Im just wondering if rear swaybars should be used when drifting? My t-spec came with them and Im wondering if this is either helping or not when I am drifting. Also are they good for rally racing which is what Im about to start doing next? Drifting is more important here so if these things arent working I want to take them off before I start drifting/racing the guy down the street with "the really loud smelly car" (translation, the nitro car).[>:]

Swaybars are a great tuning aid, but if your car is fitted with onroad racing sways then they'll be too thick and make the car understeer everywhere [:@]

Swaybars add understeer? I swear on-road grip racers use sway bars to eliminate understeer

The job of a sway or antiroll bar is to reduce traction at the end of the car it is fitted to, so if it's fitted to the front then my statement stands

Swaybars help reduce traction? I'm not sure about that, why do performance car drivers replace stock swaybars on their vehicles with harder aftermarket ones to help reduce the understeer in their vehicle to help them turn sharper and get through their racing line quicker. The only time a hard swaybar reduces grip rather than help add grip is when the tire compound is a hard, long-wear compoud, yes, it will reduce traction greatly, but at the same time high understeer is produced when the vehicle actually has quite good traction.

Though I agree with what you said in your previous post, a swaybar will help in drifting. I remember from a while ago, that swaybars are great with helping provide traction, yet, if the limits of traction are broke, a drift occurs, but it is usually difficult to re-straighten out a vehicle after that (real vehicles)

So yes, a sway bar is a good tuning aid when drifting, just as long as you have the proper setup and you're using the proper rated swaybars on each end

A thicker rollbar will reduce chassis roll, which in turn reduces weight transfer, which in turn feels like increased traction

I still stand by my statement

Yes it is increased traction. Since without the swaybar, you'd have so much traction roll that you would lose grip easily from all that weight transfer. The swaybar does indeed help with adding more traction. Try driving a TC without swaybars on a track and check your laptimes. Then drive it on a track with swaybars equiped, you'll notice that you can turn faster laps since your tires will always be on the ground and efficiently transfering power and aswell allowing you to turn more sharply and overall have reduced understeer rather than not having a swaybar.

Get any TC without sways where the handling is OK, then fit one to the front and try it...the car will push like crazy; or just fit one to the rear and the car will fishtail

Like I said, the job of a rollbar is to reduce traction by transfering some to the other end of the car (depending on the thickness of the bar), how you get round this is to match a rollbar at one end with the rollbar at the other end

A sway does not add traction otherwise we'd all be driving round with 10mm thick bars as more is obviously better by your theory

1) You put swaybars on both ends of a vehicle

and

2) drive your car (fullsize one) agressively on an autocross circuit. now find a modshop and look for a swaybar kit specifically designed for your vehicle and install it (or have someone install it for you) and drive your vehicle at the autocross track again. Don't drive it conservatively like you would in normal everyday traffic, drive it like you truly are on a racetrack and drive agressively, you'll notice a big difference on your car's handling, especially on a front wheel drive vehicle, you'll see that you've had alleviated some of your understeer, aswell have your vehicle's camber tuned, you'll notice an increase in traction and sharper on-power steering than you would if you haven't. Now tied that onto cars a 10th the size of your fullsize, chances are the results will be similar, unless you drive very conservatively and don't drive with a racing line in mind.

I think the reason why your car is pushing like crazy when you've got swaybars on is because your car doesn't have any traction at all and your camber isn't dialed. Try using rubber or foam tires and try grip driving for once. Using PVC on your wheels will for sure cause you to push when you've got swaybars, but when your tires actually have traction, then yes, it will alleviate the push.

Here's a quote from a friend:

"on a high traction surface swaybars help by reducing chassis roll, on a lower traction surface you need a bit of chassis roll to maintain traction so lighter or no swaybars would be requiered. that's the simple explanation".

Therefore, if you're speaking of high traction surfaces, a swaybar would be of great help allowing less body roll and weight transfer so that a vehicle may have more equal weight to each of the four tires therefore sharper turning because there is much traction to utilize. On a low traction surface, body roll would be helpful in allowing weight to transfer to one side of the of the vehicle so that even the most minimum amount of traction you have is going towards forward movement and the angle of your tire being steered.

I'm standing with what I posted as the source of that info is seasoned pro's, it's not my theory or off the top of my head, the fact is a sway transfers traction to the oposite end of the car and that is the simplest way to describe what the effect of fitting one is

They help with unloading, so depending on the thickness and whatnot they can add/remove traction on any car.