i found a good deal on 1 1/2" front and a 7/8" rear sway bars. i've heard of problems caused by one being too thick, or too thin. will these give my car the proper balance? if not, what are the right sizes?

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87 Camaro LT
bone stock 305 w/ 700r4 0-60: 3 minutes
mods to come:
ground effects
93 camaro seats
99 camaro center console
91 z28 rims
white 145mph iroc gauges

 

As long as they are stock bars off the same car they should be ok. Or if they an aftermarket set they will be fine.

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350 with stealth intake, holley carb, 470 lift cam. 700r4 with .5 boost valve, vette servo, tci lock-up kit, B&M megashifter. Richmond 3.73 gears, powertrax locker, timkin bearings, synthetic lube. Custom 3 inch single into 2 2.5 pipes. 1 1/2 drop springs, 1 5/16 solid front sway bar, 1 inch rear bar, custom subframe connectors, custom LCA relocation brackets. Kobel ground FX, currant red metallic paint. Lots of other stuff...
82camaro

 

You can see more about this in my reply to a post from just a few days ago at https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/003295.html

In stock form, third generations F bodies vary alot but most have lots of understeer.
Things you do to the car can make a big difference too, like non stock tire & wheel sizes, different air pressure in the tires on the front and rear axles, installing a big subwoofer box in the rear hatch area, etc.

Given a choice it is better to error slightly on the side of having a little understeer. If you hit a turn too hard and loose traction, a car with understeer is easier to control than a car with oversteer.
However a completely neutral balance is best and you will have to tune each car individually to get it. There are just too many variables for a "one size fits all" routine.

https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/003295.html

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Tracy /AKA IROCKZ4me
'86 IROC-Z Camaro
"Cogito ergo zoom"

• 355 cid
• AFR heads
• Arizona Speed & Marine hydraulic roller cam w/ AFR hydra-rev kit
• modified SLP runners
• TRW forged pistons/ceramic coated
• fully balanced
• Edelbrock headers/ceramic coated
• SLP cat-back
• Paxton supercharger
• Nitrous Express nitrous oxide

EFI Performance Club on Yahoo

 

what will create understeer, front sway bar too big, or rear sway bar too big?

------------------
87 Camaro LT
bone stock 305 w/ 700r4 0-60: 3 minutes
mods to come:
ground effects
93 camaro seats
99 camaro center console
91 z28 rims
white 145mph iroc gauges

 

Understeer with sway bars: Front bar too big or rear bar too small. But like he said above, lots of other stuff cause understeer/oversteer. Spring rate, front/rear suspension height, shocks/struts, alignment, tire size/compound/pressure, and of course all the track conditions. If you look at a race set-up, it changes to some degree on every track. In a street car, all you can do is get close.

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350 with stealth intake, holley carb, 470 lift cam. 700r4 with .5 boost valve, vette servo, tci lock-up kit, B&M megashifter. Richmond 3.73 gears, powertrax locker, timkin bearings, synthetic lube. Custom 3 inch single into 2 2.5 pipes. 1 1/2 drop springs, 1 5/16 solid front sway bar, 1 inch rear bar, custom subframe connectors, custom LCA relocation brackets. Kobel ground FX, currant red metallic paint. Lots of other stuff...
82camaro

 

how does the front bar being too big or rear too small create understeer? I thought it would be the opposite because if you have a big front bar and a small rear one then your front tires would stick more evenly during a turn and since the rear inside tire gets less traction due to the smaller bar then the rear would want to slide out because it has less total surface area contacting the ground than the front.

That's just how I thought of it though.

 

For a while I had a 30 front and 23 rear on my car and it would tend to oversteer on cornering.