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Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25?

587 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Numbersix, 
M
Hey all, I need some experience and advice on choosing a front bar.
My Jetta has an OE front bar, which I presume is 18 or 19 mm. So if I upgrade to Neuspeed's 22mm front, will I notice the difference or should I just go to the 25 to start?
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (Mr Black)

Do you already have an aftermarket rear bar? If not, the front bar is the last thing you want.
VW's push (Understeer) like mad stock.. stiffening the front will only make it worse.
Personally, I have only the stock bar on my Jetta coupe. I have the H&R Cup Kit and an O-Bar Rear Sway bar and love the way the car handles. It's as close to perfectly balanced as I'd like to get for street driving. In the wet the tail will still walk sometimes.. and in the dry it'll still push if I overdrive it through the turns.
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (B3VR6)

quote:[HR][/HR]Do you already have an aftermarket rear bar? If not, the front bar is the last thing you want.
VW's push (Understeer) like mad stock.. stiffening the front will only make it worse.
Personally, I have only the stock bar on my Jetta coupe. I have the H&R Cup Kit and an O-Bar Rear Sway bar and love the way the car handles. It's as close to perfectly balanced as I'd like to get for street driving. In the wet the tail will still walk sometimes.. and in the dry it'll still push if I overdrive it through the turns.[HR][/HR]​
Point taken about the rear- my thinking was that if I upgrade the front to a 22 I'll get a rear 25, and if I do a front 25 I'll do a rear 28 (this may be nonsense but it's what I had in mind to keep the overall increase in roll stiffness balanced).
The O-bar....is that the Shine one?
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (Mr Black)

I have a neuspeed 28 mm rear and an autotech 25 mm hollow front (same as a 22 solid) and love the way my car handles. Of course I auto-x it too, so it is set up for that in mind. I would start with a 28 mm rear bar. I like neuspeed because it is adjustable, the hardware is quality stuff and the ease of installation (30 minutes tops, no drilling).
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (Eric16v)

My suggestion - put on a rear sway bar and take off the front sway once you get used to how the car handles. I have the Shine set-up, and the car handles and the steering is as neutral as any MK2 i've ever driven. Our cars have a 60/40 weight distribution, so putting on a front sway will make the car have a tendency to understeer more.
Shine's rear sway is a PITA to install, though. Just mu $0.02
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (SamPBronkowitz)

quote:[HR][/HR]take off the front sway once you get used to how the car handles. I have the Shine set-up, [HR][/HR]​
I woould suggest that only if you had the shine set up as it has heavier front springs, but TETO


[Modified by Eric16v, 4:54 PM 2-13-2002]
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (Eric16v)

Oops, exactly right. Only take off your front sway after installing heavier springs. I have 200 lbs springs in the front, and 120 lbs in the rear.
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SpeedyD
Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (SamPBronkowitz)

25 front and 28 rear. This setup rocks. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (SpeedyD)

what are the downsides to swaybars other than harsher ride. does it increase the likelyhood of a rollover?
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (vokalwagen87)

when i did my swap, my car had NO sway bars..and i had bilsten sports with h&r race springs. I changed the whole front of the car, all froma GLI, subframe, control arms, and sway bars from that car. Before i put the sway bar in, my car seemed to handle SOOOO good...now, it DEFENITALY has understeer, it doesnt seem to HUG the turns as much as it used to. My car is an 86 Golf so i dont have no rear bar, Im thiking about taking the front bar out, and just getting strut bars, any ideas on this? im also interested in this topic so heres a bump.......BUMP! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (vokalwagen87)

Bumping my own thread. Thanks for the feedback all who responded....there's gotta be some more opinions out there?? http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
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SpeedyD
Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (vokalwagen87)

quote:[HR][/HR]what are the downsides to swaybars other than harsher ride. does it increase the likelyhood of a rollover?[HR][/HR]​
Swaybars really don't increase ride harshness, they increase control of body movements, which, IMO results in much better ride quality. They also would greatly DECREASE the likelyhood of a rollover due to decreased weight transfer.
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (vokalwagen87)

quote:[HR][/HR]what are the downsides to swaybars other than harsher ride. does it increase the likelyhood of a rollover?[HR][/HR]​
As far as what a sway bar actually does, this thread is about the best I've seen for explaining it:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=148337
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (vokalwagen87)

The downside of installing anti-sway (or anti-roll) bars are that since you're tieing both sides of the suspension together, you have less of an independant suspension. Bumps that you hit on only one side will now affect the entire car more than before and could upset your car's balance while driving at near the limits of adhesion. Another downside of the front bar is that under really hard cornering and acceleration, your car is more likely to lift and spin the inside front tire. If you have a Quaife, then it's not a problem, if you don't then you have traction problems.
Check out the link in my sig and examine my Scirocco AutoX car's suspension setup. We have NO rear bar and a hollow front bar, but that's COMPLETELY different from the VW norm. I have 600lb springs in the rear with revalved Koni yellows and 400lb front springs. The stiffer rear springs achieve the increased roll stiffness an anti-sway bar would (actually much more) but still allow the rear suspension to be independant.. this keeps the inside rear on the ground while turning.. where it actually does something. The front bar is there because we only (only??) have 400lb springs in the front. We have a Quaife in the 4K, so inside tire spin isn't an issue.
This suspension setup, while vastly different from the VW aftermarket norm, works. I now hold both regional titles in FSP with the car and plan on going to the nationals this season.
Why do I tell all this? Mainly to show you that what's the 'norm' or what is most often used isn't always the ONLY way to do things. Experiment and see what works best for you. Change only one variable at a time and see how the car behaves.
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Re: Neuspeed front swaybar- 22 or 25? (B3VR6)

I have the 25mm front bar and the stock GLI rear bar (for now). I'm going to add the Neuspeed 25mm rear eventually. My car actually corners quite a bit more flat than prior to installing the bar, and I guess I don't push it hard enough in street driving to regularly find the point it understeers heavily at. Ian is right, the big front bar can give you traction problems.
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