Sway bar kit suggestion. Want 25(F), 25(R)???

[Deunan]

Hi Want to put Perrin sway bar kit for my Outback XT. I want 25mm(F) and 25mm®. Any down side to this? Should I stick with 22mm(F) and 25mm®. Any suggestion from anyon who had 25s in F and R?

 

Thanks

[caramall2]

I'll let experts chime in, but generally I believe the larger sway in the front will lessen oversteer (amongst other things). It's what you want.

 

One thing I'd suggest, just to experiment and see how the car feels (I did this) is just install the rear sway first, drive around a while on it (get used to it...it will definitely increase your oversteer). Then install the front. That way you're seeing what each is doing. If you throw a bunch of mods on at once, you don't get to see as much what each does.

[Th3Franz]

Unless you're really picky about competitive events, the size of the sway bars is not that important. Sure, a 25mm is stiffer than a 23mm bar, but I don't think it is a huge difference for performance. That said, I have been pleased with my Cusco bars.. 23 up front and 21 rear.. solid bars. I prefer a slightly larger front bar. The car is very neutral with slight understeer at the limit unless you trail brake or lift off oversteer

[vr4Legacy]

I'm debating the same thing here.... been trying to read up on the forum and searching. Myself I'm a "spirited" daily driver. I've autox and honestly just can't afford it. So the LGT will stay a DD.

 

Just want to bump to see if anyone has any input as to sizes of bars.

 

I assume buying a matched set will probably be the best... but as mentioned is larger better... if so for what type of driving?

[MauiJim]

The car is prone to understeer with stock 20mm front/ 16mm rear- but going 25mm front and rear will make it very twitchy and oversteerish, depending on your suspension. What springs/struts are you running?

 

If stock, 25mm is way overkill.

 

I started with stock 20mm front and 19mm Rallitek rear- slight understeer, and nice overall with the stock springs/struts. When I went to iONs/Koni's, I upgraded to the Cusco 23mm front and 21mm rear. IMO, you need to keep a larger front bar as the Legacy handles nearly neutral with the 23 fr/21 rear. If I want to induce oversteer, I run slightly more damping in the rear on the adjustable Koni's. I would not run 25mm bars on the street, unless you've got very stiff coilovers.

 

For reference, I've got some experience running thick bars on teh street. On my old Impreza, I ran a 22mm front and 22mm-26mm adjustable rear (with STi Spec C suspension); however, from the factory that chassis is set up more neutrally, and running matched bars actually works (ie, 20mm front/20mm rear). Running 22front/26 rear, the car was unstable at speed and had snap oversteer with the wrong suspension settings (eg, adjustable damping biased toward the rear). 22mm fr/ 24mm rear was a nice setup on the Impreza.

 

Considering the Legacy is balanced at 23fr/21rear, going 25mm fr/25mm rear or even 23mm fr/ 23mm rear would tend heavily toward oversteer (unless you compensate greatly with damping adjustments).

[kha]

I have rallitek 22mm front and cusco 21mm rear on a legacy sedan, and it's a touch oversteery at the limit, but nothing crazy.

 

And I agree with MauiJim. 25mm on a stock suspension is way overkill. And correct me if I'm wrong, but given the longer suspension travel in an outback, it probably has softer springs as well. As for the balance, I don't know if the Outback is any different, but I'd think it'll be quite oversteery with 25mm front and back.