I want to get a 32mm sway bar for the front of my 95 Z, but I wanted to know how much this would hurt me, if any, in my straight line speed. Almost all the racing I do is straight line, but I also love the feeling of a tight suspension. How much am I sacrificing by getting this? Is it worth the gains of cornering? This is my DD too. Thanks.

 

You'll lose nothing in straight line speed. The bar is hollow, does not weigh much at all. It's worth the $50 or so to get one. I installed on on my Formula a couple months ago and couldn't be happier. Besides, it comes stock on WS6, SS, Firehawk, and 1LE cars. It'll help in cornering, noticable over the stock 30mm bar. For $50, you can't lose.

 

32mm 29.99 from Gryhead.com.

You will also need bushings and endlinks.

You could always pull one of the endlinks at the strip, any front sway hurts you a little at the drag strip.

I only noticed better handling.

Z28

 

If you get the 1LE sway bar it will be hollow, but most other 32mm are solid like BMR, which is heavier than stock or the 1LE. The BMR comes with all the bushings as well. Also, if your putting on a 32mm front, you should really also be putting on a 21mm rear sway bar as well. Under hard cornering, your car will be more planted in the front then the rear and the rear will slide out under you. Something for you to think about.

 

If you opt for a 32 front bar, I'd strongly recommend you stay with a 19mm rear. And among the things I carry are bars sets like that, I just never sell them. Folks say "do 32/21 because it's 1LE". Yes and no. Only '93 1LE's had those bars, but they also had a stiffer front springs as well. Putting 32/21 ons a standard sprung car makes the bars rear-biased. We use 35/22 (both hollow, the rear being the same stiffness as a solid 21) to maintain the wheel rate ratio similar to a true 1LE. And if we want to change it, we want to me the front stiffer relative to the rear, not softer.

First if you are going to bother upgrading your car and are willing to spend more than $30 to do so, use a larger than 32mm bar. Ask anyone who's tried a 32 and a 35 both. If $30 is your limit than a 32mm bar off an SS, 1LE, WS6 is great bang for the buck.

All that said. If you are running around on crap shocks, those need to be addressed first, not the bars. Shocks are the single most important part of the suspension, then bars, then springs, and then the "other" things you tend to find recommended..... Of course, the better and more though-out the big parts are, the better and more usefull they are to the handling and ride. More money on truly good shocks and appropriate bars saves you a ton of money on buying other parts needed to band-aid the fact you don't have the damping, impact harshness control, roll control that you would have gotten with good dampers and proper bars. All about fund allocation.

 

I was hoping you would chime in Sam. I've read many of your posts and completely agree with what you're saying here. I just don't have the money to do shocks/springs right now and found a used 1LE bar for sale. I think I've decided to wait around either for a better deal or to get new shocks/springs. Since I don't autocross and mostly only drag, I like the option of the 1LE bar instead of a higher priced hollow 35mm. Thanks for all the input.

EDIT: www.gryhead.com does not exist???

 

A 32 mm front bar is well worth $30 imo. The 32/21 combo is a little tail happy, but it makes for fun driving around if you like to hang the rear end out on occasion. For competition, though, the 19 mm bar will give more rear end grip.
The 35 mm front bar makes the car a bit more of a handful on bumpy pavement. I'm not sure I like it better for a daily driver. I'm planning on putting my 32 mm front bar back on to compare the two whenever I can find the time in the next few weeks.

 

It's gyrhead.com