Best sway bars --cost/function.
 

Can you guys provide your opinion on the best sway bars available based on function/cost? I see that the racing beat sways are the most popular?

and i tried to install my own suspension -- too difficult... But i've managed to install my own midpipe (when the car was under the lift), and intake was a breeze, and exhaust as well... do you guys think i'll be able to install this w/o a problem?

I have Racing Beat & I love them. Quite a few people also have the Mazdaspeed & like them as well. I think it depends on what you are looking for. How aggressive you want to be with your car.

Best value per $$$ is the Australian made Whiteline sway bars :D

B...free
michael

the ms sways are more rigid than stock but not as rigid as the rb's or whitelines. Some ppl either like stiffer springs less rigid sways ie. ms susp. or stiff sways and less stiff springs ie. rb susp. Both are good but I think the ms sways are better for tuning a race susp. and the rbs are better for daily driving.

i currently have a full MS shocks/struts and springs... i'm just trying to go for what's most reputable while the cost is at the minimum. How much are whitelines? i've never heard of them... for the RB, a a full sway bar and endlinks come up to about $400... how about the MS sways?

Here you go.

http://www.whiteline.com.au/


Even with shipping cost and paying full retail i believe these to be as good as the best and definetely the cheapest you save 25% - 30% just on your exchange rate. ;)


B....free
michael

Hi Michael
I need your advice,
When I search for swap bars under the whiteline swap bars.

4 type of swap bars appear, and they are

1) Heavy duty swaybar-fr, R / 27 / B / MAZDA RX8, Code: #BMF49, AU$171.82

2) H/duty swaybar-fr Blade adjust., R / 27 / D / Adjustable 26-28mm / MAZDA RX8 ADJUSTABLE, Code: #BMF49Z, AU$241.82

3) Heavy duty swaybar-rr, R / 18 / B / MAZDA RX8, Code: #BMR77, AU$171.82

4) H/duty swaybar-rr Blade adjust, R / 18 / D / Adjustable 17-19mm / MAZDA RX8, Code: #BMR77Z, AU$241.82

Can u advice me what are the differences and which one should I buy?
Thanks
Morgan

i paid $180 (canadian) each for Whiteline non-adjustable sway bars back in April so they are definitely a good deal.

can't tell you how well they work because my local distributor has scammed me ( PDM Racing) :mad: (waiting 15 weeks for them so far)

Hey morgan,

The price different being adjustable and non-adjustable for the bars. I was looking at them when deciding at sway, anyway, i found the shipping of the bars to be quite ex. thus when with RB's set up, both sways and spring. I think the springs are ok, but the sways does make a lot of diff to the handling!
Hope this helps.

... whiteline seems to be ok... but dealing w/ an international distributor might be a PITA!! So, i think i'm going to go w/ Racing Beat... i hear their Customer Service is great as well...

Yup, althought whiteline might seem cheaper, but if you're from US, then having the bars to be shipped over from downunder will cost more than RB's.

So should I get adjustable or non-adjustable ones?

Does it means that I need to adjust the sway bar according to the stiffness of the Suspension that I had?

I have the Whiteline adj. sways, stock suspension otherwise. Don't take this as absolute, but the adj sways allow tuning the front to rear balance of the car. Even though the adjustment looks quite small, the effect on under/over steer is considerable and esp. if you take it towards the limits (as on the track) where the sways start having more effect on the car-suspension response, you feel the effect of the change more.

After I changed to Falken RT-615 tires, I was able to fine tune the balance frt-r so I now have a car that nicely and promptly hangs the tail out in sharp corners. I like that particular attribute, someone else might want to dial in more understeer or even more oversteer, depending on their style and comfort zones.

I think if you are really serious about 'going faster' when tracking the car, and making it do just what you want, feeling like you want, adjustability is a must.

If it's a street car that is not terribly important, but for the tiny dif in $$ why not get them anyway? :) Nice :cool: factor for conversations, too.

Hope that helps.

Is the non-adj bar more stiff than the adj bar?

Cos if the stiffness of the non-adj is the same as the lowest range of the stiffness of the adj. that means that I can't tune it to be less stiff if I want to car to be slightly understeer?
(sorry not very good in describing, hope u understand)

Most the drivers that have the Whitelines states that its the stiffest among all other brands of sway bar. so does it mean that car will be severely oversteer. that means that it will be abit dangerous if driving around a bend at high speed on the street.

1) I not 100% sure, but I would guess they are the same torsional stiffness, basically they are made of the same steel.

2) The dif is likely just the ends where there are two holes instead of one. So you get roughly the middle stiffness setting I would imagine.

3) Anti-roll bars give you the ability to effect TWO handling characteristics a) Understeer & oversteer as an amplitude function - how much of it you get; b) and second, when they are adjustable, a balance function - do the front and the rear have comparitively more or less under/over steer than the other end.

So more so even, you can dial in MORE understeer or MORE oversteer depending on the setting with stiffer anti-roll bars than you can with softer bars.

4) A benefit of all this is that anti-roll bars also keep the suspension components closer to their ideal geometry so the handling of the car improves overall. In other words the car is NOT heeling over on it's side with the tires at some stange angle to the road, thereby losing traction capability.

5) Street handling is awesome, so much more responsive and crisp than with soft stock bars (truly!). There is virtually no down side to stiff anti-roll bars in our cars on the street...a minor ride difference that it barely worth mentioning is the only thing that comes to mind.

Up from the dead.
Spin9k, are you using the WL spherical rod end end links?
Also, which settings (f/r) did you end up using?
Is the WL install straightforward? Are there any modifications necessary?

Up until I had it corner weighted after the Cusco coil over install, I used the OEM end links w/no problems. But for the corner balance the drivers side spring perch was extended a bunch therefore requiring one adjustable link on the other side to eliminate any preload. I choose full hard in the front adj-wise 'cause I going to a brand new smooth track next week and so far it's fine on the street.

In the rear the OEM links only fit (are of equal length) with the full hard or full soft holes due to how they are placed. So again another adjustable link was used to allow a 'medium' setting of the rear bar.

The adj. links are not the WL, I've had them for some time I don't remember where I got them.

You get new bushing w/the WL, so no there are no mods to do other than use those that you get. Of course finessing the front bar out is always a challenge.

^
Much appreciated. Thanks.

Please correct me if I am wrong, I may be, but I think the Tanabe sway bars might have the largest diameter. I fund some that are 32mm/F and 19mm/R. I thought I saw a larger size but the ones mention ran about $165 a piece.

actually the Progress Technology bars are the stiffest and likely the least expensive at under $290 USD shipped, both bars have endlink adjustment holes. The OD alone means nothing, it depends if it's solid or if tubular then you also need to know the wall thickness to determine the overall stiffness. The PT bars are 1.25" (32mm) OD x 0.25" (6.3mm) wall thickness front and 3/4" (19mm) solid rear.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-wheels-tires-brakes-suspension-55/sway-bars-109096/

AWR makes a nice set of heim endlinks, they build a number of parts for Mazda Motorsports, I recall somebody thought the rear links were too long though ...

http://www.awrracing.com/store/index.php?cPath=38

easiest way to change the front bar is to drop the front plastic undercover and lower radiator mounts, the bar slides in and out from under the car rather than trying to snake it through from the side

I found them both too long, but my car is quite low( actually too low..gotta raise it a bit at the next alignment). Get the short body for the rears