XrunnIT
Active Member
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2007
- Messages
- 8,044
- Reaction score
- 1
Well I have had a chance to run the car at an autox event as well as everyday driving on the streets, along with some more spirited driving. Other reviews you may have read about the sway bars claim awesome handling because of the reduced body roll. Body roll only has a small impact on handling. The sway bars serve a much larger purpose then just reducing body roll. A stiffer chassis and stiffer suspension will reduce body roll.
My review is based on performance driving, with the knowledge of what perf driving is.
My biggest complaint with the stock setup was that the truck had a bit of push in it (understeer). But that is normal, as cars are designed to understeer before oversteer, as it is easier for a novice driver to handle. With a truck that has torque, like the XR, oversteer is just a pedal push away. Under controlled driving, the truck tends to oversteer more then then ideal, but easily fixed with some throttle.
After installing the SS sway bars, I was worried that the very large front sway would increase the understeer the truck already has. In truth it does, the truck pushes a bit more now then it did before. This is both good and bad.
Good: Truck exits corners MUCH faster now. The larger front sway bar transfers more weight to the rear tires during hard cornering, which is very good to prevent spinning out on exit. The truck also feels more balanced during corners. Once I relearn corner entry, I will be able to make corner exiting much faster, and better utilize my truck's low end torque.
Bad: Corner entrance speed has been greatly reduced. Truck does not feel as responsive during corner entry, and while holding high speed corners. I need to relearn corner entry.
For those that saw the autox vids from me and grumpy you can see the difference in handling between the two trucks. Grumpy was able to hit the corner faster, hold it, and kick the back end loose a bit on entry. A small bit of oversteer is faster then a small bit of understeer. During my vids you see the truck continue to push through the corners, and rarely did the back end break out (even with the estimated 100lbs of torque more then Grumpy). Link to the autox vids --> http://www.xr-underground.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=25277
With the new setup, I will have to relearn cornering techniques as i can't blast through them the same. Once I re-master corner entry, I feel that I will be able to take advantage of the sway bar bias.
Scale of 1-10 (1 being poor, 10 being excellent):
Corner Entry: 5
Corner Exit: 10
Front/Rear Bias: 7
Control of body roll: 9
Confidence in taking corners: 8
Overall Satisfaction: 8.5
My review is based on performance driving, with the knowledge of what perf driving is.
My biggest complaint with the stock setup was that the truck had a bit of push in it (understeer). But that is normal, as cars are designed to understeer before oversteer, as it is easier for a novice driver to handle. With a truck that has torque, like the XR, oversteer is just a pedal push away. Under controlled driving, the truck tends to oversteer more then then ideal, but easily fixed with some throttle.
After installing the SS sway bars, I was worried that the very large front sway would increase the understeer the truck already has. In truth it does, the truck pushes a bit more now then it did before. This is both good and bad.
Good: Truck exits corners MUCH faster now. The larger front sway bar transfers more weight to the rear tires during hard cornering, which is very good to prevent spinning out on exit. The truck also feels more balanced during corners. Once I relearn corner entry, I will be able to make corner exiting much faster, and better utilize my truck's low end torque.
Bad: Corner entrance speed has been greatly reduced. Truck does not feel as responsive during corner entry, and while holding high speed corners. I need to relearn corner entry.
For those that saw the autox vids from me and grumpy you can see the difference in handling between the two trucks. Grumpy was able to hit the corner faster, hold it, and kick the back end loose a bit on entry. A small bit of oversteer is faster then a small bit of understeer. During my vids you see the truck continue to push through the corners, and rarely did the back end break out (even with the estimated 100lbs of torque more then Grumpy). Link to the autox vids --> http://www.xr-underground.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=25277
With the new setup, I will have to relearn cornering techniques as i can't blast through them the same. Once I re-master corner entry, I feel that I will be able to take advantage of the sway bar bias.
Scale of 1-10 (1 being poor, 10 being excellent):
Corner Entry: 5
Corner Exit: 10
Front/Rear Bias: 7
Control of body roll: 9
Confidence in taking corners: 8
Overall Satisfaction: 8.5
Last edited:
