Anyone experience and=y drivabilty issues after installing a rear sway.

I had a Hotchkis Comp installed a couple of weeks ago and since then the drive has gotten choppy.

Any suggestions?

Btw, I plan on installing front camber plates and having a 4 wheel alignment this week. I have a feeling that maybe the car is out of alignment.

Minibull

 

Which hole? I think the middle is as stiff as you need to go with JCW susp.

BTW, how do you like your MTH flash?

 

No problems here, but I have the 19mm bar.

 

A rear sway should make any changes I'd define as choppy. Just change how the car turns. If you think the ride change is a result of the install I'd suggest checking and make sure everything was reassembled properly.

 

I have the H Sport Competition bar and is set on the middle setting, and have experienced no problems at all. Probably the best mod to the car.

 

19mm h-sport on the stiffest setting and AOK on the street.

 

It definitely stiffens the car up. With doing every possible suspension mod on my car (except camber plates) my car is choppy to say the least. The biggest part was the PSS9's on full stiff. I am gonna back off the dampening eventually. I think that's normal.

 

A swaybar will affect ride quality. The stiffer the bar, the poorer (a word?) the ride quality. I could go on and on about why, but simply, ride quality suffers.

 

interesting.

I wonder if the trade off of better turn in and less understeer are worth the degraded ride quality.

Has this been debated?

Minbull

 

IMO, it's definitely worth it. I have my H-Sport comp bar on the softest setting and haven't noticed a drop in ride quality. The understeer is nearly dialed out though. The stiffer settings might degrade ride a little but they are also set to be on the oversteer side of balance. On the street, do you really want oversteer?

 

Currently the bar is set is the middle.

I think I will try the softest setting and see how it feels.

Thanks for all the info.

Minibull

 

Going from the middle to the softest setting definately helped my ride quality, along with making the car feel less twitchy at autobahn speeds

 

TANSTAFL! (there ain't no such thing as a free lunch). As meb has stated in many, many excellent suspension posts in the past, there is always going to be a quid pro quo when it comes to upping the performance of the suspension. Now, if you can convince yourself that better suspension performance feels better than a cushy ride, you're good to go.

 

The stock sway bars are more than adequate for street usage. If you autocross or track your car then you need to consider a sway bar change.

 

I agree about the compromise in ride quality vs. performance. This is why the factory is very conservative with suspension.

I like the idea of having a very aggressive driver for street as well as track. The car will eventually see track at some point.

After the front camber plates, sway bar setting changed and the alignment done, I will post my results compared to now.

Minibull

 

Many times on the road I have felt excessive understeer, which the sway-bar is supposed to null out.

 

...add a camber kit and you'll begin to like the stock rear bar.

 

There is a common misperception about understeer.
Even with a very stiff anti-roll bar you can enter a turn wrong and generate understeer.
Late braking is the biggest culprit among the "less than professional" driver club. Of which I am a member in good standing BTW.

 

...add a camber kit and you'll begin to like the stock rear bar.


Amen, brother. Camber + 225 R-compound tires = recipe for a Mini drift car

I'm seriously cosidering going back to the stock bar.

 

Any idea of how much negative camber is good for front camber without chewing up tires?

Mostly concerned for street use.

MiniBull

 

The stock setting: pretty much zero.

 

Again, it's how much you're willing to accept. I ran Yoko Parada Spec 2's for about 12-15k miles with -2.2ish up front. They coned and corded on the inside. I'm now running Avon Tech MS all seasons that are much harder. They've been on about 5k and show very little wear. Interestingly, I think they perform as well as the Yoko's but are about 3x as good in the rain. Go figure.

 

Helix Camber plates on and had alignment with new Nokian WM Tires.

Alignment specs are -1.5 up front.

After driving the car a a few days, I think it needs more -camber than the -1.5.

I think I will shoot for more like -1.75.

Minibull

 

Had the alignment shop put front camber to -2 and all is good.

The rear toe was out as well.

I love the settings in the front now.

Minibull