Strano Swaybar settings

[Captain_Stangin']

For those of you with Strano Swaybars, what are your current swaybar settings? I started with full soft on both ends, and now I have moved to the middle setting on both bars......not sure if I should go full stiff on both ends, my only testing has been on the auto-x tarmac....I have no idea how my high speed handling has been affected.

I find that my Mustang has heavy understeer on the auto-x course. This may be due to a driver error (too much entry speed). Will setting both bars to full stiff help out with this? Or should I leave them alone, and just work on my driving? I have a open track day on July 9th, I am more worried about dangerous (oversteer) high speed handling than trying to correct auto-x behaviour.

Below are my current alignment specs. I am on the factory 235/55/17 Pirelli AS(S) tires. Tire pressure was set to 40 psi cold. I didn't check tire temps or pressure during the auto-x. Koni yellows set to 1.5 turns from full soft up front, 1 turn up from full soft rear.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

The swaybars are more of a tuning device than a characteristic generating device, if you follow... Springs, dampers, alignment angles, and tire pressures will do more to tune you in, and then you can use the bars for fine tuning different phases of the corner. FWIW, I'm set full soft up front, and in the middle in the rear. I started full soft at both ends, but I wanted a little more rotation on entry, so a stiffer bar did the trick. If you're worried about a DANGEROUS condition, I would simply suggest taking it easy at first until you get your head wrapped around the vehicle dynamics at speed, and then either adjust your driving or the car to suit what you actually have. No way to really predict it, if you follow.

 

[Kobie]

Sam should be able to give you the correct setup information on his bars.
I guess it's pretty obvious, but you know the stock tires suck, right?

 

[Captain_Stangin']

Haha, yeah, I know they suck Kobie. I just figured that it might be better to learn the limits of my car on the stockers. I'm waiting for Sam to chime in, he'll come through.

SoundGuyDave, I'll definitely take it easy on the first session of the track day, I know I need a few laps to sort myself and my car out. I just want to make sure I don't do something stupid, like tune my car into a oversteer machine. I'm pretty green, so I'd like to retain "some" understeer. I understand that just because my car understeers at a low speed tight radius corner, doesn't mean that it will understeer on a high speed sweeper.

 

[Captain_Stangin']

Okay, I had a chance to auto-x on my new 285/30/18 R888s. Grip is phenomenal compared to the Pirelli stockers. My only issue is I *think* there is too much body roll.

The front tires seem to be wearing quite a bit more on the outer edges. I had all 4 corners aired to 38psi cold, I should have checked them hot.

Are my Steeda Sport springs (200lb/in front, 175lb/in rear) too soft for my application? Do you guys think that if I set both front and rear swaybars to full stiff, I can compensate for this? Both bars are currently set to medium.

I did understeer a little bit, but I am fairly sure that was due to too much throttle; relaxing on the gas allowed the car to rotate better.

 

[Vapour Trails]

I have the same springs and steeda bars, I have fairly moderate body roll.

Understeer during autocross is usually driver error. It's a lot to ask 3500+ lbs to change directions quickly.

I was recently at an autocross school. I went through a short course about 4 times then my instructor took the wheel to show me a couple things. First run, first time driving my car he beat my best time by 1.3 seconds (all while getting the car a bit wild at times getting used to 400+ torque). All the places that I understeered, the car rotated nicely for him. Autocross is driver, driver, driver, tires, driver and then all that other stuff. Getting the line correct is huge. Often going slightly slower through one section or element will improve the line for a subsequent element and ultimately lead to a faster time. I was surprised how a few subtle changes improved my times.

Basically, if you are anything like me, fussing over pressures and settings is just fine tuning as mentioned. The major part is improving driver skill. I wouldn't change anything at this point. Between autocross runs I generally don't change pressures or settings much, I try to figure out how to fix what I just did wrong.

 

[Liftedbronco]

have you thought about a watts link? that does wonders for "feel" in the rear and gives you the ability to play with roll center.

On the other hand, its a good idea to sort what you have before u add more variables. but personally i just cant get used to the spongey feel the stock panhard gives you.

 

[Sam Strano]

Okay, I had a chance to auto-x on my new 285/30/18 R888s. Grip is phenomenal compared to the Pirelli stockers. My only issue is I *think* there is too much body roll.

The front tires seem to be wearing quite a bit more on the outer edges. I had all 4 corners aired to 38psi cold, I should have checked them hot.

Are my Steeda Sport springs (200lb/in front, 175lb/in rear) too soft for my application? Do you guys think that if I set both front and rear swaybars to full stiff, I can compensate for this? Both bars are currently set to medium.

I did understeer a little bit, but I am fairly sure that was due to too much throttle; relaxing on the gas allowed the car to rotate better.

No matter the setup, a driver that overturns the wheel and/or has too much speed will always beat up the outside edge of the tires as they end up pushing them sideways like the blade of a bulldozer.

I have less camber, and less overall roll stiffness in my new 5.0 (softer springs). The Shelby has about the same camber and similar roll stiffness. We run both cars on Hoosier A6's which make more grip and more roll than R888's. I have no shoulder wear issues unless we let others drive the car. They tend to do what I was talking about, over turning the wheel and grinding off the front edge.

Body roll in itself is not bad. It's only bad when you get so much the camber goes to hell and you no longer use all the front tire's contact patch (that can be well seen in a front 3/4 angle photo). If the the car doesn't look like a Fox with the top of the tire all tilted out, then it's not too soft.

If you keep fighting a push and it's not driver induced.... stiffen the rear bar.

 

[Captain_Stangin']

Thanks for the advice gents. I know I wasn't getting heavy understeer unless I got on the gas too hard, or as you guys said, turned the wheel too much.

If I do set both bars to maximum stiffness, what can I expect? Will the handling balance remain the same, with less body roll? Or will the car understeer or oversteer more?

 

[L.Sanchez]

Driver. Thats the beauty and ugliness about autox...it makes those that thought they were excellent drivers realize they weren't so good but teaches you to understand the fundamentals of driving and that the tuning of a car is based on your drive style.

Its always fun having some instructor jump in your own car and drive it better than you!