hey guys was wondering if anyone experince this before.. on my EVO i just put on:
Cusco Titanium front strut bar
Cusco Carbon Fiber rear strut bar
Cusco Rear Trunk bar

It seems to me and another friend of mine that the car slightly oversteers now more than with them off.. actualy the car feels more conifdent with the stock set-up with no rear trunk or strut bar. i was hoping the rear bars will help get it more Neutral slightly as stock our car understeer like crazy

anyone else expereince this or am i just crazy

 

from what i've read, it will oversteer a tad with just the rear strut bar and no trunk bar. thats why i only ordered the strut bar. i got the same as u. hasn't come in yet though.

 

my evo8 just turned 7k on it, and i noticed uneven wear on my front inner tires...stock suspencion...so i had the alignment checked and the rear left wheel was somewhat out of its degree angle(red numbers on the computer screen)...now the car seems to be handling much better...

 

that is a beautifully irrelevant response to the question. congratulations to you for that sneaky.

 

The rear strut bar does loosen up the back end. As you found out, the effect is quite noticeable.

So, you are not crazy. The bar is behaving like a rear strut bar should.

I suspect the trunk bar has a very limited effect, and the replacement front strut bar probably doesn't make much handling difference (although it does decrease weight).

One potentially cheap way to decrease oversteer is to add some rear toe-in. However, if you add too much rear toe-in, you'll pay for it in increased tire wear.

 

Yep, rear sway bars tend to give you better oversteering capabilities . A front sway and strut bar will even it out, but why lose the fun of swigning out the rear?

 

why does the rear strut bar change the handling balance? Is it changing the rear camber or toe by stiffening the towers? I don't see what else it could be doing to change the balance. If so is this about the same as getting different alignment settings?

 

In a way, yes, it does change rear dynamic camber. The struts can no longer flex side-to-side independently, which changes effective camber. Also, front-to-back and up-and-down motion of the struts is resisted by the presence of the strut bar.

 

i thought it was because the trunk bar increases chassis rigidity... rear stays more planted and just increase to evo's already sharp steering response

 

thanks for the responses guys..with the slight increase of oversteer (which i do have to correct myself in long sweeping turns) i think im gonna take off the rear strut bar and keep my trunk bar (AKA: EVO RS model) on and see the differences.. ill report!


thanks
S.

 

I may discourage removing the rear bar only. If the overall affect of your aftermarket front bar is "stiffer" than the OEM you'll only promote more understeer than stock.

I've been told before to start with tuning your springs and dampers then fine tune with your sway bars.

edit: My bad, I reread and noticed you were removing the strut bar and not the rear sway bar.

 

I am getting an impression that people are talking about 2 different parts at the same time here and giving suggestions that may not be 100% accurate.

Please make sure you are all talking about the same thing:

sway bar -> the bar that goes under the car between the wheels - purpose is to prevent the car from leaning over in corners. Can go in front and back.

strut bar -> the bar that goes between the tops of the strut towers inside the car - purpose is to remove flex from shock towers. Can go in front and back.

trunk bar -> the bar that is just behind the rear seats in the back - porpose is for chassis regidity

Please make sure you don't interchange these terms in your posts and make sure you are all talking about the same thing...

just a suggestion...

 

yep.. i noticed that too.. im talking about the "STRUT" and "TRUNK" Bars


S.

 

maybe a mod of this forum can purge out the "Sway bar" posts so this post stays on the original topic and no one gets confused?

 

The evo suspension setup is very well designed stock. Unlike you I had a very neutral evo from the factory. You said yours has tons of understeer, i had none of these problems. The problems start coming when you mess with the suspension. With Coilovers, and a rear strut bar it took me half a track day just to get the car setup where I was comfortable on track. You need to realise once you start messing with the suspension components, be ready to play with the car A LOT to get it dialed in correctly.

Jeff