I've read somewhere that a rear sway bar causes some sort of undesirable effect concerning traction. If so what is the result.
I assume this was directed at me. It doesn't take too much thought to respond in generalities like I did. I tried to keep it simple.I can see you've really thought out your response, but here's a couple points I disagree on: any sway bar, front or rear doesn't add load to the outer tire, it actually helps spread the load to weight the inner tire, that's how it reduces roll. about.
Sorry but I also disagree with this. It depends on the spring rates, weight of the car and roll stiffness whether only one corner will rise or not, especially in a leaf spring car. I can jack on one corner in the rear of my '70 convertible and both rear tires will come off the ground. I don't even have especially stiff rear springs or bushings. The rear of the car is light enough and the leafs have enough roll stiffness that both tires come up.If you try jacking up (for example) one front corner on a car with no sway bar at all, only that corner will rise, because the load is only carried on that one corner.
The first part of your statement is true, the second is absolutely false.Also, while leaf spring suspension does limit the amount of lateral movement better than coils, it doesn't add any roll reduction over coils..
I didn't read your post since it didn't start with, "oh yeah I guess I got it wrong."Here's how sway bars spread the load: if the car is turning , physics dictates that more of the load will always be on the outside tire, right? The side of the car on the outside will travel down towards the bump stops because it now has more weight. Now suppose you add a sway bar into the system. As the outside of the car tries to travel downward, it's pushing on the end of sway bar as well as the spring. The other end of the sway bar is connected to the spring and tire on the inside of the corner, as the outside of the sway bar gets pushed down by cornering forces, so does the inside, right? What happens when we push down on the inside of the bar? It adds force (or a greater percentage of the car's weight) to the inside by transferring the force from the outside. As for the example you used of one front corner coming up in a turn, there are lots of them out there. I'm not talking about the ones where a car hit a curb on a road course (as in Sears Point) but rather than when a car actually lifts the inside front exiting a corner. This is because the car lacks balance and the rear is too soft or the front is too stiff and the car is weighting the outside rear too heavily. It might help to thing of a car as being a table: which table is going to be more secure, one with all it's weight on one side or one with the weight evenly distributed? That's the principle of sway bars and whether you believe me or not, that's why 100% or all road race cars have them on both ends. In fact every Pro/Stock drag car I have ever seen had a rear sway bar and they don't even go around corners! But because the rear bar evens out the weight load between the tires, it prevents one tire from unloading and loosing traction. I don't know what your current sway bar setup is, but try this: if your car has a decent front bar (1" or bigger) push down on one corner and observe what happens to the opposite. If you want to have someone measure it with a tape. With the bar connected, the corner opposite the one you pushed on WILL drop as well. How can that be? You didn't push down on that side, yet it moved! How did that happen? Because the sway bar (not shocks or springs) transferred weight to that corner. Hey run your car however you like, hell take all the sway bars off if you like, but although you may not believe it, sway bars increase rear grip by making both tires work. BTW, as for the unpredictable over steer everyone always claims, I have never seen it on either my '68 fastback or my '88 GT ( both have rear sway bars) even under the friskiest cornering. They can both bring the rear out under power in a corner, but they also are extremely easy to control, not twitchy or scary in the least.
Swaybars don't work that way. You aren't pushing down on the bar, the car is pushing down on the springs. The outside control arms are pushing up on the bar. So when you corner , the outside of the bar is being pushed UP and the inside is being pushed up a certain amount depending on how stiff the bar is, keeping the inside edge of the car down. But as stated above, if it's too stiff then it will pull the inside tire up with it.As the outside of the car tries to travel downward, it's pushing on the end of sway bar as well as the spring. The other end of the sway bar is connected to the spring and tire on the inside of the corner, as the outside of the sway bar gets pushed down by cornering forces, so does the inside, right? What happens when we push down on the inside of the bar? It adds force (or a greater percentage of the car's weight) to the inside by transferring the force from the outside.