Well, I finally found the time to bleed the brakes today. Started the car up and took it out on the road for the first time in several months. The roads were wet and I have yet to put the rear sway bar on so I took it easy. Abolutely no problems!! No wheels fell off, the car stopped well, just a little wiggly in the *** end because of the lack of swaybar.

I do have a question about lowered cars and wheel hop in reverse. I made a quick K-turn and when I hit the gas, the back end hopped up and down like a kangaroo!! I am not sure if it was the zexel not liking the wet road, but it was not nice. Does anyone have the same problem?

 

You metioned the car was lowered...
In the event that you did not go with
LCA relocation brackets you propably agravated
a geometry problem associated with lower controlarms.

 

I took care of the LCA problem... relocation brackets . The LCA is parallel to the ground.

 

umm, well i don't have the rear sway bar in and i noticed an IMPROVMENT in the ability to get on it harder during the turns....i like it better without the rear sway. Is there ne thing dangerious about this..i know some cars don't even have rear sways..some 3rd gens don't

 

I have a very stiff suspension. Huge swaybar up front, stiff springs all around, subframe connectors, strut tower brace that sort of thing. As I was going down the highway I could feel the back of the car rocking from side to side. Even small adjustments to the steering wheel was exagerated in the back end... not the tight, precise handling I was used to. It made me feel as if it could kick out at any second.. and since it was wet... not a good combination.

 

Hey Tim, got it back on the road finally eh? Good to hear that... but bad to hear about the wheel hop. Can't really help you there as I have no experience with a lowered vehicle or the kinetics involved in backing up. We need to get to the track soon... finals are over this week and things should be much better in my life once they're out of the way.

 

Luke:

Yup, it was an interesting ride! I will be starting the fronts soon (I hope) How did you fair with your rebuild? I saw that you were having problems. What did you end up doing about the bushing issue?

I think the hoping was just the posi getting confused. Since it was wet out I was able to spin the tires REAL easily and it didn't do it in reverse. When it stops FREAKIN' raining I will get under the car and check for loose bolts.

 

why dont you just put the rear sway bar backon and see how it rides.

 

(insert smart arsed comment here)

 

As for the wheel hop in reverse, my stock suspension Formula does that too. I actually broke a couple teeth off of the reverse cluster one time, because of the hopping/jarring.
You'll never believe me if I told you why I had to back up that quickly, but let me tell you, losing a couple teeth was worth it.
My advice would be to not backup quickly, if the hop bothers you. Burnouts in reverse are kind of pointless.

 

I hope it was because I don't have the swaybar on. We shall see this weekend.

 

Weather is crap today (Sat) here in Randolph...no good data for you. Hopefully Sun will dry out a tad.

 

I'll belive you. Tell me.

 

I would like to know as well!!

BOTTLEDZr28:

Well, I took your advise today and installed the sway bar


Needless to say it runs like a dream. I didn't feel like testing the reverse wheel hop issue, but I did try to duplicate it going forward. A quick burnout (to remove the "protective coating" of the new tires) was a success.. no wheel hop. I am pretty happy. The **** end stopped "floating" at highway speeds also.

 

LOL! When the wheels stay on, you're 1/2 way to success!

camaro6spd, there's nothing dangerous about having the rear sway bar removed; in fact, it makes for safer driving. This sets the car up for "understeer", in which case, the front tires "plow over" on a sharp turn, instead of grabbing. Most (all?) cars that come from the factory have some understeer built in as a safety for a regular driver. Oversteer is what we want; but it can make the rear end get away from you if you're not careful.

So that's probably why you feel like you can "get on it harder" without the rear sway bar- the rear tires aren't staying "flat" on the road and therefore "sliding" (like they would with oversteer). With the rear bar removed, the rear tires aren't staying flat, so the rear of the car is twisting, and the front wheels are plowing over. That's why it seems like you have more traction with the rear bar removed. With the rear sway bar on, and if you "get on it" during a turn, you'll kick the back end out... and that's what GM wants to avoid.

As far as I've seen, only the early f-bodies came without rear sway bars, leading me to believe that a rear bar was to be an option, and sometime around '85, it became standard.