Rear Sway Bar, Yes or No

Are you running a rear sway bar?


  • Total voters
    18

Gtstorey

Goblin Guru
I had the impression that "most" of the Goblins are not running the rear sway bars but recently came across some post that leads me to to believe that might not be as true as I thought. My donor had "upgraded" sway bars that I would think are too large for this stripped down version but I can pick up a new 18mm sway bar assembly for less than $100. For those that have run it both ways, what are your thoughts on the difference.
 

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
Voted No but that's only because I haven't tried it. I have the coilovers with #500 up front and #220 in the rear.

I see some understeer so maybe I should give it a shot if the factory sway bar would work.
 
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Rauq

Goblin Guru
I haven't bothered trying my SS sway bar but plan to pick up a base model sway bar from the junkyard to try out.
 

Gtstorey

Goblin Guru
Does understeer means more sway bar is needed in the back hold true for rear engine the same as front engine/rear drive?
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
Adding a rear sway bar is one way to help prevent understeer, however you are transferring weight on the rear tires, from the inside tire to the outside tire. That lifting of the inside rear tire during acceleration, makes it easier for the engine to spin this tire, so your differential comes into play here. An open differential will just spin that tire, and LSD will limit the amount of spin, transferring some energy to the outside tire.
 

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
@Rttoys and I have run quite a few autoX in the last year. Russel installed a rear anti sway bar recently and is still evaluating it. I will let him chime in with his thoughts.

After looking at a bunch of pictures of my Goblin in corners, I do not see that much spring compression in the rear or body roll. At lower speeds in cornering (less than 50 mph), my opinion is a roll bar will not make that much of a difference. I do have and LSD too, just for a complete picture.

In the second and third pics below, I had not yet increased my front shock dampers to full yet. Since I have been running the front full hard, I notice less and a more balanced roll through corners and also the quick slaloms. The lighter front end is now picking up more weight in the turns.

My opinions above are with me alone in the car - 195 lbs.
With a hefty 230 lb passenger, the dynamics change considerably. Note the last pic. :0
Keep in mind that the ground was not level in that turn so it accentuates the roll appearance. The lower control arms relative to each other is a good gauge.

Just a few more data points for y'all. ;)
 

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Rttoys

Goblin Guru
Maybe?

I’m not completely sold on it, but I think overall I like it. If you read up on them, you cannot use a “SS” swaybar, they are just too stiff. Dorman makes a “comfort ride” sway bar kit that is for the base model cobalt and is pretty thin. This comes with everything, *but* the end links seem way too long. I ended up using my SS end links to bring up the bar. Also, Depending on what subframe you have, you may need to cut notches for the bushing retainers to work. But it’s basically plug and play.

Dorman # 927-109

 

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Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
What stiffness springs your running front and is going to make a difference here.
Currently running 600sfront, Stock strut and coils, with half a coil removed.
I have tried SS and the base model sway bars and without.
Without the sway and stock springs it's way too soft. The rear spring collapses all the way to the bumpstop and then some. Understeer, oversteer, spin, backwards, it's all over the place. (This was with 300 springs in the front)
SS bar just seems too stiff with one person the car. With two people its better balanced front to rear, but still a little too much oversteer.
Base model bar: what I currently run. With the 600's up front, with one person, the car is easy to balance in the corners with the throttle and can bring the car back if the backend steps out too far. Starting to build confidence in how the car will respond to inputs. But you still have to wait for rear end to basically catch up with front end due to the softer springs, dampening, etc. The sway bar in the corners helps increase the overall spring stiffness.

Note:This is all compensating for not having rear coilovers and proper springs. So use this for what it's worth.
If you have coilovers and a proper spring selection, you shouldn't need a swaybar.
 

Gtstorey

Goblin Guru
Note:This is all compensating for not having rear coilovers and proper springs. So use this for what it's worth.
If you have coilovers and a proper spring selection, you shouldn't need a swaybar.
I'm running (going to run? since I only have about 5 miles on it so far, waiting on registration) 400 springs up front with coilover/300 springs in the rear. I need to wait until I can really drive it before I do anything else, but now that I'm assembled, my weekend might feel a little empty without the project to tie it up. I'm sure at $70 I'll try the sway bar anyway, I just really should wait until I'm on the road with it so I can tell the difference before and after.
 

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
I'm running (going to run? since I only have about 5 miles on it so far, waiting on registration) 400 springs up front with coilover/300 springs in the rear. I need to wait until I can really drive it before I do anything else, but now that I'm assembled, my weekend might feel a little empty without the project to tie it up. I'm sure at $70 I'll try the sway bar anyway, I just really should wait until I'm on the road with it so I can tell the difference before and after.
With the coilovers front and rear, that's not a bad place to start from.

How many clicks from full soft do you have the fronts set to right now? If autocrossing, try starting around 10 and give it a try. I've ended up around 12-14, but our surface is fairly smooth.
 

Gtstorey

Goblin Guru
I haven't set the dampening at all at this point, haven't driven it enough to play with it. Not really planning on autocross, just a back road/canyon carver type with a few trips to the Smokey Mnts likely.
 

Gtstorey

Goblin Guru
I measured the sway bar I pulled off the donor and it's 29mm. I'm guessing that is just a little bit to large. :)
 

Gtstorey

Goblin Guru
Not sure that it helped or not. I’ve done a lot of things dialing in the ride and handling. It’s now working great with the sway bar in place and I have no plans to remove it. But without back to back testing it’s hard to say what part it plays.
 

Rttoys

Goblin Guru
I love mine, but that’s for road and autocross. Haven’t been on a track to test. I have back to back showing it helps at autocross.
 
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