Sway/stress Bars? And Brake Pads?

[KevinTS]

I am thinking about getting a sway bar or a stress bar what is the difference? I tried doing a search but i couldn't find nothing on the forums. Also the brake pads does anyone have a no brake dust pads? Are they good? I heard from a brake and allignment shop that said they have to be replaced alot. So if you know anything about the two it would be helpful cause i need a answer kinda soon i'm going to buy them soon.

[Autotechnica]

Originally posted by KevinTS@Apr 18 2005, 09:16 PM
I am thinking about getting a sway bar or a stress bar what is the difference? I tried doing a search but i couldn't find nothing on the forums. Also the brake pads does anyone have a no brake dust pads? Are they good? I heard from a brake and allignment shop that said they have to be replaced alot. So if you know anything about the two it would be helpful cause i need a answer kinda soon i'm going to buy them soon.

[snapback]334538[/snapback]

Chances are, if you don't know what it does, you don't need one! Sway bars are one of the things you should use when you've felt you've pushed the limits of your car and need to fine tune the suspension. I mean you'd have to know your car enough that you can feel a few degrees of body roll difference. Adding thicker sway bars can also be more dangerous if you don't know your car's limits. You would need to upgrade to grippier tires to stop the car from sliding or the back from comming around (depending on the settings). They can be used to increase or decrease understeer/oversteer. The bar limits suspension travel on each side of the car giving either the front or rear a firmer feel and less body roll. Remember that understeer and more body roll is safer and more controllable. This is key if you drive on the street only.

A stress bar is mainly used to stiffen up the chassis. It can also be used to limit damage when you get into a minor accident. It may prevent the frame of the car from being twisted or misaligned.

You may or may not feel the difference on the street. This depends on how hard you drive the car. You should get a stress bar. However, I feel that thicker sway bars are more suited for track/auto-x driving. They are not necessary for street driving.

Bry

[BeachBunny]

Not sure about the brakes, but get another opinion for sure. But, as for the sway bar... I believe that it's just a marketing gimmick to take your money. My dad got one for our e34 and it doesn't do a thing... of course, I've never experimented by pushing it to find out... which will just get you a buncha tickets anyway.

[RealBMW 02]

autotechnica is completley right. If you don't know what it does, you have no need for it. You can actually make your car handle worse if you get the wrong ones. There really is no absolutely right sway for a car. It kind of depends on other mods you have and your driving style.

As far as break pads, if you get no dust pads they will probably be alot harder compound and not stop as well.

[Autotechnica]

Originally posted by BeachBunny@Apr 19 2005, 05:56 PM
Not sure about the brakes, but get another opinion for sure. But, as for the sway bar... I believe that it's just a marketing gimmick to take your money. My dad got one for our e34 and it doesn't do a thing... of course, I've never experimented by pushing it to find out... which will just get you a buncha tickets anyway.

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Thicker sway bars are a gimmick? Why would you put in thicker sway bars but then not push your car harder? That's like buying a turbo, and shifting before the boost kicks in.

You are misinformed. I think you should research how things work before you go on to say that things are marketing gimmicks. There is no question that they do something, you should feel the difference right away at least from hitting bumps or even low speed cornering. Hopefully you didn't buy the same diameter sway bar or install them incorrectly. It's obvious that even half of the car's potential wasn't being used, so why upgrade anything? You should also upgrade the dampers as thicker sway bars put A LOT of stress on the suspension components.

Here's an example of an effective use of a thick sway bar and how they can greatly affect handling. SUV's such as Jeeps use HUGE sway bars in the front and little dinky ones in the rear, they are RWD most of time. They use huge ones in the front to make a huge amount of understeer. This makes it safer for the driver as understeer decreases the chances the car will slide, fishtail or roll over. Instead, this makes sure that you make very wide turns, instead of sharp turns. On RWD sport cars, the rear sway bar is almost always thicker, which gives the car a more tail happy sporty feel.

Sorry, I don't give any leniency towards women lol :nana Either way, misinformed is misinformed.

Bry