Anti Roll Bar Configuration Comparison
 

After much advice from people from here and from recommendations from garages, I'm a little bit closer to deciding what I want but still stuck as what is best for me. Hopefully in this thread I can get a comparison of people experiences from the following setups and a bit of advice of what would be best for my use (90% road, maybe 10% off, looking for maintaining ride, comfort and grip, so minimal oversteer!). So, for a simple comparison point of view lets assume all bars on medium setting, with alloy drop links and ALK, the three setups are:

22mm FRONT, 22 REAR
22mm FRONT, 24 REAR
OEM FRONT, 22mm REAR

Comparison of what each configuration would give and how they compare to eachother would be great!

In reverse order......

OEM+22mm = perfection, but a slight harshness over lateral ridges, way less understeer, you'll love it, better for oversteer on the stiff position. ;)

22 + 22 = mine, slightly harsh over lateral ridges, massive increase in grip, oversteer on track both fully stiffened. :cool:

22 + 24 fine for a smooth driver, more likely to oversteer.

IMHO

dunx

would you say a good start would be to do OEM+22mm and then add the ALK at a later stage? Would any of the bushes benefit from/need an upgrade?

Bushes depends on age/mileage of the car..... but won't do any harm.

It took me ages to convince my mate "KojaK" to add an adjustable rear ARB to his, 2001 WRX but he was astounded at the improvement.

What year is yours, as later cars have up-rated ARB's depending on the year.

dunx

sorry to jump in would drop links be worth while. ive read that some 03 imprezas come with plastic ones does it make a difference when replacing for alloy

steve

Sorry, forgot to mention rear alloy droplinks were going to be done as well. Its a 02 WRX.

Also, DUNX why did you opt to change the front ARB, rather than keep it OEM?

Track use, and I hate understeer....

Plus drop-links help get the last few % improvement, plastic ones aid NVH for a standard car.
Never had a problem with Whiteline ones on mine, some have had bother with cheap "copies".

HTH

dunx

just how much oversteer do you get from a 24mm rear arb with a 22mm front arb, looking at getting this done myself in the near future ..

I replaced all the suspension bushes with powerflex items. The lack of play allowed a more accurate wheel alignment. Even though there is a slight increase in road noise, thankfully now the APS 3.5 inch bore de-cat exhaust drowns out the road noise, lol. Getting the old bushes out can be a real pain, thankfully I had air tools and a good bolts store to allow me to fabricate my own bush removal tools. But I feel it was worth the hard work to get the tightness that does not come with the OE bushes.

Take a look at the revolution website they are doing the Eibach kits cheap again I have these on my 02 WRX and it's spot on. They are also a much better quality finish than the whitelines.

I got 24mm front and 27mm rear and as of yet no oversteer in the dry, and still very stable in the wet. VERY stiff though.:D

It's more about your driving style, super smooth racing line types will be fine, us "monkeys" might find it a bit quick to snap loose...

IMHO

dunx

P.S. Obviously going up to 24 + 27 is heading for a circuit set-up, again IMHO.

I had them for bargain prices of £50 a piece, that's why I have this configuration. I wouldn't go for them if I was buying new. They really are to harsh for our crap roads.:thumb:

I'm thinking of a 24mm rear and a 22mm front, ALK to compliment my tein springs, consider myself 'competent' on a track, I'm no stig but able to hold a steady line, will just be fun to have a play with different settings!

I would look into considering do a Whiteline 24mm Front as this will help eliminate understeer greatly. As for the rear a Whiteline 22mm or 24mm would be a good choice and help keep the car neutral and allow it to follow the front better as you will have better turn from the front with the bigger 24mm bar. If you get the 24mm Rear bar, make sure to buy the adjustable and if you find that you want to lower the stiffness or raise it you can by +/- 1mm.

I thought a stiffer front roll bar would make the car turn in quicker, but then begin to understeer on the exit ??

