Suspension Questions from a newbie

[BlueCrush]

Hello,I have a couple of questions regarding mods to the Vibe's suspension:1) How does a Strut bar help?2) Strut bar and Sway bar are different, right? How so?3) How does lowering your vehicle help with performance?Thank you.

[rasermon]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »3) How does lowering your vehicle help with performance?Lowering the stance of your vehicle will help improve the amount of weight transfer the suspension sees through a turn. 2.5" drop made a big differents on my vibe.

[BlueCrush]

So the main benefit to lowering your vehicle is to maintain higher speeds thru the curves & turns? I have a an AWD so what would a good amount be to lower mine as a also want to maintain as much ground clearance as I can for the snow season?

[rasermon]

That is correct. Also, it will reduce the fender-well gap by lowering your vehicle, giving it a more attractive, sportier stance. This pic will give you a general idea on ground clearance. My front has a 2,5" drop.

Attached files

[BlueCrush]

Wow! Thanks for taking the time to do the pic, rasermon.

[Raven]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »1) How does a Strut bar help?2) Strut bar and Sway bar are different, right? How so?1) The strut bar bolts on to the top of the struts under the hood and stiffens the cars structure. On a Vibe the struts are very close to the firewall, so very little is gained by installing a strut bar other than looks.2) A sway bar is under the car and affects the suspension of the car. There is a front and rear sway bar on a Vibe. The rear sway bar is very easy to change to a thicker one. About 20 minutes in most cases. A thicker bar greatly improves the handling. You get faster turn in, better stability on bumpy corners and generally a tighter feel. A front bar is a major task to change requiring several hours and an alignment afterwards. On a front wheel drive car such as the Vibe, a bigger front sway bar has a lesser affect on handling than does the rear bar. Hope this helps.

[MadBill]

( Oops! Sunny gets the "Fast Finger" award! Fired off his note while I was still pondering how to spell "irrefutable"! Anyway, yeah, like he says:o AWDs are a special case re lowering because of their fully independent rear suspension. I believe one or more Genvibers have 'dropped' AWDs, but I don't know details re required parts, effect on alignment and axle C.V. joint angles etc.o Sway/roll/anti-sway/anti-roll bars (all the same thing) are transverse torsional springs on the rear and/or front suspension (Vibes have both) which have no effect on two-wheel bumps but twist to reduce body roll during cornering. Enthusiasts add larger ones to reduce body roll at the expense of greater lateral jolts over one-wheel bumps. Their relative size is also adjusted to tune the handling characteristics of the vehicle.0 Strut Tower Braces are intended to reduce flex in the sheet metal 'towers' that locate the upper end of the front spring/strut assembly, to reduce suspension flexing. On the Vibe, because the towers are well attached to the front cowl, flex is non-existent, per my demonstration in this thread: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=6537 , rendering them a strictly cosmetic addition. (Note: Some disagreement exists re this point; not every Gen Vibe member has bowed to the irrefutable logic of my arguments.)

[BlueCrush]

Sunny & MadBill,Thank you both for the great information reguarding the Vibe's suspension. You have saved me from wasting money on a strut tower brace. Now, I can use it for a CAI/SR setup in the future. Thanks again everyone!