Will a bigger rear sway bar make that much of a idfference on a 2002 that is autocrossed locally? I am thinking of getting the Flying Miata set and putting them both on, but that will bump me up a class.
The car is a little tail happy as it is. I have been playing with dropping rear tire pressures, which oddly seems to help.
I am running between 37-41 Pounds on the front, and Running my street tires, BF Goodrich G force T/A's.
Chris
A bigger rear swaybar is going to make the car considerably more oversteer prone. Most of the fast autocross guys run the biggest front swaybar with the stock rear.
Awesome, as I would love to keep the car in the stock class.
Is the Flying Miata the best bar to buy, or is there a better front sway bar?
FM says that they have made theirs a little smaller and it seems to work a little bit better.
Chris
Personally, I find they understeer too much if you just put a big fat bar on the front and leave the rear stock. If you like the balance now, then get a matched set. But to each their own. Depends on the rest of the car's setup.
Personally, I don't pay any attention to autocross classing. Why handicap a fun street car just to match an arbitrary rulebook? If you're not running race rubber, you're not going to be competing for trophies in "stock" anyhow.
Keith, that's kind of my thinking.
Chris
mtn
SuperDork
10/1/09 4:34 p.m.
1966stang, Keith who is posting on all of your posts IS Flyin Miata. Listen to what he says.
I had a 1983 BMW 320i. It had no rear sway bar. I added one from a sport model - a direct bolt-on. Then, at autocrosses, I found the car was prone to lifting the inside rear wheel on tight turns, rather like a VW. The problem is the BMW is rear wheel drive! That plus an open diff just killed my speed. I ended up removing the bar and was faster that way. I doubt a Miata would be as bad as the 320i - the Bimmer had a lot more suspension travel.
I had a 1990 Miata that came with a Suspension Techniques front sway bar on the middle of 3 settings and Konis all around, set up for stock class. It felt pretty good. I now have a 1991 Miata with a bone stock suspension and worn out shocks. It seems a tad more tail happy, and I rather like it that way. I plan to upgrade the shocks but leave the sway bars alone. I also want to stay in stock class, since I don't have the budget for the mods to make the car competitive elsewhere and I enjoy the car pretty much as-is. That, and though I'm running Azenis rather than R-compounds, I'm still quite competitive locally.
Keith you're making want to put my Jackson Racing rear bar back in and ditch the stocker.