Miata Mailing List: August 1999, Message #133

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On 8/2/99 14:39, Soren Svensson soren.svensson@ericsson.com wrote:

>A tapered sway bar would not make it progressive, only softer.

I think that's probably true. Unless the stiff and soft parts are almost 
the same rate, a progressive spring won't get stiffer until all of the 
soft coils are fully compressed (bottomed out) and only the stiff coils 
are still working.

But even if a swaybar could be made progressive, why would anyone want 
that? Most of the reason for upgrading Miata sways is to sharpen the 
initial transient at turn-in; a progressive rate would essentially defeat 
that.

FWIW, I softened the front FM bar yesterday (the rear is still set in the 
middle hole) to kill the mild understeer I gained when I went more 
aggressive on the alignment; juggling tire pressures wasn't working well 
enough. I successfully regained the car's neutral balance, and body roll 
was just-noticeably increased. Now I can easily and controllably rotate 
the car on trail braking again, and tuck the nose in substantially with a 
partial throttle lift near the limit. I think I've learned that alignment 
can have WAY more effect on car balance than swaybar settings. Of course, 
everything works together, so trying to duplicate another car's handling 
demands--at minimum--using the same alignment, swaybars/settings, wheels, 
tires/pressures, driver/passenger weight, and possibly phase of the moon. 
 :-)

---
Lanny Chambers, St. Louis, USA
'94C

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