are the best and offer the most flexibility of any that I have seen. The only negative that I can come up w/ besides cost is how low the rears hang.

Steve Alarcon came up w/ a really effective reinforcing plate for the front through chassis bars. Mostly for race use w/ big bars. Hope he doesn't mind my posting this, it's not really a secret.

[jpachard]

I have 50+ DE and Race days on mine with no problems. The adjustability is really nice and if you need to go to a bigger bar the bars themselves are pretty reasonable. Great customer service too!

Cheers, James

[ZCAT3]

Yes - you need to remove the gas tank to install the front bars. I have also seen the the Tarett bars sold by our host and those are also very nice bars. I looked at all 3 - TRG, SRP, and Tarett (http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/images/suspension_parts/tarett-Sway_Bar11.jpg) and to be honest, unless you are Jeff Gordon, I do not know how you could tell a difference in performance.

The TRG and Tarett bars are nice in that they are infinitely adjustable, unlike the SRP bars which have fixed adjustment holes. The SRP arms may wear better though because of this - who knows.

Bill

[lally911]

I just installed SRP sways on my 85 and did not have to remove the gas tank. Clever use of a coat hanger got the back mount plate close enough to grab through the hole and pull the six mounting bolts through the holes.

I struggled for three hours with the SRP method of getting the bar to spin in the loose mounts then tightening the mounts down. Every time the bar became impossible to turn by hand. What finally worked for me was using a Radio Shack laser pointer. I tightened both sides down all the way then used the laser pointer through the hole to see how far the other side was off. I then used the bar in the hole method to "adjust" the plane of the mount. Repeated iterations of this on both sides of the car for 30 minutes and the bar spun easily with both mounts completely tightened down.

One concern I have is that the spacers provided by SRP allow the bar to slide back and forth enough to make a clunking noise. Some good size nylon washers may be necessary between the arm and the provided spacer to eliminate the clunk.

Other than that they are beautifully made, fit together perfectly, and are light years above the quality of the weltmeisters I had in there before.

[ZCAT3]

Keith - man, I don't even want to discuss sway bar clunk - if you get some in the front bar it can be bad. Hollow bar, inside hollow trunk, next to hollow gas tank - it can sound like a Mack Truck. You should be able to get the inner locking collars tight enough to keep it from moving side to side and clunking. This is one of the reasons taking the gas tank out is helpful. But as you have the bar mounted, you can just loosen everything up and push the bar up against the driver's side inner fender and then clamp down the collar on the inside passenger wall.

One thing that most tuners do not tell you is that these things can and will make some noise.

[jpachard]

Originally posted by ZCAT3
to be honest, unless you are Jeff Gordon, I do not know how you could tell a difference in performance.

Actually, you can tell the difference, namely in the way the rear bars. Since the design is kinematic, the transitions are much better, IMO. Also, the range in sizes are very well matched to a 911. I just went from a 23mm bar to a 27mm bar and was able to set the bars to my old settings and progress into stiffer settings much more predictably.

Cheers, James

[BlkBird]

I went for the TRG sway bars (24.5mm I believe), mostly because of the price differential between these and Smart Racing. Can't complain and the car never rolls.

Of course, Bilstein sports all around and bigger torsion bars might have contributed to the difference.

[ZCAT3]

Originally posted by jpachard
Actually, you can tell the difference, namely in the way the rear bars. Since the design is kinematic, the transitions are much better, IMO. Also, the range in sizes are very well matched to a 911. I just went from a 23mm bar to a 27mm bar and was able to set the bars to my old settings and progress into stiffer settings much more predictably.

Cheers, James

James - I meant that I do not know how you could tell the difference between say the TRG and SRP adjustable bars from a performance stand point. There is no doubt adjustable bars make a huge difference over the stock sways. This is by and far the most noticeable change I made to the car. The handling is now very neutral. I am surprised that the adjustable sway bars are not recommended more often - even for street only cars.

[89911]

Call me rough rider buy I have 27 front and 30 rear. I orginally had 27 both ways but the had a severe shortage of 27's when my brother ordered his, so Craig suggested trying the 30's in the back of our cars and the 27's up front. I don't run the adjusters up much and so far I like the setup. The overlapping spring rates on his bars are quite large. A maxed out 23mm bar is equal to a lightly tuned 30mm bar according to his graphs. The kinematics of any sway bar are better when the lever ends are approximately 90 degrees anyway.

[stealthn]

Good thread, I have the option of getting some sways at a good price, and wanted to know if I should go the route I had planned first; which was new shocks, bushings and torsions. Would it be better to go the shocks, bushings sways rather than stock SC torsions?

Thanks in advance