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Sway Bar Overview

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Whatever type of a vehicle you may have, excessive body roll can interfere with its performance. Sway bars, also called stabilizer bars or anti-roll bars can make a big difference in settling things down.

When a vehicle goes around a corner, it tends to lean toward the outside of the curve. The amount of body roll is called the roll angle. The greater the roll angle, the more the tires change their camber angle in relation to the road surface. With too much roll, the tire's contact patch becomes markedly smaller, reducing its grip. You want to keep the tire as close to perpendicular as possible.

Several different components can affect body roll. A vehicle's suspension basically consists of springs, shocks, linkage, bushings and sway bars. The springs support the weight of the car and absorb vehicle load while traveling over bumps or during cornering. The shocks help to reduce the unwanted spring motion in the suspension. The linkage or control arms control the motion of the wheels relative to the vehicle body. The bushings work in conjunction with the linkage and other components by acting as pivot points and/or cushions. Lastly, they control the roll stiffness by torsional resistance.

All of these components work together as a system, and changing one can affect the performance of another. For instance, if you modify your springs (such as when lowering or lifting the chassis), body roll can increase. The best way to control changes in tire camber caused by body roll is to limit the roll angle by changing the roll stiffness of the suspension vis-à-vis sway bars. These U-shaped tubes are transversely mounted beneath a vehicle's frame. When both wheels are connected to each end of a sway bar, they tend to twist the bar as one wheel moves up and the other moves down. The stiffer the bar, the more resistance to body roll it can provide.

Next Page: How Does A Sway Bar Control A Body Roll In Your Vehicle?

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