I currently have a 32mm front sway bar on my car (24mm rear). Would I see any improvement by switching to a 36mm front bar, or would the difference not be worth it?

 

Yes in your case it should be worth it. (I looked at your sig of modifications) You will definately notice a difference. The body weight of these cars have a certain roll percentage when compared to the roll factor of the suspension design. the 36mm bar is really beneficial up front. Keep a smaller bar in the rear if possible, but I see you already have the larger 24mm- so you definately need the bigger 36 to help match cornering balance. What you also wantto do (against what many people will tell you wrongly) is to get your rear LCA's parallel to the ground with you in the dirvers seat. I see you have LCA RB's, if you have listened to others and bought these thinking you need to drop the rear mounts of the LCA''s to the lowest setting you are probably hurting yourelf here unless the car is extremely lowered with lots of rear supension travel (soft rear springs and shocks)...again- make sure those rear LCA's are parallel tot he ground aproximatly (probably will never be perfectly parallel, just get them close as you can.)

 

while its apart, dont forget a good set of endlinks and bushings for the sway bar.

see what the car does after the install, you may find the rear bar to be too much for the car.

 

I've never heard of a factory equipped 32/24 combo on an IROC.

JamesC

 

The car already has a set of energy suspension end links and sway bar bushings on the bar. I don't know if the bar has been changed or not, but it is a 32mm front 24mm rear combo. Would there be any cons of switching to the larger 36mm bar, or would I only improve with the swap?

 

get the 36, that 24 rear isn't a good match for a 32.

 

85iroc - I'm surprised that you aren't already complaining about the car being a little tail-happy. Power mods, front suspension mods to make that end stick better and rear suspension mods that sacrifice a little rear lateral grip tend to make a car easier to get the tail to come around on corner exit.


Norm

 

I went from a 32 to a 36 this summer and noticed a difference, plus its lighter

 

Just a little info. Approximatly every 4mm increase in bar size will double its rate. Even though a solid bar will be stiffer then a hollow bar the outside diameter plays the biggest role in determining it's twisting resistence. Needless to say a hollow 36mm bar is much stiffer then a solid 32mm bar. There is a sway bar rate calculator someplace on the web.

 

Doubling the rate of a solid bar takes 19% bigger diameter if everything else remains the same (1.19 = fourth root of two).

To compare a solid 32mm bar to a tubular 36 mm bar you really need to know the ID of the 36. Typically, ID's of one-piece tubular bars are around 70% to 72% of the OD (wall thickness ≈15% of OD). That puts a tubular 36 about 20% stiffer than a solid 32.


Norm

 

Thanks for the info. The rear off the car does feel like it gets real light when conering at higher speeds. I would imagine that the 36mm bar should cure some of this.

 

I may be wrong but i think the 24mm rear sway bar came only on 1LE car.
and 23mm only on G92 option car.

 

IROC's were equipped with 24's.

JamesC

 

36mm is an improvement from the 32mm, did that upgrade myself 20 years ago.

As others may suggest, there may be no easy rear sway bar choice for an f-body. Different springs, weight reduction, and weight of the rearend itself will contribute to a choice of rear sway bar.

 

My 86 IROC had 34/24 combo, stock. Poly end links and bushings will help too!