I know what understeer is, but I am curious as to why a stiffer rear sway bar would help understeer. I had read somewhere on the forum that a front strut bar would be counteractive. I am curious how a stiffer sway bar in the rear of the vehicle helps understeer, as apposed to a strut bar in the front.
I am not an engineer, so could someone clarify this for me? I am greatly curious.

Cheers

 

Understeer happens when you lose grip on the front tires as you turn. Wheel is turning ,but the car is still going straight.

The rear sway bar helps you toss the rear out a little. It's to help take some load off the front wheels, so ithe car will able to turn better.

Strut bar forces the front wheels to grip. The car will feel tight, meaning better be a finesse driver or lose control and understeer. Basically, fighting the wheel until mechanic grip of the car is overloaded.

 

there are 3 kinds of grip: mechanical (suspension parts like camber adj, etc), tire grip (compound and thread patterns), and areo package (not going fast enough nor have underground body tunnels like the Ferrari Modena) like useful wing and air dam.

 

hope you have an OZ . disconect the front sway bar at the end links this will give you a good demo of what the rear sway does for you be prepared for more body roll but but exellent turn in respons have fun

 

Im not a fan of a huge sway bar on the rear. On a circuit it tends to lift the inside wheel off the ground and i believe 4 tires gripping is better than 3 !!!!

 

Wouldn't it be easier to turn faster (though more body roll) without the anti-sway bar because both rear wheels would want to stay on the ground more?

 

Essentially you're creating a bit of a whip effect. The less traction in the rear the faster it comes around. At least that's how I understood it. Someone feel free to correct me.

 

yes a big rear wsay lifts the in side wheel and 4 is better than 3 but dam for auto crossing this setup works for me the feel of the car is good but lap times suffer lap times were faster with it on .

 

Too much body roll is a bad thing. Have you seen a caddy doing slalom. Body roll to the 10th degree. It's plowing all over the place on the verge of massive understeering.

 

Rear sway on FWD tightens the backend a bit to track the car along the corner. It does not lose grip, unless hard compound or balding tires. If it's too big, you'll start to get oversteering like RWD.

Ex: You'll get mild understeer first from a fwd car. minor correction on wheel. suddenly, the rear starts to break loose. this is the result of too big or tight rear sway.

 

There's a road near my house I take every day that I zip along at 50-60 mph...it's pretty windy and I usually have to slow down for the last curve cuz it's more than the first 2..

I always worry about losing control when I'm speeding thru there (but still do it anyway for the thrill). Will I have to take it slower or faster w/ the anti-sway bar? I'm guessing there will be less body lean...but will that give me a false sense of security or will the tires really grip betteR?

 

make sure ther is no on coming trafic and hang it you never know till you try

 

Ok, engineer to the rescue...

The rear sway bar works because the ties the two sides of the rear end together in a common link. When the car corners, forces are applied to each wheel of the car. With a sway bar, some of the forces get redirected to the other side of the vehicle. That redirection of force will help roate the rear of the vehicle around a turn. Basically speaking, it works because as Waybe Baigant said its picking up the inside tire in a corner. Its allowing the rear of the car to grip less, which is why the understeer is less apparent. Wayne, I do agree that 4 tires are better than 3, but if the 4th one is causing mad understeer, thats not helping anyone...lol