# What exactly does a sway bar do?



## SE-R Racer (Jan 4, 2004)

What exactly does a sway bar do ? Please easy on the flaming its just a simple question.


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## nametakennow (Oct 20, 2003)

From what I gather, it simply decreases body and chassis flexing by stiffening the body/chassis. This means that your tires won't flex in as much and you get a more even and larger contact patch, and thus better grip. It also stiffens up the body to where the rear (say you had a rear sway) simply follows the front of the car better (I assume this is because of less flexing as well). Once again, that's what I gather, I'm sure someone has a better explanation.


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## SE-R Racer (Jan 4, 2004)

o ok ive always heard of them but i never really understood what they did.


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## SentraFi (Sep 25, 2002)

Great website btw 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question432.htm

I got the Eibach front and rear set installed now. Awesome results!


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## BIGBULS (Sep 24, 2002)

nametakennow said:


> From what I gather, it simply decreases body and chassis flexing by stiffening the body/chassis. This means that your tires won't flex in as much and you get a more even and larger contact patch, and thus better grip. It also stiffens up the body to where the rear (say you had a rear sway) simply follows the front of the car better (I assume this is because of less flexing as well). Once again, that's what I gather, I'm sure someone has a better explanation.



Well.............you just gave a nice explantation of what strut tower braces do..............but you apparently have NO clue what sway bars are, let alone what they do.

Maybe YOU need to read the link posted in the last reply :loser:


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## Lazarus_023 (Jun 3, 2003)

sway bars do two things: 
1) Reduce body roll without increasing the natural frequency and/or stiffness of a vehicle's ride.
2) Transfer more load to a particular tire during cornering.


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## Silvspec86 (Apr 4, 2003)

ok, if you have a sway bar, think of it like a big, sideways spring. in a turn, when your body rolls due to the transfer of weight, the sway bar will bend, acting as a spring to resist that roll, basically it adds like double or triple the spring force on the wheel that is being pushed down during a roll. but during normal street driving, when both wheels go up and down at the same time, the sway bar moves, allowing the wheels to dampen the road bumps with normal amount of spring force.....i tried explaining it, but you really have to see it to know how it really works if you havent a clue.


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## Misanthrope1144 (Jan 6, 2004)

can you get a sway bar on a gxe? i think it would be a good investment for myself.


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## Silvspec86 (Apr 4, 2003)

yeah but if dont drive hard enough to really put it to use, then its just dead weight. the GXE has really soft suspension that first needs to be dealt with before a sway bar can really increase handling. Eibach has a kit for B15s. but i dont mean to burst your bubble when i say that it really wont do much unless you really push it, which is hard to do in a GXE in the first place


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## SpIcEz (Jun 26, 2002)

Silvspec86 said:


> yeah but if dont drive hard enough to really put it to use, then its just dead weight. the GXE has really soft suspension that first needs to be dealt with before a sway bar can really increase handling. Eibach has a kit for B15s. but i dont mean to burst your bubble when i say that it really wont do much unless you really push it, which is hard to do in a GXE in the first place


Handling has nothing to do with power, besides, it has enough to have fun.

There is a B15 Sentra XE Spec race series in Ontario canada. Engine and tranny stock, some cheap coilovers and good tires, plus some lightweight wheels.

They duke it out like there is no tomorow. Its not about the engine, its about the driver


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## BlackoutSpecV (May 8, 2002)

SpIcEz said:


> Handling has nothing to do with power, besides, it has enough to have fun.


He never said anything about power, he was refering to the extreamly soft suspension which has a lot of body roll to begin with. A sway bar will reduce that , but it still will not handle very well. You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned a suspension setup in whatever car you were talking about. A GXE with a nice suspension would be fun to autoX. Anycar with a good suspension setup can zip through corners, just might take longer to get speed.


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## Misanthrope1144 (Jan 6, 2004)

k thanx. i think i will look into it then , cause i like to drive hard sometimes. And my uncle has a track at his house where i can drive the hell out of it. Does anyone know the approximate cost of one?


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## Silvspec86 (Apr 4, 2003)

they'll range between $150 - $300 and more for sets.


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## Misanthrope1144 (Jan 6, 2004)

i suppose thats not too bad. Can i get the dealer to do it ? or do i have to go to a body shop or what?


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## Silvspec86 (Apr 4, 2003)

why? do you have nowhere else to spend your hard earned money? you can do it yourself. if i could put in an Injen Rcae Division Cold Air intake as my first time to ever really work on a car (i did it when i was 16 too), then you can put in a simple sway car. it'll take a socket wrench and a socket, thats it, maybye jackstands if you wanna take precaution. it'll take like $50 for the dealer or a shop to do it while you can do it yourself for nothing and be proud of what you accomplished thats what the Import Scene is all about. i had a richa$$ friend who had shops do everything on his RSX type-S and never picked up a screw driver. Till this day, he dosnt know a quarter of the stuff i know about his own car.....prick. lol hell, if you give me $50 bucks, I'll do it, i mean, how far can Harker Heights be? lol


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## Misanthrope1144 (Jan 6, 2004)

lmao , first off , galveston is about 5-6 hrs away from me , second , putting it on myself never actually crossed my mind , but it is a good idea. My parents don't like the idea of messing with the car , they thing i will break it , so they always have a "professional" do it. So i think i will do it. thanx..ps do you know a site where i can get instructions? or is it pretty ez to figure out?


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## Silvspec86 (Apr 4, 2003)

they come with the sway bars. bolt ons are very easy to install, as long as you have the right tools.


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## Misanthrope1144 (Jan 6, 2004)

Thats just too perfect. Thanx for the help.


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