Review of H&R 24mm Anti-Roll Bars and a few other things

[DirtyDeeds]

The H&R anti-roll bars went on the car yesterday along with a Focus Sport front strut tower brace and a VF Engineering rear mount.

Both front and rear bars are 24mm and the front bar has two adjustment points. I chose the softer setting for the front bar. The springs and dampeners are stock SVT components with about 30,000 miles of use.


Ride:
The ride is firmer and more controlled, but not harsh in anyway. The car actually tracks better, but I think that has more to do with the strut tower brace.

Body Lean:
What body lean? The car corners so flat, it’s ridiculous! Just kidding, it still leans a bit, but it's a big improvement over stock.

Balance:
More neutral than stock. Will understeer under power in tighter turns (expected), with trailing oversteer available off the gas or with a touch of the brakes. I'm really happy with the balance. A lot like stock, but more neutral and with out the body lean.

Bottom Line, does it go faster through a turn? Hell ya!

The combination of the anti-roll bars, strut brace and rear mount have done more than I could have expected in tightening up the front of this car. It feels more like I driving a German car than a Ford.

The only trade off is there is increased vibration through the VF mount at idle and during initial take off. While the vibration is quite noticeable at certain times, another benefit of this mount is that shift lever movement through the gears is much easier now. The VF mount does a great job of keeping the drive-line in place and thus, reducing binding on the shift linkages.

I got the H&R bars through North American Motorsports and the strut brace & rear mount were purchased from New Edge. Both companies got their products shipped to me in Chicago in less than 4 days via ground.

And since it’s still cold here in Chicago (There’s snow outside!), I had everything installed by Perfect Soundz in Libertyville, IL. Great work, great prices…what more can I say.

[Sponsor]

[BadIdea]

The big front bar will lift your inside front causing excessive wheelspin. It's much harder to get the power down and much easier to cord tires.

I think this big bar, stock spring setup is a good idea for the street, but terrible for the track.

[DirtyDeeds]

^^ Taken to an extreme, yes. I agree with you.

Where that extreme is and how much bar is too much on the front with the stock struts and dampners is hard to say. A 24mm on the softest setting in the front is as far as I dare go in this situation. I will admit that this is a bit of an experiment, but the observations in my first post are still accurate.

If it does prove to be too much bar, I'll start looking at stiffer front dampners first (Something I'm planning on anyway) and then front springs.

Either way, I'll let you all know how it goes...The first autocross for 2006 is in three weeks.

[ouikikazz]

the vibration will dampen down a bit as the mount breaks in...or u will get use to it...but mostly after about 1000 miles the vibration goes down a BIT

[..:: sleestak ::..]

yeah, I barely notice the vibration any more from my rear mount....think its time to do the others, lol.

DirtyDeeds, you said you can soften the front bar a bit? If its easy, I would say that you might wanna consider making it considerably softer than the rear to induce more oversteer. I have been running a 25mm rear and a 22mm front in autoX, and while it takes quite a bit to get the rear end to come around, its WAY more controled than pushing through a turn.

just an idea. nice that you got someone else to do them, that front sway is a bit of a b!tch, lemme tell ya.

[DirtyDeeds]

^^I've got the front bar on the softest setting.

It took the shop about 1 1/2 hours to get the front bar done. They had to drop the front sub frame down a couple of inches and it went right in. Not such a bad job when you have a lift and a transmission jack.

Glad to hear that the vibrations from the mount will settle down.

[BadIdea]

^^ Which is still too stiff for the track. I can't comment on autocross, but on a road course the big front bar lifts the inside wheel. That GRM article was useless - no mention of wheelspin.

[..:: sleestak ::..]

This is where you start looking into an LSD...to help make up for the wheel lift. They are a popular item on our cars for AutoX, not sure about on a track, but I cant see why not.

[COSVT03]

Compliment that with a stiffer suspension like the H&R Cup Kit and see if the inside tire comes up :)

[BadIdea]

Cup kit is not stiff. A lsd will help, but even they don't work when your wheel is off the ground.