Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 08:13:15 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Subject: Re: Benefits of a rear sway bar?
In-Reply-To: <002901c1dfc4$ad2a5020$0100a8c0@home>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Gary,
I agree, sort of! Just a couple of points to add:
1. The vanagon as it has pretty close to 50/50 weight distribution. Initial
understeer followed by terminal oversteer behaviour you describe may not be
as apparent in vanagons as it is in Type II etc.
2. a rear anti-roll bar was a factory option. The trailing arms (for that
option) have mounting brackets attached.
Alistair
--
'82 Westy -> diesel converted to gas in '94
albell@uvic.ca
http://homepage.mac.com/alistairbell/home/
on 09/04/2002 5:47 AM, Gary Stearns at gstearns@OPTONLINE.NET wrote:
> I haven't installed one yet, but I'm researching it right now. The only
> source that I know of is ADDCO. http://www.addco.net/ . I'm considering
> making my own out of chromoly tubing and adjustable arms.
>
> You're question "does it help to keep the rear wheels planted when cornering
> hard?" sort of misses the point. In pure theory an anti-roll bar will
> actually cause the inside rear wheel to lift and spin in a hard corner. The
> advantage is that a rear a/r bar will shift the "roll-couple" or roll
> resistance to the rear wheels, causing the rear wheels to carry more of the
> cornering load. This takes this roll resistance load off of the front
> wheels allowing them to turn the van more effectively. In practical terms,
> you'd be shifting the van's designed-in tendancy to understeer (plow),
> toward a tendancy to oversteer (spin-out). If done moderately leaving the
> van's cornering balance closer to the neutral range, this shift can make for
> a fast vehicle in the corners.
>
> One caution though; from the factory VW set up the Vanagon with a lot of
> understeer for safety reasons. With the engine in the rear, a shift of the
> roll-couple to the rear can create a situation where the van tries to
> spin-out at the worst possible time (in a fast corner, realize you're going
> too fast, take your foot off the gas...there she goes, your in the trees
> butt first). Test your setup a lot before you trust it. A wet, smooth,
> empty parking lot is a great place to try to lose the rear in a corner just
> to find out how easily it happens.
>
> Get it right, and your Vanagon will be a lot more fun.
>
> Gary
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