Rear sway bar question

I bought and installed the sway bar on mine. The beam that goes between the rear wheels is hollow inside, and the rear sway bar tucks up in it, and gets clamped on via some metal bars that come in the package. The ends of the sway bar then bolt into holes on the spring perch, just in front of the eyelet for the lower end of the rear shocks. I thought it was a great upgrade, especially since you're adding a sway bar, not replacing one!

 

I cant go into detail because I dont know it off the top of my head, however the sway bar is not "bolted" to the chassis, rather there are rubber housings that allow for movement. It is basically like adding another crossmember to the rear of the car that has some give.

 

Twist-beam rear suspension - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Advantages
- No need for a separate sway bar the axle itself performs that function

Ken@Japan

 

If you want stock handling then no there is no reason for a RSB. When adding a RSB to a torsion beam it limits the amount of twist in the beam during cornering effectively stiffening the rear suspension. Trust me, they make a difference, but unless you really push your car in corners, it's a waste of money.

 

Here's my 2 cents: the ends of the torsion rear axle are anchored to sprung weight while the ends of the TRD anti-sway bar are anchored to unsprunfg weight (wheels and suspension components below the springs & shocks).

I've been thinking about your original post while I bolted on the TRD anti-sway bar today and I just returned from flogging the PiP over selected empty parking lots and certain very tight freeway turns (the new SE Freeway - DC 295 merge just past the 11th Street Bridge, for other locals).

There is indeed a significant difference - the car has ceased to perceivably lean, no matter how tight the turn. I did some PWR-on donuts in an empty parking lot to confirm my butt dyno readings.

My previous mods are Rude person's's mid-brace and his front brace. I've had those on for months. The anti-sway bar ads another notch of tightness to an already improved car. Yes, I like it.

One small negative point from my evening flog: a particularly high freeway expansion joint launched the rear end of the car up noticeably further than before, pre-sway bar. This correlates with what I've read about how anti-sway bars transmit the direction of vertical travel from one wheel to the other - and perhaps amplify that effect when both wheels hit a sharp, wide feature like said freeway expansion log-in-the-road, er, "joint".

This vertical acceleration is what made me deaggregate effects on suspended mass (90+ of the car body and passenger) from unsuspended mass (the wheels and the bottom suspension components). So, I think there is a difference in where the torsion bar axle feeds its forces vice where the TRD bar does.

Comments?

 

I don't think so.

 

Jacek, Yeeees? Help me understand the difference in our thoughts so we can both learn. Much appreciate your thoughts in advance.