Exactly that. I have a small amount of spending money, which I may throw at the Mazda 3 (2008 2.0) it could probably stretch to either a 24mm Whiteline rear bar, or their anti lift kit (anti lift plus more caster).
The last time I had a big rear bar on a car was my P10 Primera eGT. I liked the handling
but it did make uneven roads a bit less comfy. I'm already running a lot more rear spring (Mazda 5 springs, approx 230lb vs 140lbs standard), and a bit wary of making the comfort worse on rough roads (which are the norm here).
There aren't many reviews of the Mazda 3 anti lift kit on line, so it's a bit difficult to make a judgement on it. There was one on the Mazdaspeed forums but it's gone. There is also the option of the caster bushings without anti lift for around half the price, but they'll need me to have access to the workshop for the press, which may not happen for some time yet. The anti-lift kit is complete with brackets so it's bolt-on.
One plus for the rear bar would be when it comes time to change the Mazda, I can whip it off to sell (or put on the new car if it's a gen 2 Mazda 3), which wouldn't really be an option with the anti-lift kit.
Any opinions on rear bar vs anti-lift plus more caster on a FWD chassis?
I should add I like oversteer.
If you like oversteer, the extra caster is going to increase the car's natural tendency to want to go straight. So you may find that you dislike the additional stability.
So I have to ask what the anti lift kit and Castor does for a strut style front wheel drive suspension. I'm not very familiar with it which is why I'm asking so I can learn something new.
I did both to my 2011 GTI. IMHO the RSB is the easy button. The ALK kit is a PITA to install and while it does help I bought it mainly to gain dynamic camber in corners to reduce shoulder wear on track days.
I tried 3 different rear sway bars and wound up with a 24mm. That's about 2x stronger than stock. I had a 25.4mm and it had a couple negatives. When you turned the wheel you could feel the rear end hook up a bit before the front end. It was a little weird. It also made the car have too much oversteer IMHO. Finally the ride suffered because I had to run the front on stiff to get the balance I wanted. When I dropped to the 24mm I was able to run both on their softer settings for the street.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
This is what Whiteline wrote about it as fitted to a WRX, basically it lowers the rear pivot of the bottom arm to ´soften´the spring rates when accelerating:
https://ukwhitelineperformance.com/blogs/whiteline-blog/effect-of-anti-lift-kit-alk
CAinCA said:
I did both to my 2011 GTI. IMHO the RSB is the easy button. The ALK kit is a PITA to install and while it does help I bought it mainly to gain dynamic camber in corners to reduce shoulder wear on track days.
I tried 3 different rear sway bars and wound up with a 24mm. That's about 2x stronger than stock. I had a 25.4mm and it had a couple negatives. When you turned the wheel you could feel the rear end hook up a bit before the front end. It was a little weird. It also made the car have too much oversteer IMHO. Finally the ride suffered because I had to run the front on stiff to get the balance I wanted. When I dropped to the 24mm I was able to run both on their softer settings for the street.
Ok thanks- I think I'm leaning towards the rear bar at the moment..
I think this sort of things depends on how you use it and a lot of preference. I liked a hard/soft f/r setup with a bigger rear bar, until I changed to no rear bar and went to more rear spring. The car always seemed more balanced like that, and the extra spring rate on the rear seemed to make it a little easier on the road, which was counterintuitive.
I did the caster and bar on my ZX2SR. The offset control arm bushing for more caster might have added a little anti lift, not critical unless you are into drag racing.
I really liked the way the car drove, both on the street and on the track.
I did the caster and bar on my ZX2SR. The offset control arm bushing for more caster might have added a little anti lift, not critical unless you are into drag racing.
I really liked the way the car drove, both on the street and on the track.
On my tercel ice racer I built antilift spacers hoping to find a little more forward bite.(street studd tire class)
Since its low grip and the forces low I went 25mm over the usual 10mm spacer kits I've seen.
It may have been better putting power down but not anything obvious,it did seem to brake way way better however.
I add castor to every track car for what its worth.
Also a fan of no sway bars,although have moved to no bar and medium sized rear bar to keep from needing high rate rear springs.
Seems more predictable to me.
