Sway Bar for SP20 2003

[arden]

Originally Posted by preeman80

I like the ride, I did notice that my steering feels stiffer (harder)?
Anyone else feel that?

nah mine felt same as b4 sway bars....

[twilightprotege]

yeah my steering is bloody heavy - but that's not due to the sways. it's mainly from the caster mod and being lowered

but i love it! feels weird driving a car with light steering. i just love the feedback from the heavy steering

[Cloudland]

bump.

any update recently? any more photos? :P

i'm planning on a rear sway bar soon, will probably check out local distributors today, and make a decision during the weekend.

although i prefered the BFR59 non-adjustable, now i tend to pick the BFR-59Z. with OE front for now.

[chicaboo]

The BFR59Z might be good if you ever get a rear strut brace, so you can dial it back a bit. I have a hefty front strut brace and the BFR59 on the rear and it's very nuetral. But then there would be more flex in the Mazda oem strut brace up front, so you might like to be able to back off the rear sway a touch perhaps? At a guess I would say if I added a rear strut brace that my car would be as taily as it was when it was stock, so it might not be so bad. Just that my car is less nervous now and predictably benign with what I have at the moment...

[Cloudland]

ugh thanks chicaboo, i doubt i'll ever go that far to install a rear strut brace. i might however upgrade front strut brace - the same setup as yours.

i don't know if i really need it to be adjustable. if the bfr-59 was made to cope with the OE front, it might be a better (less expensive) choice.

i'll probably come up with a bfr-59 first, to see how the front sway/strut bars hold. and then i might settle down, or get a front strut brace. in this way i can do all the bars myself.

[Cloudland]

btw, BFR-59Z says "adjustable 18-22 mm" on whiteline's online shopping site. puzzled. :?

[Cloudland]

:lol:

checked a local whiteline distributor. maybe the guy got it wrong - both BFR59 and BFR59Z were quoted NZ$182+GST. GST is 12.5% and i can get about half back as the car was used for business as well.

even if they got it wrong, i mean, suppose BFR59Z is actually more expensive, the price (of BFR59, then) is still cheaper than buying directly from whiteline AU, delivered by post office.

just after i realised that i DO like more choices, this is a good news. i'll probably order a BFR59Z next week.

they don't have price for the front strut/sway yet, and a bit curious where did i get the part number of the new front sway (ha!) but will get back to me next Monday.

i also checked a local tint shop, for the solar onyx black ting recommended by tinter, the price is damn cheap as well, $260 all inclusive. will probably make a booking next week if money no problem.

woo hoo. sometimes it does costs less from a local shop.

just to confirm this: is the adjustable range of BFR59Z 18~22 or 20~22/24?

[chicaboo]

Hey Cloudland,

The physicl bar size on the BFR59 is 20mm, I think the sizes quoted on the BFR59Z are equivelants to fix point units?
But the BFR59Z is no harder than mine even on it's hardest setting... So I doubt you'd get anything more than a 20mm equivelant.
The BFR59 is very comfortable and doesn't make the ride any harsher by the way. I just thought I'd let you know that incase you had it in the back of your mind.
I'm half interested in getting a rear strut brace just to take out the movement in the chasis that causes creeks in the sunroof on a hot day!
Anybody know what's available for the BJII?

Gav.

[twilightprotege]

the z appears to be 20-22mm adjustable

in terms of rear strut brace, i think it was ezin who got the gt-spec bar from america??? i think there are a few others available from america too, but the gt-spec is the most used.

and the rear strut bar is good. made my car feel so much tighter even with stock sways. now it feels awesome. gave the car a good run last week around the big roundabout near me. got into a slight rear wheel drift but it felt totally stable and in control. very happy jan.

[Cloudland]

ok, the BFR59Z has 3 holes, will that affect the total strength or what? i'm paranoid.

if no surprises, and the BFR59/59Z come at the same price, will order the Zed one and put it in the middle. therefore if i get further strength on the front, i can move inward on the Zed, and if i ever get a rear strut, i can move outward.

choices are great!

[chicaboo]

Originally Posted by twilightprotege

the z appears to be 20-22mm adjustable.

