1990 535i Anti-Sway Bar Upgrade

[BigKriss]

Thanks for the words Jeff. The tall sidewall of the 15" tyre does create a lot of load with a stiff swaybar.



This was the left front tyre after a hard session. I run my 27mm front bar on soft. I find on the hardest setting and with my stock rear swaybar, the car understeers too much. The car is still predicatable but it gives the impression of less grip. I find the front of the car very quick laterally, it made a vast improvment over the stock front bar.

[Jeff N.]

Chunked it. It's dead.

Yeah, a stiff front bar and soft rear bar should give you more push. If you want more rotation, put that stiff bar in back and then let a little air out of the back tires. Oh..and hang out.

Kriss - you'd love camber plates. You're *really* love camber plates. Front plates.

Thanks for the words Jeff. The tall sidewall of the 15" tyre does create a lot of load with a stiff swaybar.



This was the left front tyre after a hard session. I run my 27mm front bar on soft. I find on the hardest setting and with my stock rear swaybar, the car understeers too much. The car is still predicatable but it gives the impression of less grip. I find the front of the car very quick laterally, it made a vast improvment over the stock front bar.

[Brandon J]

I couldn't help myself but jump in. I won't get into the handling aspects as we all know that upgraded sways help handling.

I have driven all kinds of set-ups with different tires, different swaybar setttings, etc. I will say get what fits you. I bought the RDs because I wanted stiffer plus the adjustability. I do have R-compounds, then 17in summer Pilot Sports staggered, then 16in winter rubber. The adjustability of the sways allowed me to further dial in the sways to balance or alter the balance of the handling to different tires, suspensions, or different driving courses.

The drawbacks of upgraded sways are more energy transer to the other side when hitting bumps or potholes and if poly bushings, you have to regrease. I don't know if Dinan uses poly bushings in their kits.

I still like the RDs after more than 5 years driving of with them. I have used them with 3 different spring/shock combos. With and without camber plates. 15in, 16in, 17in wheels/tires.

[Lane]

One three-letter word: WOW

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

One three-letter word: WOW

Indeed. There are many experts on this board and you can always expect a variety of replies to any given question. It has certainly been a good thread.

Here's some extra info:
http://www.kormanfastbmw.com/thandling.htm
http://www.kormanfastbmw.com/tantiswa.htm

[Jeff N.]

15" all seasons. Stock sways with a Dinan spring / shock setup.

Our track surface here is a tad course as you can see. Note the chunking starting in the middle. I quickly got off the all seasons as this was killing them.

I'll have to take a pic the tire I chunked out this year. Too much heat on the edge - a real problem with the E34.

[Jeff N.]

This is what led me to install the camber plates. Front tire, huge outter edge wear. Camber plates have helped this but not prevented it. Hard to get much negative front camber in our cars.

Also, note the pressure bulges in the tire. Put too much air in initially and it got too high over the session. Chalk all that up to learning.

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