theyuw

I was considering upgrading the swaybar on my 190e from the standard 13mm one to an 18mm one similar to the ones used in the evo 2's. Would you recommend this? What extra performance will it add?

MBZ16V

i see you have a 190E 2.6 which means that u should have the same front suspension as a 16v. from wut i've heard, upgrading to the 18mm rear Evo II sway bar will give the car a more neutral feel. i track my 16v a lot and if ur planning to do any auto-xing or track events...its really gonna help out. i think having the evo II rear sway bar will help balance out the car. 2phast put a 29mm(F) E60 AMG sway in the front and an Evo II rear 18mm(R) sway bar and said it makes a really big difference. check out his website...jus type 2phast in any web browser.

MTI

The only suggestion I would lend to this discussion is that for street or track use, predictability of the handling characteristics in the driving situations you encounter is the goal, not just slapping on parts. All things being equal, a larger or stiffer rear sway bar is going to cause increased oversteer, which is not the best for driving in the rain or other potentially slick surfaces. For street use, a bias towards understeer is built in by the manufacturers, since it is safer than oversteer. These are the "rule of thumb" effects of suspension changes:

---------------------------- Understeer-------------- Oversteer

Front sway bar-----------Large/Thick/Stiff---------Small/Thin/Soft
Rear sway bar-----------Small/Thin/Soft-----------LargeThick/Stiff

Front springs-----------------Stiff Rate---------------Soft Rate
Rear springs-----------------Soft Rate---------------Stiff Rate

Front camber----------------Positive------------------Negative
Rear camber----------------Negative------------------Positive

Front tire pressure------------Lower-------------------Higher
Rear tire pressure------------Higher-------------------Lower