My car (69 Special) is a daily driver. I have a 1" rear sway bar. The ride in the car is too rough- when the car hits bumps it is not comfortable. Rather, I would like the feeling of "driving on a sofa". Question #1:Can I just remove the rear sway bar? If I remember correctly, these cars came from the factory with no rear sway bar. Handling is not important to me. I go fast only in straight lines. Question #2: If I do remove it, should I bring it to the track to help me launch? Or can I just use an airbag? Question #3: If I remove my rear swaybar, should I get a smaller front swaybar so the car does not become "unbalanced"? -Bob C.
I have never noticed a rear sway bar to affect straight line ride. Take another look @ shocks and tires. You can remove the rear sway bar, no big deal. I think you only increase over steer in the turns. Dan
Actually, I think understeer increases without the rear bar. I thought the rear bar improved the overall feeling of stability. I don't think it affected the ride much at all. An air bag would be a good addition, and some say it is better to run the bag without a rear swaybar. Be aware, a bag set for ideal weight balance under acceleration may make the braking distribution horrible. My LR would lock up pretty easily. No what you want for daily driving. air it down for everyday driving. The engineering on these cars was so directed toward marshmallow ride, I don't think a smaller front bar would offer any improvement in balance when additional body-roll is the result. Might make you some small amount faster at the track though. If that is your only concern, take it off entirely.
I didn't think it would affect ride so much either. The rest of my ride (i.e. shocks & tires) are fairly soft, but the when I go over bumps the whole car seems to shake way too much. All I can imagine is that when the left side hits a bump, the sway bar transfers some of the bump to the right side and that's why the whole car seems to shake too much. I agree that the rear bar increases the overall feeling of stability. I think the rear bar seems to keep the car more level in turns. But I can't figure out why else the car seems to react so poorly to bumps. I do have an airbag (only in the RR). I usually leave it at 5 PSI, and pump it up at the track. I will leave that in. I'll try removing it and see what happens. Thanks guys! -Bob C.
I'd not think the rear bar would affect how bumps transmit quite in that manner. Maybe some other suspension mods could help.
when I added a rear bar and enlarged the front bar my car got a little firmer ride and a little harsher on the road. but i'm not complaining the cornering ability to me outweighs the ride quality. it still rides smoother than my 04 malibu. i believe the front stock bar on my 70 was 3/4" with no rear bar. if yours is the same size front you should be fine w/o a rear bar. However you will then learn what body lean is in the corners. You can remove it try it out and put it back in if you don't like it. it's just 4 bolts and a couple of shims
It's gone! Well today I finally removed the sway bar. The ride is MUCH nicer! Bumps are barely noticeable now, instead of feeling like you have to brace yourself for each bump in the road. There was a tad more body roll on the offramps, but I don't really care. The car is made to go straight fast, but I don't really care about cornering. I might bring it to the track sometime to compare the launch, but for now it is going to stay OUT! -Bob C.
There's your problem. Poly bushings plus the sway bar binds up bad. You have found a bit of the solution. In this case you will handle better with the sway bar off. If you are happy the way it is leave it. If you want the sway bar you need to put in rubber bushings or a spherical bushing at the frame.
What part was binding up? Do you mean that the control arms can't pivot? Or that the whole assembly is just too stiff? The bushings were all lubed up, so I don't know what would be binding. -Bob C.
Bob, I just went thru this with my '71 Skylark. 350/350 & as near stock as I can keep it. I thought it was my front bar, 1-1/4", making the car hit road bumps like a freight train. I also have a 1" rear with boxed arms. Turns out the front coils were not suited to my local roads, they were a new set of 5398. Tried a few others before getting help from MOOG & finally installing a pair of 5536. I kept both front & rear bars & car rides like a "sofa", with very little body roll.
Bob, since the arms aren't perpendicular and equal length (uppers are a lot shorter than lowers). the axle will rotate and twist when the suspension moves. also the end points of the arms will also move laterally slightly in relation to their pivot points and the rotation of the axle from one wheel hitting a bump before the other. Normally the rubber absorbs a lot of the shock and twist from the suspension. now that you have poly that is a lot stiffer than the rubber you'll feel more of the road. I'm not sure how well spherical bushings will work on the outer control arms and give a smooth ride because being that much closer to the wheels you will feel more than when spherical is used for the upper links. and since the spherical won't bind as much but it's still a ridged support.
Good explanation. The GM engineers designed the rear suspension knowing that the bushings they specified would allow articulation. This is especially important at the frame. It is also correct that the upper control arms need more articulation than the lower. Put in very stiff bushings then add a heavy anti roll bar and you have effectively made the lower control arms and the rear axle one solid part with a single plane of movement at the frame. If you are running a drag car this actually works pretty good. If you need to go around a corner or over a bump it sucks. Take out the poly bushings and replace with rubber and you can have the sway bar and a good ride.
Hmm. Well a lot of that went over my head, I'll just leave the sway bar out for now. I'll have to learn more about this stuff! Thanks! -BC
ive seen too many negative posts to EVER use poly bushings.the moog rubber replacements are pretty cheap,easy to install(freeze 'em first)and any parts store can get them.
Interesting follow-up note. Historically, my car has run ~2.2 60' times. Yesterday I went to the track for the first time without the sway bar. First run was a 2.1, then a 2.08, then on my third run I got a 1.996. I probably could have done even better, but I was skiddish (pun not intended) about hitting the gas so hard off the line, since historically it's been so bad! This is with regular 215-75-14 all season radials, no less. -BC
I did not notice any body twist. But then again I probably wouldn't know it if I felt it. Can you twist a body with a 1.99 60'? -BC
my car has F41 suspension. i have mix of rubber & poly bushings, poly in the rear and a mix in the front. my car rides hard. i feel the bumps but also feel the road. i also run 32 lbs in the bfg radials. i would never consider removing the rear sway bar. any sudden turns or veering on the road to avoid an object or animal and u will thank that rear swaybar for how well it hold the rear end down on the road. believe me, i know.
