Best Swaybars and where to buy..

[automatic]

Do you have an LSD rear end? I would highly recomend to not upgrade your rear sway bars without an LSD rear end, otherwise when you push it through corners your inside rear wheel will spin. Does anyone here have upgraded sway bars with an open diff? just curious, I actually had my rear factory sway bars disconected for a while because you can get WAY more traction in the corners, and it makes a HUGE difference.....one of the reasons why the earlier 320i did not have a rear sway bar.......just my 2 cents.

I just bought my 318i this week, the guy I bought it off was the original owner and he said he thinks it has the LSD but he is not sure, how can I tell if it has an LSD in it?

[christophbmw]

I just bought my 318i this week, the guy I bought it off was the original owner and he said he thinks it has the LSD but he is not sure, how can I tell if it has an LSD in it?

One way is to jack up the rear end end and spin one rear wheel, if the opposing wheel on the other side spins the same dirrection you have LSD. Another way to check is to see how much control you have when you are sideways, with an LSD you can almost give it full throttle coming out of a slide, with an open diff it is very unpredictible sometimes it will be easy and sometimes it just wont do what you want it to do (kinda like my car now).

[automatic]

12.5 vs 14mm

that seems like a marginal improvement, especially considering the ST one's are 22mm front 19mm rear.

Would the M3 sways even be a noticeable improvement?

[christophbmw]

that seems like a marginal improvement, especially considering the ST one's are 22mm front 19mm rear.

Would the M3 sways even be a noticeable improvement?

I forgot which car it was that BMW made (maybe the older 318i, or 320i) but they were having problems with it being tipsy so the following year BMW thickened the front sway bar by 1mm and it pretty much solved the problem, ill try to get more details when i get home, its in my "3 series companion" book.

[fabby318is]

that seems like a marginal improvement, especially considering the ST one's are 22mm front 19mm rear.

Would the M3 sways even be a noticeable improvement?

FYI, 19mm rear bar is too big.

I'm currently running a stock 20mm front bar with M3 links and a 14.5 M3 rear bar and it is a hard to beat combo for the money(about $75 total), very flat and neutral with just a little oversteer (just like i like it). You have to remind yourself that we were blessed with one of the lightest E30's and with that said, monster sways are not needed and to a point can become counter productive.

Hope this helps,

Fabby

[automatic]

FYI, 19mm rear bar is too big.

I'm currently running a stock 20mm front bar with M3 links and a 14.5 M3 rear bar and it is a hard to beat combo for the money(about $75 total), very flat and neutral with just a little oversteer (just like i like it). You have to remind yourself that we were blessed with one of the lightest E30's and with that said, monster sways are not needed and to a point can become counter productive.

Hope this helps,

Fabby

Is there a size difference between the 318 an M3 front sways?

[silverblades181]

Why is 19 mm too big and how does that affect the car? I have the ST sways on my wrecked 318is

[fabby318is]

I apologize, i should have been more clear in my previous post. For most E30's a 19mm rear bar is really not needed as e30's tend to oversteer more than understeer. Also, in my case my car is currently down to about 2250-2300 lbs. which also doesn't hurt matters(less weight=less sway). The other thing to not over look are the types of springs and to a lesser extent the shocks that are being used in your application as this plays a major role in reducing body roll. In my experience the 20mm/21mm front bar (w M3 links) and M3 rear bar along with well thought out suspension modifications makes for a great handling car, if i don't say so myself, almost slot carish.

Basically, you want to match your sways to your suspension setup and to match the weight of the car in question. Just want to make sure people know that when it comes to swaybars bigger is not always better and also that you don't have to spend a lot of money on a sways to build a car that handles incredibilly well.

[Autox318is]

Whether ST bars are too large depends on few factors. What you plan to do with the car and your other suspension components are two that quickly come to mind.

Do you plan to autox?
For autocross I've seen the ST bars work really well with HR Race and HR Sport Springs (my application) with a 318is. The large rear bar really helps the car rotate in tight turns and resulted in quicker times for me.  That said, in the slaloms the larger rear bar can often preload too much and tranfer too much of the cars weight which can cause a spin.

Do you plan to only drive on public roads?
If yes, the ST bars are probably overkill combined with your H&R Race Springs. The car will be more uncomfortable and will often exhibit too much oversteer in wet weather.

With my softer Sport Springs the ST combo works pretty well.

