Rear Swaybar

[ARTZ]

Ok so my suspension is pretty standard aside from a anb old set of bilstein shocks/springs, but she handles pretty well i feel and turns in crisply,(though shocks could probably do with a sevice). I've been wondering on getting a slightly thicker rear swaybar to reduce that slight understeer feel you get on a long bend and also hoping it will sharpen up tight turns somewhat. Does this sound like the right thing to do. Will it make a difference much.

Any suggestions on something not to pricey ?

Edited January 7, 2011 by Arthur T3

[blind_elk]

Yes, a stiffer rear bar will reduce the understeer tendency (actually, increase the oversteer tendency). A bit less rear -ve camber will also help. More air pressure in the front tyres will reduce the understeer. More -ve camber in the front will reduce the understeer.

The range from Whiteline is probably the best researched bars for Skylines.

[Dan_J]

just jap, not pircey. if your getting some understeer get an wheel alignment

[ARTZ]

Its not tragic understeer but the back just wobbles around a bit more than id like it too, the front turns in crisp as but the back doesnt quite follow the same

front is -3.5 already not sure what the back is at just normal i think, is it easy enough to adjust rear camber here cause i was thinking of doin that as well, -1 camber maybe and a 22mm bar

JJR dont have any stock and whitelines are about 250 from what i can see , I still havent tried my rear strut brace yet maybe that will make some diffence

Edited January 7, 2011 by Arthur T3

[Touge Kyousou]

You mention understeer in the first post then in a follow up post say that the car turns in crisply but the back end wobbles ?

Sooo, which is it ?

A rear swaybar done by itself will generally give less understeer but make the car more prone to oversteer. As you go through the turn, the thicker rear bar will place more weight on the front wheels thus giving the front end more grip but the rear will have less grip - this is a generalisation as it all depends on the exact car and existing sussy etc. A rear strut brace may help a little but likely not alot...the problem more lies in the chassis design (it's an almost 20year old design after all) and the chassis aging/deteriorating.

Your front camber is pretty damn excessive too, if this is a street car i.e. 3.5 would be perfect for track but overkill for the street. 1.5 would be plenty. Look into increasing castor angle for the front so you get dynamic negative camber instead. Also get a good wheel alignment where they do the toe in/out settings as this will greatly affect the feel and behaviour of the car too.

The backs cannot really be camber adjusted as well (well not a great range due)...to make drastic camber changes, you'll need camber arms for at least the back.

I didn't realise jjr made bars for skylines ? I've seen the ones they have for silvias but they're specced at 30mm + .. i suspect they're for the drift crowd.

Personally, i'd go for adjustable bars, that way you can dial it to exactly how you want. I'm in the process of doing so for my car.

[ARTZ]

yes i know the front is a tad excessive for the street but thats the way i bought it and I like the way it feels. Doesnt do alot of ks so not really concerned about tyre wear either. I may take it to a track someday

The crisp feel in the steering is no doubt because of this and i was thinking that stiffening the rear up may make it turn in even better and get rid of some of the floaty feel in the rear

Its not that the understeer is a problem i was just wondering if i could make it a little better than it is for a little outlay but maybe its not worth the effort..

Edited January 7, 2011 by Arthur T3

[Munkyb0y]

just wondering, does S15 rear swaybar fit R33?

[KiwiRS4T]

yes i know the front is a tad excessive for the street but thats the way i bought it and I like the way it feels. Doesnt do alot of ks so not really concerned about tyre wear either. I may take it to a track someday

The crisp feel in the steering is no doubt because of this and i was thinking that stiffening the rear up may make it turn in even better and get rid of some of the floaty feel in the rear

Its not that the understeer is a problem i was just wondering if i could make it a little better than it is for a little outlay but maybe its not worth the effort..

Get one you won't regret it.

[Touge Kyousou]

Well doing the rear will decrease body lean which will further help turn in and cornering performance. It's just that most rwd cars get the front bar upgraded not the rear, as upgrading the front bar will allow the car to drive out of corners better (by placing more load on the rear wheels hence more traction). Usually it's fwd cars that will do the rear bar first/only as that increases the limit before understeer and also introduces a bit of a twitchy rear end for the fwd car so it can sort of pivot around corners.

My guesstimate is bottom line, it should give you a noticeable feel in cornering performance/feel so i say go for it too..it's a cheap mod compared to all else really.. just bear in mind you are changing the understeer to oversteer tendency of the car by doing one bar only (so preferable to buy an adjustable bar so you can have a little control of the bias).

Your front camber will no doubt give excellent turn in but once turned in you may not be getting full traction available unless you corner like a maniac on the street lol...the camber is probably too much that once turned in, your front tires aren't sitting flat on the road hence not getting maximum lateral traction.

I wouldn't worry too much about rear camber as long as it's around neg 1 or so. Anymore for street and you're once again not getting full lateral grip. Plus by doing the rear swaybar, this will actually encourage the rear wheels to not change camber as much during cornering due to less body lean/roll.

Munkyboy,

Pretty sure s15 bars won't fit r33..some s14 bars will however.

[ARTZ]

I do tend to corner like a manic on occasion, better than getting speeding fines right?

Yeah i usually thought it was the front ones for RWD cars a swell not sure where i got in my head to do the rear..Maybe too many slow tight corners, been reading a few articles and maybe i have it all wrong..

[Munkyb0y]

Munkyboy,

Pretty sure s15 bars won't fit r33..some s14 bars will however.

i'm pretty sure they share the same rear camber arms, and even rear coilovers are interchangeable between the two........... i thought. maybe i was wrong.

[Touge Kyousou]

Hey i just checked, think i'm wrong lol not you.

There's some whiteline bars that work for r33/s14/s15 so i guess some bars are interchangeable then!.

I would imagine the 33 to need slightly larger bars than the s14/s15 due to heavier weight.

[ARTZ]

yeah but the jjr ones ar5e 30mm which is bit bigger than i was going to use..

Whiteline have 22,25,27mm i was just thining to use the smaller of these.

Im also wondering now if the feeling im getting is because of the loss of contact at the front from the excessive camber as you mentioned, but i do like the steering response and maybe a slightly bigger rear bar would rectify it..

On another note i just remembered i still have hicas maybe i just remove this first

[Touge Kyousou]

Well yeah get rid of that but it shouldn't really give understeer though.

I know what you mean by mid corner understeer..i had the same with my 33 and was also very annoyed by it.

That was running 1.5 neg camber front with 7degree castor too and bilstein stocks/hks springs! Even stripped the rear of the car to change the weight bias (effectively more weight on front wheels) and it still had mid corner understeer. I recently installed f+r adjustable bars and things are much tighter now but it needs some playing around with the f/r bar stiffness.

Yep those jjr ones are massive... they may actually be not as aggressive as they sound IF they are hollow...if they are solid though...it's gonna be one aggressive bar (probably too aggressive)!