FML! twisted off swaybar bracket mounting stud!
 

I've had the worst day of my life and the icing on the cake is that i tried to install front and rear Racing Beat sway bars and ended up twisting off one of the two studs that the bushing and bracket go on :noob:. The instructions say to torque them to 32 ft/lbs but i got in a rush and well... I would post pics but I'm a college student and I'm in the middle of a 3 day exam nightmare. I'm supposed to autocross on Sunday but... If anyone has had this happen to them or knows a solution please enlighten me. Thanks

Did you twist it off on the front or rear sway?

There are studs? I thought both the front and back were bolts? Maybe the rear was, I can't recall, but I know the front are bolts on the NA. Having the sway bars tight is overrated. I drive with mine loose and rattling around and it does just fine... if you don't mind clunking and rattles over every little bump in the road.

Don't put rear bar on.

Yeah they are bolts for me

oh sorry. rear sway bar. i looked at it earlier and i think i can drill out the stud and replace it with nut and bolt

Try driving sans the rear sway. You might actually prefer it.

+10000000!!!

I think I said this earlier. A disconnected rear bar has been clinically proven to increase testicular volume by 25%, making your corner exit more manly. Your friends will respect you more, and their women will try to bed you. Your genetics will propagate.

Seriously, I was not sold on this until recently. That bar will reduce body roll a little, but it unloads that inside tire more. With any power, you will have rubber casserole. Just take one link off, and bring the tools with you to put it back on if you don't believe. I bet that link will end up in the woods on your way home from the track.

edited to add: if you don't believe me, call Shaikh. If you don't believe him, take a look at Andy Hollis' STS2 build, and his comments about the rear bar. Then go down to an autocross and look at all the fast miatas, STS, CSP or SSM. I'll bet all of them have no rear bar, unless the surface has a shit ton of grip, and the car is uncannily hooked up with a great diff. Over and out.

drill out snapped off stud and use a grade 8 bolt/nut combo. Its a common problem but Ive never snapped one.

so right now i'm running a racing beat solid front sway bar and no sway bar in the rear. its really weird feeling but i'm getting used to it. it definitely doesn't want to break loose as much. i'm autocrossing it tomorrow so i'll see if its faster.

What size is your RB solid front? What diff are you running? You find it really weird on the street? I found it weird on the street on big steady state sweepers, maybe like the rear was bouncing, or bouncing off the stops, or something. But, dude, even with my open diff in an autox situation, where before I would have to wait until the wheel was almost fully unwound to apply anywhere near full power, I can modulate almost 100% power 2/3 through the turn. The only trick is on some looser surfaces where I can get some wheel hop on boost at exit. I can go full hog on good surfaces on turn exit, especially sweepers. I can't wait until I get a torsen, I will be ungodly early on power, and z06 corvettes will leave the events in disgust.

It is even good on the track. You will not be sorry. Report back tomorrow after you own the weak.

hehe 2x, its nice exiting a left turn with the front left wheel in the air.

On the other hand if you want to go faster, install it :D

HEHE, come to my playground, I will own your ass. I will put my rear bar in the trunk so that I can examine you rectally with it.

autox was pretty good. i deffinately felt a difference and shaved off a few seconds. i wanna try putting the stock swaybar back on and see what that does cus the way it is now is such a dramatic difference.

Im glad this thread came up, imma have to take the rear bar off when I get home. I have always had the problem of unloading the shit out of the inside rear tire, especially because i have a open diff.

so let me get this right, you get a better time with the rear antisway bar off?

Ok, Gwenn, honey, I'll explain this to you again. You are not listening, and not using your albeit limited comprehension ability to it's fullest.

First, check out a race where powerful rear drive cars go to play. Sprint Cup cars on road courses, or world of outlaw cars in the dirt. They heave the inside fronts. Us rednecks call it forward bite, the ability to drive off the corner. For us, that inside front is not taking much corner load, if it hangs in the air, so be it. As long as it's still there when you are ready to go the other way, you're fine.

We are doubling the power of our cars. We are at 7.5-10lb/hp, which is in or near 'fast car' territory. Just having it isn't enough, you have to be able to do something with it. Obviously, the advantage our cars have to stock and street class autocrossers is power. We use this power to go faster on straights. The sooner you can get on the power before a straight, the quicker you will be going at the end of it.

Now the hard part. When you tie both sides of the car together with a bar, when the loaded wheel is in compression, the unloaded wheel also gets the some of the compressive force through the bar. When you take an already unloaded tire, and add to it the compressive (compressive with respect to the spring/shock) force through the bar, you simply get more unloading. And when you unload a tire that it already trying to provide tractive force, you get tire smoke. This is especially true in an open or torsen diff.

What are you trying to achieve with the rear bar? Probably trying to increase rear roll stiffness, which will give you more front grip. Do you need more front grip? Probably not, but if you do, decrease front roll stiffness. Or, increase rear roll stiffness through stiffer springs. The downside of tying the rear tires together with the bar outweighs the upside of the marginal extra rear roll stiffness.

I was very skeptical, too. I went so far as trying to suggest Brain was wrong about this in one of my very first posts here (respectfully). Then I read more, and thought about it. Then I TRIED IT. Do so, as well. It is as simple as removing two bolts holding one sway bar link on. If it doesn't work for you, you fail as a driver, see your urologist immediately.

Take a look at some good CSP or STS(2) setups. There is a thread on m.net now on STS(2) setups, most don't run rear bars, run a very forward biased roll couple, and even run a de-raked setup to increase rear grip. It is that important.

You dared doubting the :brain: and now look what you have become!

I bedded three bitches simultaneously at my last autocross. They were drawn in by my ability to apply liberal throttle at corner exit.

webby thanks for the explanation man, i appreciate this a lot :)

I have plenty of experience with lifted trucks where an inch of suspension doesnt matter but fine tunning is new to me.