Do you plan to attend Track Days?
I have no experience here, but I would probably be content with the Race Springs for a while.

[silverblades181]

I had Racing Dynamic Strut Bar, ST Sway bars with Turner reinforcements, H&R Sport springs and Bilstein Sport shocks. On the track it handled like a dream. I passed E30 325i, kept my own with a E28 535i which has same 0-60 mph time then an E30 M3 and who has the same suspension setup as me. I really liked it.

[///Motorsport]

Whether ST bars are too large depends on few factors. What you plan to do with the car and your other suspension components are two that quickly come to mind.

Do you plan to autox?
For autocross I've seen the ST bars work really well with HR Race and HR Sport Springs (my application) with a 318is. The large rear bar really helps the car rotate in tight turns and resulted in quicker times for me.  That said, in the slaloms the larger rear bar can often preload too much and tranfer too much of the cars weight which can cause a spin.

Do you plan to only drive on public roads?
If yes, the ST bars are probably overkill combined with your H&R Race Springs. The car will be more uncomfortable and will often exhibit too much oversteer in wet weather.

With my softer Sport Springs the ST combo works pretty well.

Do you plan to attend Track Days?
I have no experience here, but I would probably be content with the Race Springs for a while.

Thanks for the opinions.

I drive the car mainly on public roads.  With that said, I am a little worried about oversteer when I'm pushing the limits on windy, fast mountain roads.  As of now, the rear end will slightly step out when on the limit (on occasion), a little scary but I have confidence in my driving and try to keep it safe.  I don't really enjoy auto-x 100% and would like to get into road racing / track days.  

At the same time, getting to a track is rare and I need to set the car up for the conditions I initially bought the car for, and that is mountain roads.

I never thought i would be worrying about oversteer in a BMW ( mainly because it as always so much fun to mess around at low speeds in a family e36 and brother's 325is) but I have been getting the e30 to be faster and faster through high speed corners....  More suspension mods mean more speed and most likely, with the addition of a LSD and bars, more fear of a big, fast and unforgiving spin.  

However, maybe I could be overthinking this all.   With a more controlled ride, I won't have to be running 9/10ths to get the same speed...

What about a larger front bar only?  Or is both the smartest?

[D. Clay]

If you can get on a skid pad it really helps in setting up a car as far as front rear balance goes. If you get it to break loose both ends at the same time and to the same extent, it will have a slight push on the street and track due to braking/deceleration putting more weight on the front.

[nickmpower]

more weight on the front means more grip

[Autox318is]

Thanks for the opinions.

I drive the car mainly on public roads.  With that said, I am a little worried about oversteer when I'm pushing the limits on windy, fast mountain roads.  As of now, the rear end will slightly step out when on the limit (on occasion), a little scary but I have confidence in my driving and try to keep it safe.  I don't really enjoy auto-x 100% and would like to get into road racing / track days.  

At the same time, getting to a track is rare and I need to set the car up for the conditions I initially bought the car for, and that is mountain roads.

I never thought i would be worrying about oversteer in a BMW ( mainly because it as always so much fun to mess around at low speeds in a family e36 and brother's 325is) but I have been getting the e30 to be faster and faster through high speed corners....  More suspension mods mean more speed and most likely, with the addition of a LSD and bars, more fear of a big, fast and unforgiving spin.  

However, maybe I could be overthinking this all.   With a more controlled ride, I won't have to be running 9/10ths to get the same speed...

What about a larger front bar only?  Or is both the smartest?

Questions: Have you tried adjusting your tire pressures? You might find that running higher pressures in the rear will help out your oversteer condition. This could be a free solution. You should measure your pressures cold and hot (after driving hard) to see how pressures are building in the tires.


Check this out from the tire rack. I would start with the free solution, air pressures.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=58

[D. Clay]

more weight on the front means more grip

The more acceleration or deceleration applied to a pair of tires, the less traction is available for lateral acceleration. They used to call this the "circle of traction" theory. The fronts do the lion's share of braking and the rears do all of the acceleration (on an E30). It is difficult to eliminate braking forces going into a corner on a road course and still be fast.
Braking detracts from the lateral acceleration capability.
The extra weight increases the braking demand.
There is a loss of lateral acceleration potential in a pair of tires as weight is transferred between them.
A skidpad is close to a steady state situation where the speed is increased very slowly. They are a big help in springing the car in relation to front/rear weight and getting the desired amount of body roll .