Eibach Rear Sway Bar Impressions

[Ruturaj]

A powerful RWD (or RWD-biased AWD) car will always oversteer if you apply enough power to exceed traction.

No swaybar will prevent that.

Not prevent but lessen (to make it better balanced).

 

[MerlintheMad]

I just want to make it harder for the car to surprise me, that's all. I didn't like that oversteer I got at all; very unsettling. But I reckon an episode of understeer would be much worse at speed. I can counter steer if the back end comes around. Watching the edge of the road coming while I crank the steering wheel harder would offer no response but that vacuous, sinking feeling that accompanies the words, "Oh, shit …" I believe that Indy 500 drivers refer to that "maneuver" as "getting into the marbles".

 

[Manaz]

Not prevent but lessen (to make it better balanced).

Only to a certain degree. If you're ham-fisted with your throttle, swaybars won't matter.

 

[itguy61]

It is easier to recover from bad under steer than over steer. Over steer can have you in a spin or facing the opposite direction. Google Porche 911 drop throttle oversteer.

 

[Manaz]

Yeah, and the natural reaction for most people is to back off the throttle. This is why most road cars are set up from the factory for understeer as a default position.

Of course, you can induce snap oversteer by backing off too if you do it wrong (or right, depending on intent).

 

[MerlintheMad]

Only to a certain degree. If you're ham-fisted with your throttle, swaybars won't matter.

What you're saying is that "drifters" waste their money if they get sway bars.

 

[Manaz]

What you're saying is that "drifters" waste their money if they get sway bars.

They're intentionally ham-fisted.

I can't share it (due to restrictions on what I can share as an official), but I have video footage from an international motorsport event of one of the drift cars in the "entertainment" sliding into a fence from a few years ago. They haven't been invited back since for some reason...

 

[itguy61]

Yeah, and the natural reaction for most people is to back off the throttle. This is why most road cars are set up from the factory for understeer as a default position.

Of course, you can induce snap oversteer by backing off too if you do it wrong (or right, depending on intent).

I think what you are referring to is drop throttle oversteer. I have never been able to get RWD car to do this outside of a 911. I induce snap oversteer by giving it more gas which increases the oversteer and pop the back end around. I do have Eibach sways so maybe they influence this as they seemed to have reduced the understeer plowing a bunch.

 

[Manaz]

I think what you are referring to is drop throttle oversteer. I have never been able to get RWD car to do this outside of a 911. I induce snap oversteer by giving it more gas which increases the oversteer and pop the back end around. I do have Eibach sways so maybe they influence this as they seemed to have reduced the understeer plowing a bunch.

Maybe not oversteer, but certainly less understeer as the weight is transferred forward and the front wheels get more grip as a result.

Snap oversteer when releasing the throttle entirely can be quite disconcerting. It's absolutely possible to do it on a RWD car, because the weight transfer into the nose is largely the same irrespective of which wheels are driven.

And yes, it's easier to induce snap oversteer in a rear-engined car like a 911 because the rear-end on those things can swing like a pendulum if you're not in control of it - I've never seen a car keener to swap ends once grip is lost.

Inducing oversteer by overpowering grip levels in the back is different - it's an absolute loss of traction at the rear as opposed to an absolute increase in traction at the front (even if the front to rear grip levels relative to each other is ultimately the same in either case - the front wheels end up with more available grip than the rears.