Front sway bar, rear sway bar: which to add first?

Are there arguments for or against adding front or rear first? I have the Cusco front power brace installed, btw. Just want to make sure I can maintain in corners.

(I know the front sway bar is way easier to install than the rear.)

Thoughts?

rwd cars usually like to over steer.. so with a bigger front sway and a stock rear sway.. the car will act more neutral.. but that all depends on each driver's driving preference.. install the front sway and see how u like it first then go from there if you want to upgrade the rear sway?

i did both
first changed the front tried it out and then changed the rear....

although it felt really good with just the front., it also liked the rear install

so the car felt better with both sway bars installed

For what its worth, I installed both a front and rear whiteline bar on a customers bone stock supra, but actually did the rear first then test drove, it actually felt really nice oddly enough. I put it on the full stiff setting and the rear end felt so planted. Ultimately the vehicle left with the front sway bar full stiff and rear bar at the middle setting, customer couldn't be happier.

If I may ask, Why do you want them? If your goal is to reduce roll, use higher spring rates and shocks valved correctly for that rates, that's the actual way to reduce roll. Sway bars should only be used as "seasoning" for the final tune of the suspension behaviour.

Sway bars are "a see-saw" for tire loads/tire grip. They do not contribute to load transfer themselves, but they fundamentally work by resisting roll on the outside tire by UNLOADING the inside tire, which keeps the car flat. But tire load generates tire grip..

Springs will keep the car flat; by resisting load on each tire independently.

And I would only use a bigger sway bar in the rear of a RWD with a gun to my head. Last thing you want to do is to "unload" one of the drive tires in a corner. That's why, the stock rear sway bar is quite small (again, "seasoning") and has a bar rate of like 50lbs/in only IIRC, you could probably twist it by hand if you are a big guy lol.

On the front, a bigger bar will reduce roll, whilst unloading the inside tire. BUT reduction in roll means less suspension travel, leading to, less camber loss and that increases grip. And camber is a bigger factor, generally speaking, so a stiffer, adjustable, front bar is desirable. And since they are tuning tools, an adjustable bar makes sense.
(The rear doesn't need this since it's an advanced 5-way multilink suspension that never loses camber.)

But by all means, stiffer front springs (that will also limit suspension travel reducing camber loss) is better since you add more grip from the better camber range without unloading the inside tire.

Sway bars are a compromise, because shocks that are critically damped (properly valved hence comfortable riding) for high spring rates are usually expensive and complex to make. Basically stuff like MCS or JRZ.

Stiff springs on the street are literally a PITA

Sway bars act like your springs. They do have a certain “effective spring rate” depending on the thickness and the level of adjustment (if feasible)

advantages of upgrading your sway bars are
1. you don’t need to suffer harsh ride quality due to poor road conditions when using very stiff springs (if you are also looking at ride quality) yet still able to reduce body roll on corners
2. And also easy to fine tune to your taste if adjustable

It’s all about finding the right balance between the road/track you are covering and the application you want. Not all vehicle dynamics can be answered just by stiffening your springs. I agree if your car is mostly track than street then you might be better with very stiff springs. If you upgrade your sway bars (try to get both front and rear) make sure to get adjustable ones to suit your driving style.

for a car like the gr supra which has an electronic adaptive suspension, it’s very hard and decide just to replace your suspension with very stiff springs thereby replacing also your shocks. HTH

To help answer your question....Ive been tracking cars the last 8 years, ive owned 2 e36 m3's, C06 Z06, E92 M3, GT350R Mustang and now the Supra. In all my cars I changed the front first.
If you are planning to change the sway bars...always do the front. The rear is really not needed....or should I say not make much of a difference. Tweak the adjustments on it along with my suspension settings etc. There is a lot more to it but if you are tracking the car hard go with the front. If you aren't tracking don't bother touching any of the sway bars. Just my 2 cents.

Just bought an AFE front, 3 adjustable load position front bar. On sale for 245 on their site. Will install and see if I notice any difference from stock.

sbodnar said:

Just bought an AFE front, 3 adjustable load position front bar. On sale for 245 on their site. Will install and see if I notice any difference from stock.

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nice! it will feel so much sharper on turn in...watch. Feedback when its installed brother.

sbodnar said:

Just bought an AFE front, 3 adjustable load position front bar. On sale for 245 on their site. Will install and see if I notice any difference from stock.

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What's your thoughts on the bar and 3 settings?

30MilesOffshore said:

What's your thoughts on the bar and 3 settings?

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Unfortunately, still waiting for it to ship.

So, I finally received the AFE front, 3-way adjustable sway bar kit. I had called them about 2 weeks ago, and they said they were still making them, but would send out ASAP. Installation in the front was pretty easy, just have to remove the plastic front and middle aluminum covers (a lot of 16 mm bolts and 8 mm screws). The new bar is thicker and a lot heavier (seems to be solid). I used the stiffest of 3 settings to try out with my stock suspension. I have 2 roundabouts (or rotaries or circles depending on where you are from) on my drive to work. Wow, is the car flat when going through those roundabouts! Will test it out on other roads/curves, but my first ride seemed to prove this was a good upgrade. By the way, no squeaks, rattles or clunks. Attached a couple of photos.

@sbodnar my AFE just arrived the other day. I was going to install it but got tied up. Hopefully I can get to it this week! Thanks for the feedback!

It's weird because I thought it might have been used before. The paint on the outer hole was chipped off a little. I see from your pictures that is the same on yours. Was it like that when it arrived?

Yes, the paint was good everywhere except the droplink holes. I globbed some clear on them for the install.