Anyone else remove the rear sway bar?

[cobra]

For the past week or so I've been driving with no rear swaybar. The reason for removing it was I felt like i couldn't really put the power down coming out of corners. I am running 300/475 F/R linear spring rates, 245/275 PS4S, and stock front sway.

A friend of mine suggested removing the rear sway bar which I thought was crazy, but tried it anyway since it's easy and free.

I'm completely amazed at how good it is now. There is a small increase in body roll, but on the plus side I can practically keep the gas pedal floored through the same corners and the tires just stick. The ride quality is also improved a bit over uneven roads.

I was concerned about shifting the bias too much towards understeer, but instead the car just feels balanced.


Who else has tried this? Thoughts?

[E46 M3]

Sounds like your rear inside wheel was lifting? now it's not and you have more grip in turns.

[K-Dawg]

For the past week or so I've been driving with no rear swaybar. The reason for removing it was I felt like i couldn't really put the power down coming out of corners. I am running 300/475 F/R linear spring rates, 245/275 PS4S, and stock front sway.

A friend of mine suggested removing the rear sway bar which I thought was crazy, but tried it anyway since it's easy and free.

I'm completely amazed at how good it is now. There is a small increase in body roll, but on the plus side I can practically keep the gas pedal floored through the same corners and the tires just stick. The ride quality is also improved a bit over uneven roads.

I was concerned about shifting the bias too much towards understeer, but instead the car just feels balanced.


Who else has tried this? Thoughts?

You should try some 600 or 650 lb/in rear springs to get some flat ride and also recover some roll stiffness.

[Obioban]

Our e36 M3, with high frequencies, had no rear sway and I liked it there.

I tried it on the e46 M3, with street friendly frequencies, and it felt a bit too weird-- on street and track. So, back to a small rear sway (stock rear sway).

[FBloggs]

This was commonly done on E 30s in the 90's when I was a track Junky.
you get more vertical load on the outside rear, ergo, more traction under acceleration when exiting the corner.
There will be less stability under braking, especially with off-the- shelf spring rates.
It may become a pita after a month or so, of street driving.

[Rudbari]

For the past week or so I've been driving with no rear swaybar. The reason for removing it was I felt like i couldn't really put the power down coming out of corners. I am running 300/475 F/R linear spring rates, 245/275 PS4S, and stock front sway.

A friend of mine suggested removing the rear sway bar which I thought was crazy, but tried it anyway since it's easy and free.

I'm completely amazed at how good it is now. There is a small increase in body roll, but on the plus side I can practically keep the gas pedal floored through the same corners and the tires just stick. The ride quality is also improved a bit over uneven roads.

I was concerned about shifting the bias too much towards understeer, but instead the car just feels balanced.


Who else has tried this? Thoughts?

intersting
Interesting

[D-O]

When I called T.C. Kline for advice on spring rates he advised that I could do "almost anything" I like to the front of the car, but that great care should be taken in the rear else I would not be able to put the power down. He advised me not to use anything larger than the stock rear bar, which they sometimes remove from their racing cars, and that I may find I like the car better with no rear bar at all. Seems your experience bears this out.

D-O

[bigjae46]

I’ve have my rear bar deleted since 2018, haven’t looked back. I don’t know of any downsides other than having to run more negative camber.

I’ve increased negative camber to -3.1 from -2.7 to get even tire wear across the tire. My rear tires also last a lot longer. I haven’t had to rotate tires to maximize tire life…don’t even need to flip them anymore.

Not sure if that is just the rear sway bar though.

One thing that does happen is I can lift the inside front wheel pretty easily if I’m giving it a lot of throttle coming out of a turn.

I recommend deleting the rear bar quite often. Everyone has scoffed at the idea. If anything more people put an even stiffer rear bar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cobra]

When I called T.C. Kline for advice on spring rates he advised that I could do "almost anything" I like to the front of the car, but that great care should be taken in the rear else I would not be able to put the power down. He advised me not to use anything larger than the stock rear bar, which they sometimes remove from their racing cars, and that I may find I like the car better with no rear bar at all. Seems your experience bears this out.

D-O

It sounds like TC Kline might know a thing or two about race setups

I’ve have my rear bar deleted since 2018, haven’t looked back. I don’t know of any downsides other than having to run more negative camber.

I’ve increased negative camber to -3.1 from -2.7 to get even tire wear across the tire. My rear tires also last a lot longer. I haven’t had to rotate tires to maximize tire life…don’t even need to flip them anymore.

Not sure if that is just the rear sway bar though.

One thing that does happen is I can lift the inside front wheel pretty easily if I’m giving it a lot of throttle coming out of a turn.

I recommend deleting the rear bar quite often. Everyone has scoffed at the idea. If anything more people put an even stiffer rear bar.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I can't imagine running a STIFFER rear sway also with stiff springs. On bumpy/uneven roads it will not contort to the road properly and end up skipping around.

Interesting about lifting a front inside wheel, I haven't experienced that but then again I haven't driven in a track scenario yet.

[BigRussia]

Hmm, my car came with the Turner Front and Rear 30/25 Sway Bar kit. I'm running relatively soft off the shelf Bilstein PSS10 with the springs they came with and have the turner rear bar set to the softer of its two settings with adjustable endlinks. I dont want to completely remove the rear bar as my car is a dual purpose street/track car and don't feel comfortable doing that, but should I pick up a stock rear bar and swap that in place of the Turner bar?

[Thrifty S50]

+1 for removing rear sway. I ran my track/street E36 w/out a rear sway for about 3-4 years and loved it. The rear would squat and "hunker down" when given throttle when exiting a turn, instead of just kicking the rear out like it did prior. The car eventually became more of a "daily drifter" and the lack of rear sway actually made it a lot more predictable when it broke loose, and much more controllable when in drift.

[T.J.]

Hmm, my car came with the Turner Front and Rear 30/25 Sway Bar kit. I'm running relatively soft off the shelf Bilstein PSS10 with the springs they came with and have the turner rear bar set to the softer of its two settings with adjustable endlinks. I dont want to completely remove the rear bar as my car is a dual purpose street/track car and don't feel comfortable doing that, but should I pick up a stock rear bar and swap that in place of the Turner bar?

How does the car feel? I have pss10 with stock sways and there is no looseness in the rear. When I intentionally slide, it’s pretty progressive. I was actually thinking of getting those sways to reduce the understeer.

[cobra]

Hmm, my car came with the Turner Front and Rear 30/25 Sway Bar kit. I'm running relatively soft off the shelf Bilstein PSS10 with the springs they came with and have the turner rear bar set to the softer of its two settings with adjustable endlinks. I dont want to completely remove the rear bar as my car is a dual purpose street/track car and don't feel comfortable doing that, but should I pick up a stock rear bar and swap that in place of the Turner bar?

You could always just remove the bar and see how it feels. Then, knowing that, you will know that a stock bar is somewhere between your Turner bars and no bar.

The more I drive the less I miss the rear bar. Really no downsides for my purposes.

[eacmen]

I might try this as the track this weekend.

[Obioban]

To point out the obvious, just removing a sway bar, without changing the spring rates to match, will results in a huge change to FRC (oversteer/understeer ratio).