22mm! Bloody hell, isn't that where your connector rods start to snap off? I wonder if the 22mm setting is that new 3 hole style the guys were talking about a few weeks back? Maybe it goes 18, 20 & 22mm equivelants? Sounds pretty full on though...
I can't really trail brake or steer the car with the throttle anymore, so I suspect the rear strut would bring that back like I said earlier. hmmm, not that I'm unsatisfied with the handling the way it is now. Just concerned about the chasis movement through the body more than anything...
Good luck with all that Cloudland, you'll find your car will corner faster than your seat will hang on to you! And I'm not joking. I'm a big guy so I suffer more lateral load shall we say, but you'll be surprised how the way the car used to lean will be replaced by how you go flying out the door...

Cheers,
Gav.

[twilightprotege]

if it's not 20-22, it would be 19-21 as all of the other whiteline 3 hole bars are only 2mm difference in thickness for adjustability.

and yes, 22mm on a car w/o an upgraded front sway bar would surely snap it off in no time. i think with the front bar it'll help out for a lot longer, but will eventually fail.

[Cloudland]

i skipped over some whiteline catalogs today, so these are the findings:

generally the whiteline swaybars are "touring sizes", about 1~5mm larger than original, unless solid whiteline replace same size hollow/tubular OEMs.

the Z at the end denotes "blade" adjustable bars, with experience from Group A and F1 racing. so it's more like "racing bars" on the hardest settings.

suppose the stock rear bars are 17mm in diametre, these are the increase in torsions:

18mm -  26%
19mm -  56%
20mm -  92%
21mm - 133%
22mm - 180%
23mm - 235%
24mm - 297%

for BJII, there are 2 bars in the catalog (catelog modifed June 2004):
BFR59
BFR59Z

PLUS front strut KSB622, and front sway BMF50, both not yet available in that catalog.

Ford Focus KQ also has same 2 bars as BJII, though BFR59Z listed as in price range B - same as BFR59, while under BJII, BFR59Z listed as in price range D.


whatever, now i'd assume the BFR59Z is 20mm in diametre.


i went back to whiteline's not so user friendly online store. and search BFR59Z, this is the result

H/duty swaybar-rr Blade adjust.
R / 20 / D / Adjustable 18-22mm / Ford Laser KQ Rear Adjustable
Code: #BFR59Z
Price: AU$207.27 (Australian Dollars)
NOTE: Australian deliveries must add 10% GST

so that means 18, 20, 22mm adjustable?


anyway, at least i know that the adjustable is more "racing" oriented, and the multiple holes are not likely to affect it's strength.

[twilightprotege]

well there you go. 18-22mm adjustability.

but you can do 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 settings. say for 21mm setting, you have the bar on one side on the stiffest setting, then on the other side you have it on the middle setting.

[chicaboo]

But isn't the bar physically 20mm diameter? Care to go measure your's Andy? Should be easy with the magic carpet garage...

[twilightprotege]

yeah it's definately 20mm, however the middle holes on the bar are the same distance out from the straight part of the bar as the oem bar. but dont forget as well, different materials used for bars give different results

[Cloudland]

Strange, Whiteline has BMF50 in their online shop, but it reads like an Adjustable!

H/duty swaybar-rr Blade adjust.
R / 24 / B / Mazda 323 Astina BJII
Code: #BMF50
Price: AU$166.36 (Australian Dollars)
NOTE: Australian deliveries must add 10% GST

[Cloudland]

btw, ordered BFR59Z today. they didn't get the quote on the front yet, someone (at the whiteline?) in the OZ is on holiday.

anyway, it takes about 2 weeks to reach here. the price is good.

[SFC01]

Anti-roll bar stiffness is related to bar diameter^4 and 1/(blade length^2)

That is how a 20mm bar has the 'effective rate' of bars being 18-22mm - by changing the blade length.

[SFC01]

Anti-roll bar stiffness is related to bar diameter^4 and 1/(blade length^2)

That is how a 20mm bar has the 'effective rate' of bars being 18-22mm - by changing the blade length.