n2qw

I am considering a set of adjustable sway bars for my ’87 911. However, I notice that many of my 911-owning DE acquaintances who have adjustable sway bars set them up once and rarely, if ever, change the setting. (Autoxers seem to change more often). Does this match other people’s experience?

If 'adjust-once' adjustable sway bars are a common case, it would seem to make sense just to get stiffer ‘bolt-on’ replacement sway bars.

But such items don’t appear to be available in the aftermarket; Am I looking in the wrong places or is there a good reason for this?

Thanks
John

Tom W

I'm not sure on the '87 911s, but on 993s sway bars come in two flavors - fixed and adjustable (as in the RS sway bars). With fixed bars you get what Porsche thought would be a good all-around compromise solution. If the bars yield a lot of understeer, tough, you can't do anyting about it (unless you buy a new bar). With adjustable bars you can make changes to adjust how your car behaves. Too much understeer? Make the rear more firm or the front softer.

Most people get the adjustable bars set to the handling they want for a given suspension and tire set-up and leave it alone. You only need to change it if you want to tweak how your car handles.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Hi John:

Installing a set of adjustable swaybars on your Carrera is an excellent upgrade.

This is the main tool that allows one to adjust the understeer/oversteer balance of the car to your skills and preferences, and change it as needed as you improve,...

People adjust/change swaybar settings according to how one is using the car; street, track or autoX. The latter activity requires a "loose" setup that might be scary at higher speeds.

We use, sell and recommend either the Smart Racing bars or TRG ones. Sizes are chosen by factoring other suspension upgrades, tire sizes, and driver experiences.