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Does a larger rear swaybar = higher tire wear?

FiXXXerX

FiXXXerX

Ready to race!
Location
Orlando, FL
So, I've been running a DanGSR 28.5mm solid rear sway for about a year and half now, and I've noticed a significant decrease in the life of my tires. I plan on taking the car in to get a new alignment done, but the car tracks well and there aren't any telling signs of mis-alignment.

That being said, my last set of tires (BFGoodrich GeForce Sport Comp 2's) lasted me about a year... I swapped them out for a set of Continental ExtremeContact DW's in January, and here we are in June and my rears are at the wear bars. I haven't driven a ton of miles in that time and I haven't done any AutoX or the like, it's just been normal everyday driving to and from work in traffic and some spirited stuff here and there.

Worth noting is the rest of the suspension setup :

Front : Bilstein PSS Coilovers, 034 Track Density strut mounts, WALK Kit, BFI Stage 2 dogbone insert, BFI Stage 2 Motor Mount, BFI Stage 2 Transmission mount

Rear : Bilstein PSS Coilovers, BSH Billet Endlinks, DanGSR 28.5mm Solid Rear Sway, Whiteline swaybar locking collars and energy suspension bushings.

So is there just something wrong with the alignment that isn't rearing its head? Could there be another problem? Or is this the price one pays for having an aggressive, performance oriented suspension? :iono:
 
LilRaverBoi

LilRaverBoi

Optometrist Prime
Location
Cedar Rapids, IA
That seems very short tire life to me. Not sure on those tires what the typical wear is, though. I do know the softer compound tires do tend to wear faster. I would definitely check the toe on your alignment, that can cause tires to get eaten up. Is there any strange wear patterns/uneven wear?
 
M

MaysEffect

Hill Climb Noob
Location
California
Car(s)
R32
FiXXXerX said:
So, I've been running a DanGSR 28.5mm solid rear sway for about a year and half now, and I've noticed a significant decrease in the life of my tires. I plan on taking the car in to get a new alignment done, but the car tracks well and there aren't any telling signs of mis-alignment.

So is there just something wrong with the alignment that isn't rearing its head? Could there be another problem? Or is this the price one pays for having an aggressive, performance oriented suspension? :iono:
Click to expand...


Everything about your suspension setup would cause higher tire wear. That size ASB is however, way too large for the spring rates of that coilover kit.

That alone wouldn't cause extreme tire wear though. Check your toe values and corner balance the car properly. Also if you have too much ASB preload you can be dealing with increased weight jacking. Make sure when adjusting ride height you disconnect one endlink on both front and rear.

More so then anything else is the bushings. Stiffer bushings will cause improper toe values even more abusive to tires. Camber values is not huge problem with increased wear, but will of course cause uneven wear, certainly on lower profile tires.

If the rear shocks are setup stiffer than the front, you are going to be increasing the load on the front tires more in understeer situations.
 
FiXXXerX

FiXXXerX

Ready to race!
Location
Orlando, FL
Update : So to answer a few questions, I put less than 3,000 miles on the tires since they had been installed in January. This weekend I swapped on a spare set of wheels/tires and was prepared to get an alignment at one of the better shops here in Orlando and while we were swapping on the spare wheels we found this :



I have zero idea when this happened, but it makes sense since I felt I had a floaty rear for a few months now, especially when it rains. (I always attributed this to the larger bar...)

So, bought a new set of GeForce Sport Comp2's which will be in at some point this week, will be taking it to get a full alignment as soon as I figure out the sway bar issue.

I've seriously been thinking of just grabbing the 034 25.3mm bar with the beefier bushings (Link HERE ) just to eliminate the possibility of the DanGSR bar being a problem. Also, It's a bitch to find billet bushings for the 28.5mm bar.

Should I grab the new bar with all the bits it comes with, or stick with the DanGSR bar and find bushings? That's the question now... any opinions?
 
M

MaysEffect

Hill Climb Noob
Location
California
Car(s)
R32
It probably broke from a number of reasons i previously stated, including the fact it looks like it hasn't been properly greased...ever.

The bar is too large for the spring rates of those coilovers and the size of your tires.

The 034 bar works well on the R32. Considering its sized similarly with the same bushings. It should hold up well.
 
FiXXXerX

FiXXXerX

Ready to race!
Location
Orlando, FL
This bar was run by a few others on the page, and while it IS overkill and far to large for the application, it really made a huger difference when I was AutoX'ing.

