Adjust those adjustable sway bars!

[BMWCCA1]

I'm approaching my first anniversary with my '95 525i 5sp. I've put 16,000 miles on it without a minute's problem——other than the damn Avon tires. Today I was rotating the 17" OZs to try and make the rears quit eating the insides on a trip to NY next week to visit my daughters, so I can pass state inspection next month without having to replace the tires right now.

Over the previous week I was considering buying after-market sway bars to try and tame the pig and make it handle more like my beloved E28 535is. In a quick Googling, I couldn't find any except from Dinan so I quit looking. Today when rotating the tires I noticed not only did my purchase have the Racing Dynamic springs and shocks the previous owner told me about, it also had RD sway bars, 27 mm front and 19mm rear. Hmm, so why did it plow like a mule? Avon all-season tires? Probably not, since they're 235/45x17s. Shocks? Who knows but I'm not finding out anytime soon. What if I just moved the link on the rear bar? Both front and rear were set on the loose setting; closest of the two holes to the end of the bar. Would moving it just an inch make any difference? Well, the rears were the easiest to get to with hand tools and no air around, and it would likely help decrease the understeer more than doing both front and rear, so what did I have to lose?

A quick test drive around my rural roads confirmed it was a BIG difference. I could toss the car into turns without fighting the bulk, and apply power enough to light the AST light, with much less push than before. It was actually fun, but I had to cut it short when it started to get dark and I turned the lights on to a "license light" bulb warning. So back to clean the bulb-holder contacts and toss the old bulb. Whoaa! What happened in the trunk? All my stuff was tossed around. Looks like I'll have to start treating the luggage like I do in the E28 now that the car is eminently more toss-able.

If you have aftermarket (anti-) sway bars, have you checked the settings? If you don't have bars, see what you can find. It's probably the best bang for the buck you can do to improve handling without messing too much with ride quality.

[BigKriss]

I run both of mine on the softest setting but then again my rear swaybar is 22mm.

[EngPhys09]

So are you saying racing dynamic bars are good? I've been looking around and not sure what setup is the best.

[Barney Paull-Edwards]

Raging Dynamics sway bars may or may not be good but their springs are another matter,more by way of a sticky soon! Your sway bar thicknesses are a little interesting,that combination would make for inherrant understeer,go bigger or stiffer on rear to give more bite, as you have found out. could be too stiff in bad conditions when you want more roll/bite.