Well it doesn't appear that the OP has upgraded springs or dampers. Now if he is still on Stock WRX springs and dampers I would say, don't go higher than 24mm and set them at the lowest setting. If you have no plans to upgrade your springs and dampers, I would go with 22mm Front and Rear or you could do 24mm front and 22mm rear.

These cars are naturally tail happy in the exit of a turn as you are trying to apply throttle on exit. Keeping the Rear bar smaller will help keep a more neutral setup and is more forgiving.

ah ok - I'm running tein s tech springs on wrx dampers, any tips/experience with that sort of setup?

would the perrin droplinks front and rear work with whiteline arb's

steve

I'm decided on getting just the rear 22mm adjustable bar and drop links done for now. I agree with Iain, its probably best to try and see whats best for you and your usage/driving style.

I was under the impression that a thicker bar at front would definatly promote oversteer, i've never know my current OEM setup to be tail happy, maybe i'm not pushing it hard enough :Suspiciou. Most configurations i've seen have a thicker bar at the rear.

Actually a bigger front bar will help with Turn in and keep you from Understeering. The stock WRX suspension is really soft and the way the suspension is setup, is that you will more likely understeer before you could ever Oversteer. People try to correct this by going with a much larger Rear ARB, but that just induces Oversteer and does nothing to help turn in and make a more neutral handling car.

If you upgrade ARB and you plan to do only 1 of them at a time, is always get a bigger front bar first. It is preferable to get both at the same time to compliment each other and create a balanced setup.

[quote=Kayen;9165154

If you upgrade ARB and you plan to do only 1 of them at a time, is always get a bigger front bar first.[/quote]

Is this not in a sense the same as reducing the understeer/increasing turn in at the front, but inadvertantly loosening up the back?

Is it possible to clarify, what the effect of, for example getting just a 22mm front and the equivalent of just a getting a 22mm rear?

You should look at getting a new set of springs. Those are the worst springs ever designed for the WRX or STi. I am not sure what your goals are for you car and if you do any weekend racing or just like to have fun in the twisties, but here is a huge FAQ in regards to the Tein S-Techs.

The official Tein S-tech FAQ - NASIOC

Instead of me trying to explain this to you fully, I will just give you this link in regards to exactly what you are trying accomplish. If you have questions after reading this through let me know and would be glad to help and explain it.

NASIOC - View Single Post - Sway Bars for 02 WRX

We can learn a lot from the US on cornering set up ;)

OE front with 22mm rear or 22mm front on soft and 22mm rear on hard is spot on for road use IMO. But, it is a question of what works for you (and your driving style).

As said, a lot of understeer is driving style induced.

im just in the middle of ordering perrin 25mm adjustable rear arb and drop links

should do me okay

I agree that Understeer is induced a lot by driving style, but that holds true as well to oversteer as well.

As you said for just road use 22mm is a great setup, but I haven't had anyone explain to me exactly what their overall intentions are for the car. 90% road and 10% off doesn't explain a lot. But I would bet that 22mm would a great daily driver setup and allow him to enjoy his WRX a lot more.

interesting ... I'm not one to preach that they are the best just because I have them, but have driven a stock blobeye sti around a track and thought that mine handles better. Also dont think they hav'nt lowered my car by 2.4" as it mentions in that thread, just over an inch at the front and an inch at the rear, in fact I still think that mine looks high at the front from some angles. Would have to try some different springs to have fair comparisons and simply dont have the cash or time to try loads of different set ups/springs!

got to leave work now and will continue post when I'm home!

I found that the stiffer rear bar holds the car flatter through corners allowing the front to steer more accurately. My STI was transformed, and my pal's WRX was an even bigger eye opener...

IMHO

dunx

[QUOTE=dynamix;9165272]We can learn a lot from the US on cornering set up ;)
QUOTE]

made me chuckle :lol1:

It is interesting to hear different peoples experiencss and thoughts on setups though :)