My understanding for sizing sway bars is this," bigger rear small front; good for straights. small rear small front; good for turns. " I'm wanting to be corrected if wrong. Because i'm trying to determine if I should get a bigger rear sway bar and what would be ideal? I have a limited slip rear and i get sometimes a kick-out from my rear end when i give it the gas instead of a nice straight pull. I thought replacing the rear sway bar might help eliminate this issue but i dont know what would be ideal for size.

For the strut tower brace; i just read the sticky and they mentions if you have solid mounts this would be ideal; if rubber mounts it wouldnt do a thing. How do i know if mine are rubber or solid? (pictures please) so i can reference and know where i'm looking.

Also how affective is the stb? I would presume it would help relieve alot of stress off the front windshield considering what I read it said the front windshield acts as a brace.

Thanks,
Timinsk

 

Sway bars are a tuning aid. If your rear kicks out like that, you might try experimenting with a larger front bar, and especially a smaller diameter in the rear.

If your strut mounts are stock, or stock replacement, they have rubber vibration isolators. To get solid mounts, you have to go aftermarket

 

J&M or UMI strut mounts are the best imo..the sway bars, usually the front is bigger than the rear. like mine, are 36mm front and 28mm back IIRC

 

24 rear is the largest factory bar.

im using 36/19 on my 86 and it works quite well for me.

 

I have a few friends that do solo auto cross.

They run a 36/19 combo and tell me that running a smaller rear bar helps to plant the rear and give them more grip in the turns as well as straight.

Good news is that smaller rear bars are much cheaper as everyone seems to want a larger rear bar.

 

I wanted to know the understanding with combos, so then its the opposite of what i know? bigger front, smaller rear is good for straights and vise versa??? I just want to remove the kick from the rear and have a nice plant when pulling.

From a sticky i read about the strut tower braces would it be benefical to get with a solid strut tower?... from what i was reading with how its stock even with the rubber isolators its swaying the body a bit and the front windshield is acting as the backup brace to reinforce the front frame abit.. which would put alot of pressure on the glass and soon to crack it..

 

Sway bars control the "sway" of the car. They are really anti-sway bars as the thicker the bar, the stiffer it is, and therefore the more it controls the sway of the car.

If your car's rear is kicking out from straight exeleration, you might have other issues. A stronger torque arm will help plant the rear tires.

There have been a few case of adding a STB cracking the front windshield but there are lots of people on this board who have STB's and never had glass breaking issues.

Do you have SFC's installed yet? If not, this should be your first mod.

 

this is mentioned every now and again and i have never seen or heard a first hand account of this happening on a 3rd gen

yes, the frame is a bit structural, every part is since its a unibody car.

sway bars, larger front and small rear is more for handling, large rear and small or no front is a drag setup.

has a lot to do with spring rate too, heavier spring wont need as much bar, or a softer rate can use more bar. Depends on the overall setup and driver preference.

 

I'm not sure if it was on this forum or not, But I do clearly remember seeing a post with pics of a white 3rd gen using a BMR 3pt brace and having the windshield crack right where the brace attaches to the top of the firewall. He also was NOT using sfc's, which he though was the reason for the crack (flex).

I will say that this is ONLY pic I have seen showing a crack. You always get others posting how this happened to a friend and so on with no real first hand experience except the original OP.

 

I agree with 86 and Project. A while back, a member brought up the 'cracking' problem. Interested, I spent some time searching the net. I found references to it, but never once found anything conclusive--it was always hearsay: I heard it from a friend of a friend, I read, I think, and so on. Generally, though anything can and does happen, my opinion is that the issue is baloney.

JamesC

 

Yes I do have sfc's welded they're umi box style.

and the stb was to help relieve strain on the front windshield.

I do alot of highway driving and some minor town driving but not alot of turns or anything out-rageous nor full-throttling turns and twists. I got a few 90 degree turns around town but not much.

I dont drag race but I'm lookg what would be prime in my sense for handling.

 

Then do not waste your money on a strut tower brace. It will do absolutely nothing for you except lighten your wallet.