Improving handling on a budget
 

Hey guys, I'm looking for ways of reducing body roll and understeer on my car on a shoestring budget (this has been my complaint about my car for years, and I am finally deciding to deal with it)

I've looked around on the internet, and here are 2 options that I formulated that fits my budget:

Tein S Tech lowering springs

1. Front strut bar + rear sway bars (my car doesnt have either of those atm)

2. In terms of body roll and handling which one would be give me the most benefit?

Thanks!

on your ML? :troll:

What tires are you on? If you're on crappy rubber, adding either won't help

strut bars just look pretty, they really dont do much, sway bars are your best bet and a lower profile tire assuming you are already not on them, next would be firmer suspension or springs!

I'd say beefier rear swaybar would benefit most for your goals and for relatively cheap. I'd go with this first.

Front strut bars can help depending on how rigid the car's chassis is to begin with, but won't do much for body roll or understeer reduction.

It really depends on your car, should give a bit more info.

I wouldn't waste money on strut bars, they look really nice in the engine bay but don't make too big of a noticeable difference unless you're tracking your car.

On my jeep I have upgraded front and rear swaybars + endlinks.
The stiffer rear swaybar made a huge difference in performance/handling and was only $150.
Front swaybar made almost no difference, but it looks nice lol.

Lowering springs are generally stiffer so you get less body roll at the expense of ride quality. A good spring/shock setup will lower your center of gravity, decrease 'squat' when you accelerate and decrease nose dive when braking. Accelerate faster, brake faster and can corner faster.

ML has stock sway bars :okay:

So, perhaps I should ditch the strut bar for a front sway bar?

Tires are out of the question as they are too expensive.

EDIT: I was responding to gYU, the car in question is NOT an ML

stock sway bars in most factory cars are just big enough for manufactures to pretty much say they are there, get a bigger sway setup, 8-10mm at least bigger if u want it to be noticed in such a big car

I would leave front sway stock but just get thicker rears to reduce understeer.

Guys, I have NO rear sway bars at all :lawl:, not too sure about fronts, I am still looking up on that.

The car in question is not a ML, it's a midsize sedan

Lower it. Stiffer springs.

Dafuq? No rear swaybars at all?

What kind of car is it? I've seen a few domestics that have PLASTIC swaybars but I've never heard of no swaybars at all lol. :badpokerface:


I stripped a nut installing my rear swaybar so I drove around for a month with no rear swaybar. I cannot imagine driving a car with no rear sways all the time.It SUCKED! If I was you I would look for a rear swaybar solution or just give up. Springs will take away some body roll but they can't replace the role of a fully functioning swaybar

I dunno, I looked under the car and I couldn't see one, and the dealership tech said there was not parts no. for a rear sway.

Car is Mitsubishi Galant ES

I'd probably say tires, fat and stickier front tires.

As others have said rear sway should help

Adding some more negative camber should make a difference, not sure how much you can add with stock components.

These cars are so heavy and front heavy in particular really hurts the handling.

Cheapest handling upgrade - proper tire inflation. $0.

second cheapest - alignment.

If it was an older car I'd suggest swapping out all the worn bushings for new ones. Bushings are one of the most overlooked suspension components in older vehicles and replacing them can make a world of a difference.
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^ +1

A bigger diameter rear sway bar is definitely one of the cheapest (and most effective) ways to increase handling, and reduce body roll.
Some cars typically only have a front sway bar, or it is bigger than the rear sway. They do this so your car will understeer (because most drivers don't know how to deal with oversteer).

depending on what car you have and age, you have a number of suggestions already that are relatively inexpensive... albeit rather lacking in bling, but quite effective depending on your goals.

adjusting tire pressures
alignment
getting better tires
changing suspension bushings


depending on what car you have, removing the front sway bar helps too - and is free. These are installed by factory to induce understeer earlier for safety for drivers. note the risk of doing so however.

Exactly what I was going to suggest. Find all the old rubber bushings and replace them.

As for your car not having a sway bar... I'm pretty sure it has one. Perhaps the mechanic would have recognized stabilizer bar instead?

Not sure which Galant you own, but 8G and 9G Galants both have rear stabilizer bars :pokerface:

Uhh.. OP just because dealership doesn't have a partnumber doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Sometimes its part of a larger mechanism that you have to buy as a whole, i.e. I broke a plug on the wiring harness. Dealership won't have a part number for that plug but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist -- you have to buy the whole wiring harness to get the plug.

Same deal here. Probably part of the entire rear axle or something.

Shave some weight off the car, like spare tire, lighter battery.....

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/att...tire-shine.gif

Spray that all over the rear tread.

Have fun. You might even drift into the D-Dimension.