Rear Stabilizer Bar

[Lawrence C Leung]

Conventional wisdom agrees with you, increase the rate of weight transfer
at the end you wish to loosen first. However, it appears that on cars
with significant roll camber change (i.e. VW's, Audi's, front strut type
cars), if the roll is so severe that the front tires are significantly
far from being perpendicular to the pavement, ANY roll control helps.
That is why I am able to run a 21 mm FRONT roll bar and polyurethane
bushing on my A2 GTi in SCCA stock, no rear bar's may be added, and still
have improved it's balance (it's more neutral) and transition rates.
Basically the stiffened front end did end up with greater weight transfer
rates which should cause more understeer, but at least now the tire is
actually vertical enough to work properly. In fact, admitting that I'm
running the BFG Assymetrical sidewall (type 224 or 226 I think)
R-compound tires, I have found that the outside temperature readings are
actually too cool running 1.4 degrees negative camber. In this case, and
in the case of stiffening the front end of a type 44, I imagine the real
thing is we are trying just to get the tires to work properly, and the
roll bar is not being used to adjust transfer rates. 

LL - NY

On Thu, 16 Nov 2000 08:19:01 -0700 "Eric Fletcher S.O.C."
<Steadi at swbell.net> writes:
>> Actually, understeer is corrected at the rear axle, especially if 
>it's a
>> front-driver.  I race an ITC Scirocco, and am running one big bar in 
>the
>> rear, and NO bar in the front.  The car used to push like mad, 
>until, at the
>> advice of about the entire field, I removed the front sway bar.  
>Some
>> fwd'ers are using TWO rear bars.  Also, no top strut tie bar is 
>used,
>> although that's due to rules constraints.
>
>You might want to run a roll center analysis on the Type 44 or you can 
>read
>the one that I wrote that is in the archives.
>
>The problem boils down to this.  The rear suspension is TOO good on 
>the Type
>44's.  There is SO much weight transfer going on in the car that the 
>rear
>inside wheel is already unloaded to the point that its only carrying 
>about
>50lbs in a full load turn.
>
>
>Eric Fletcher
>'00 S4tt
>'87 5KCSTQ with way too many mods (Gone but not Forgotten)
>