[Guest]

Guys,
I got no answers from a forum search if the BMR sway bars are a good product or not? But, I did learn that BMR lower control arms have been breaking at the weld & they now come beefed up and with better bushings.

OK, is there anyone using the BMR sway bars?

I have BMR extended upper & lower rear control arms 2 years old [new] in the box, never installed. Guess I should phone BMR & ask to trade up to the newer style arms B-4 the install....

B-4 I phone BMR though, I would also like to have some street smarts about their sway bars too... Anyone have experience using their sway bars?

Please Reply & Thanks
George

 

[Guest]

If you are sure you want a 38mm rear bar, the 33mm front BMR bar really isn't stiff enough for even close to balanced handling. Of course you could go to stiffer and lower front springs to compensate but I'm just talking about a swap of the bars, all else staying equal.The F-body F bar is worse and even the 36mm F Hotchkis bar is too soft because it's hollow. That is one short, stiff R bar in 38mm and only a custom made 38mm F bar[$$$$] really balances it. The closest to neutral, reasonably priced, available F bar is the HO 35mm.F+R HO's cost about the same as BMR's. Not that their is anything wrong with setting up a chassis for oversteer, just requires a different skill set to drive it well.

 

[Guest]

Scot,
Thanks-a-bunch for the reply & info... So, I take what you are saying is: Get the HO front & rear sway bar set, right? My next forum search will be to locate the contact info for HO...
Many Thanks-George

 

[Guest]

I have the HO rear bar (same as BMR rear) with the Hotchkis front bar on my SS. It is not that far off of nuetral. I had Hotchkis front and rear bars for years and prefer my current set up, which was necessitated by a switch to a TA rear girdle (the Hotchlis rear bar no longer fit). However, I have driven cars set up with a bigger rear bar for years and am used to that set up - don't lift in corners!

 

[Guest]

George, I started by asking if you were sure you wanted a 1 1/2 R bar because to get the best results with it is complicated no matter which F bar you use. The HO set is a very radical change to the suspension. As long as that is what you want, they can be great. Just realize, when the road gets uneven, those bars will wrench the body around more aggressively than any others that are commercially available. The design philosophy is based on a chassis with lots of suspension travel[not intended for slammed cars], and lots of rebound on the shocks with soft compression.The stock spec 9c1, DeCarbon or Bilstein shock has too much comp. and preload for an optimal utilization.They will work fine, but I'm talking about the ideal. A 1104-0929 set would be a better match, though even better would be these revalved with even more rebound and even less comp. Koni's are too high in comp. and not comp. adjustable for our cars, only rebound gets adjusted with Koni SA's. Less comp. is necessary to let the corner impacting the bump to stay connected to the road. A more civilized choice for bars would be the Hotchkis F+R set or any 1 1/4 solid F+R combo.The Hellwig 1 5/16 F and any 1 1/4 R falls in between these as far as civility goes with very mild final understeer. All this assumes the same springs. In truth, the HO set or a 1 1/2 F+R custom set or a 1 3/8 F+R custom set really require a much more rigid chassis to optimally utilize their potential. Again, I'm admitting lots of combinations work, but are not the ideal. The most radical suspensions are not necessarily the best and often are only suited to very highly modified chassis's. I thought I had built an adequate chassis previously and I now have proof that I was wrong. I can tell you that trying to get a rigid enough chassis for that "optimally utilize" point is proving to be a very complicated and time consuming exersize in the law of diminishing returns.

 

[Guest]

scot & 2LTONES,
Thank you both for the feedback. I have a new set of Hal adjustable shocks to be installed whenever I get a set of sway bars. I also have extended BMR upper [adjustable] & lower rear control arms; will contact BMR about breakage issues B-4 install since I read a forum post that they have improved their control arm product. I also have an extended aluminum MMC driveshaft but I want to do the install of all these parts after I get the sway bars. I was planning on cutting one coil of the front 9C1 springs and for rear install either Impala SS or Moog 305 rear springs to get the car lowered some & improve handling. Wheel/tire in 17 or 18 inch size maybe someday if I win a lotto.

As a result of your feedback, is it safe to assume that maybe a hollow front 36mm Hotchkis bar and the HO rear sway bar will be safe to drive?

My car is stock 9C1 right now which I believe provides some understeer which I like. Oversteer scares me too much...

TIA if you reply again-George

 

[Guest]

It's what 2ltones meant when he said " don't lift in corners". Lift throttle oversteer that can be very quick. He's making it clear that he is conscious of the oversteer potential of his set up and adjust his driving accordingly. Rain or snow increases the drama potential several orders of magnitude. So does less than smooth power increases. If oversteer scares you, and it's scary to lots of people,then stay with one of the more neutral or slightly understeering previously explained set ups. More is not always better and most people would be amazed at how much those biggest bars deform an unmodified chassis when under the higher loads. Doing your springs as you mention would be a very cost effective way to improve the car. Add a stock legnth aftermarket lower trailing arm , keep the factory uppers and your ready to pick your sway bars.

 

[Guest]

I agree with what Scot said about diminishing returns from bigger bars. The HO rear bar is now definitely the dominant force in my suspension. It appears to be causing my rear control arms to bind more often. I will be switching to the Global West RLCAs soon - they use a bearing which should reduce binding. As I said in my earlier post, my switch to the HO rear bar was necessitated by the TA rear girdle. I knew that it would cause oversteer. But because I was used to driving a car set up to oversteer (a 240Z) for about 25 years, I also knew that I would be comfortable and safe with an oversteer set up. My natural reaction behind the wheel is to expect oversteer. Also my SS is not a daily driver, but is only driven for fun. You should consider safety and how you drive and react. For example, when I took the Hotchkis rear bar off of my SS, we experimented by putting it on my father's Roadmaster in place of the stock rear bar. The Roadmaster oversteered pretty dramatically. My father is in his seventies, but is still an excellent and very "sporty" driver (his other car is an older Jaguar) however, he was not comfortable with the oversteer in the Roadmaster and we put the stock rear bar back in a week. If oversteer scares you, I would also sugest the Hotchkis front and rear bar set up, it is a nice improvement over stock and still understeers.