Still confused about spring suspension!?

[shane45-1911]

I am still confused about the front spring suspension mod. Most people are recommending to keep the sway bar once the spring mod has been done. Isn't this defeating the purpose? You don't have a true independant suspension as long as you have the stabilizer bar joining both steer knuckles, right?

I don't see how your suspension will move independently. Won't the stabilizer bar counter-act any movement of one of the sprung wheels? That is, if one of the sprung wheels is trying to move up into the chassis, won't the sway bar simply be pushing the wheel back down instead of allowing the spring to compress and allow the wheel to move up?

Am I completely off base on this? I really want to try this mod, but don't see the benefit if you are supposed to keep the stabilizer bar on.

[DrZiplok]

The stabiliser bar (should actually be the "destabiliser bar", since it works bass-ackwards) is flexible, the idea being that the car should be able to roll around the axis of the bar, and then have the bar flex to absorb surface shock.

Doing this puts the car's roll axis well above ground level, which is good for handling. The springs serve to keep the body more centered around the roll axis, reducing body roll (and helping keep both back wheels on the ground).

You can remove the destabiliser bar of course; it'll just change the handling behaviour of the car. Try it and see which works best for you.

= Mike

[jaubery]

Driving with the stabilizer bar does limit the independant action of the springs. One of my cars had the spring mod. It worked fine. I did not have a noticeable change in handling. My track is very smooth. I think the independant suspension would be beneficial if your racing on a rougher surface. I changed my car back to stock and did not notice any difference.

The mod is a little tricky to do. It takes a steady hand and lots of patience to get the front end back together. You may have to do it a couple of times till you get the springs the right height. If they are to long the steering will not work.

[QFM Racing]

My spring mods work best w/o the stab bar. And he is right, the spring mod works well for rough or multi surface tracks.