Worth noting, I absolutely greased the bar, twice in the past year. I have a leaking grease gun to remind of of that every day. >.<

I went ahead and purchased the 034 25.4 bar because I just can't leave anything to chance at this point (Recently bought a house and can't be buying new tires every 3,000 miles).

I'll keep the DanGSR bar and when my car gets relegated to a second car or a project car I'll purchase the Nuespeed Support Brackets as well as have some billet bushings made. At least then it will only be driven sparingly.

Thanks for all the feedback! Hopefully the new bar, new tires and alignment will fix the issues here.
 
G

GIACUser

Master Wallet Mechanic
Location
USA
Car(s)
MK 6 GolfR
FiXXXerX said:
So, I've been running a DanGSR 28.5mm solid rear sway for about a year and half now, and I've noticed a significant decrease in the life of my tires. I plan on taking the car in to get a new alignment done, but the car tracks well and there aren't any telling signs of mis-alignment.

That being said, my last set of tires (BFGoodrich GeForce Sport Comp 2's) lasted me about a year... I swapped them out for a set of Continental ExtremeContact DW's in January, and here we are in June and my rears are at the wear bars. I haven't driven a ton of miles in that time and I haven't done any AutoX or the like, it's just been normal everyday driving to and from work in traffic and some spirited stuff here and there.

Worth noting is the rest of the suspension setup :

Front : Bilstein PSS Coilovers, 034 Track Density strut mounts, WALK Kit, BFI Stage 2 dogbone insert, BFI Stage 2 Motor Mount, BFI Stage 2 Transmission mount

Rear : Bilstein PSS Coilovers, BSH Billet Endlinks, DanGSR 28.5mm Solid Rear Sway, Whiteline swaybar locking collars and energy suspension bushings.

So is there just something wrong with the alignment that isn't rearing its head? Could there be another problem? Or is this the price one pays for having an aggressive, performance oriented suspension? :iono:
Click to expand...

I ran Comp2s and they are relatively cheap and handle quite well. However I went through them pretty quickly as well my car was getting about 5K mi year and they would last me about a year. All tires wore evenly but the fronts wore a fair bit more (K04/LSD). I went through 2 sets in 2 years. Took them to the track once and it took off about 6 months worth of tire. Bought track tires/wheels after that.

Going to wider wheels this next time and will run Sport Cup 2's or PS2
 
Das Gespenst

Das Gespenst

Go Kart Champion
Location
Glen Ellyn
GIACUser said:
I ran Comp2s and they are relatively cheap and handle quite well. However I went through them pretty quickly as well my car was getting about 5K mi year and they would last me about a year. All tires wore evenly but the fronts wore a fair bit more (K04/LSD). I went through 2 sets in 2 years. Took them to the track once and it took off about 6 months worth of tire. Bought track tires/wheels after that.

Going to wider wheels this next time and will run Sport Cup 2's or PS2
Click to expand...

Get some GeForce Rivals or RE71R's. You'll still only get a year out of them but they are well worth the gains. Especially with your build.
 
FiXXXerX

FiXXXerX

Ready to race!
Location
Orlando, FL
So, just as a final update... Here was the real culprit of the ruined tires :



So, I got rid of the Continental ExtremeContactDW's and am running the Sport Comp 2's again (This make me happy). And I went ahead and downsized the rear bar just to be 200% sure. I'll most likely put the DanGSR bar back on down the line after I get some custom billet brackets made for it. But for now I went with the 034 bar with it's monster brackets.





And this is a vicious spider, so, deal with that :



The car already drives MUCH, MUCH better. It wasn't pulling before, but I could feel that it wasn't tracking properly. Either way, things seem to have been fixed at this point and I'll be keeping an eye on things to make sure all is well in 6 months.

My take away from this, is that the bar was most likely NOT the culprit. That being said, I can't say what, if any, changes happened because of running it. I may have the answer some day, but I can't afford a 3rd set of tires in the course of 10 months, lol :biggrin:
 
avenali312

avenali312

Autocross Champion
Location
Mableton, GA
Car(s)
2015 GTI
Interesting. I don't think I've ever seen an alignment sheet that shows fractions before. How is that read or what is it reading?
 
G

GIACUser

Master Wallet Mechanic
Location
USA
Car(s)
MK 6 GolfR
Das Gespenst said:
Get some GeForce Rivals or RE71R's. You'll still only get a year out of them but they are well worth the gains. Especially with your build.
Click to expand...

With new build I will have flared fenders and 9.5 in wide tires, Rivals, Re71R and Sport Cup 2 are all candidates.
 
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