Explain sway bar binding to me
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:41 pm
Hey everyone, been chasing a handling issue down with my BMW. Sometimes it will be neutral, and other times it will default to interminable, serious understeer. For once, it's not the operator's fault. I drove a friend's car, that for all intents and purposes, is identical to mine: Same car, same dampers, springs and rates, alignment setup, diff, etc. Our cars are almost carbon copies in the suspension area, EXCEPT for the front anti roll bars. My bar is a bit larger. I drove his car and it is completely neutral-to-tail happy at all times. He can steer his car around corners with the throttle, while I have to wait forever until I'm basically through the corner to power out.
After some furious Googling, I can't imagine the difference in bar size (~2mm) is causing this handling discrepancy. Perhaps my front sway bar is "binding." Can someone clearly explain what anti-roll bar binding is, and how to test for it?
From what I gather, I need to unhook my endlinks and see if the bar can twist freely in it's bushings/mounts. Is this correct? Is there anything else I can test/check to see if the sway bar is my issue? I tried unhooking it completely, but that made the front end way too vague and prone to wandering.
Thanks,
- Jake
After some furious Googling, I can't imagine the difference in bar size (~2mm) is causing this handling discrepancy. Perhaps my front sway bar is "binding." Can someone clearly explain what anti-roll bar binding is, and how to test for it?
From what I gather, I need to unhook my endlinks and see if the bar can twist freely in it's bushings/mounts. Is this correct? Is there anything else I can test/check to see if the sway bar is my issue? I tried unhooking it completely, but that made the front end way too vague and prone to wandering.
Thanks,
- Jake