Godspeed Front Swaybar Advice Needed
 

Hello MT!

I am looking for some information on the Godspeed front sway bar for Miatas, searched but only found stuff on the radiators. Are these worth the $99 shipping included price or should I save up for a name brand. If I can save $150 plus for a similar product in the end my college life will be that much easier!

*Edit*

I am planning on autocrossing and dding it. I am concerned with shearing the bar at the mounts, which I will make sure the bar does not bind when the bushing brackets are tightened and of course liberal amounts of silicone lubrication.

So I am a pioneer here? Should I start an installation thread?

I'm sure there have been others that have done it. The problem is, without a side by side comparison with a "brand name" front sway bar, your subjective opinion on the performance wont hold a lot of weight. There will always be nay-sayers.

Buy it and slap it on! You know the specs?

If you're not tracking the car does the performance really matter? No, it doesn't.

n00b...please tell us your location, etc. Heck, I was thinking about getting either the Flyin Miata or Racing Beat...so might sell mine for pretty cheap.

I am no noob, noob.

Actually the car will be seeing a lot of autox and possibly a high speed event this summer.

The reason I ask this is because I have seen bargain sway bars shear at the mounts before, but I think the installer just tightened the bushing mounts and didn't pay attention to friction between the bushing and the bar.

I am very tempted to purchase this. If not for the performance then to see if this bar is actually worth the $90. Will post back in a month to update.

I will be comparing it to a stock front bar. I will be as objective as possible noting roll angle, corner entry/mid/exit behavior compared to stock.

Steel alloys all have a very narrow range of elastic modulus. Therefore, if the geometry matches, then it will perform the same. I am assuming it is a steel bar.

The outer diameter and the wall thickness are what determine its torsional stiffness. The next thing is the distance from the center of the bar (where the bushings hold it) to where the end link attaches. Simply put, you cannot measure along the diagonal. You have to measure the distance at a right angle. Imagine laying a big t-square on the bar with one end lined up with the long part of the bar (where the bushings hold it) and the other end lined up with the end link attachment point. That distance from the bar to the end link attachment point is what you want. Make sense?

If all of that is the same, then it is going to work the same as a bar with similar dimensions. If it all matches the racing beat bar for example, then it will act like the racing beat bar.

...Or if your polite enough they may divulge the torsional stiffness data.

....Or for diyer, make a jig to hold the sway bar and measure the force/stress it takes to "twist" the bar per unit radian. Then go buck wild testing sway bars. Hmm, I am giving myself ideas.

so now that I actually think about your post, the Godspeed is a replica of stock?