AMGDood

anybody install the evosport sway bars on their c32? Any real noticeable differences? I remember someone posted that they bought them but i cant find the post anymore.

AmgBoy

I beleive Harris is the one who bought the EvoSport Sway Bars. I think he has installed them by now. Give him a PM and I am sure he will respond.

-AmgBoy

misu55

Mine were just installed today. I'll let you know how much of an improvement I feel. This may not all be due to the swaybars since I also had H&R springs installed at the same time.

rrf

I am running an early model of the Evo Sways, a prototype of the ones you would buy today.

First some background math, for theory sake:

Larger swaybars increase stiffness at the fourth power of the thickness.
S= (t2/t1)**4
So for front bar (24/22)^4 = 41.6%
Rear bar (19/16)^4 = 98.8%

So with the Evo bar you would expect the car to be approx 42% stiffer all around, and also to add 47% MORE extra stiffness to the rear than we added to the front (which helps defeat some of the inherent understeer).

(Note: The thicker front bar, if installed just by itself would have actually made underster much worse, but the rear bar has been made even more stiff than the increase in the front. This is good for defeating some of the C32's understeer. If we added 42% to both the front and the back then the car's understeer would theoretically remain the same, but the car would sway less in the process).

So with the Evo bar we should see less understeer and a car that is stiffer laterally. We do.

"Yesterday I was cruising on the freeway waiting for a young lady in a civic to change lanes and clear in front of me. I noticed a small 2x4 in the road ahead of her. I am thinking I hope she sees it. Well sure enough, she hits the board, up it comes dancing across the road. I am doing 75 and the 2x4 settles a few feet ahead, between the intercooler radiator and left front tire. Choice was straddle it and take my chances underneath the car, or trust the handling and make a mini emergency lane change. I realized that I could possibly go around the board and stay in my lane.... if...... So I ripped it quickly right an then back to the left, the car was flat and flawless. I was sweating but the suspension had no worries. Thank you sways."

BTW you will give up less in the way of "ride" quality with the sways than you do with a spring change. Will the sways "solve the understeer" not quite, but they are a move in the correct direction. Many/most of the aftermarket spring changes don't really help understeer, but this sway setup does.

Springs: seems odd but to improve understeer you generally want to stiffen the rear and loosen the front springs. Aftermarket springs don't necessarily do that, but they all tend to lower the car, and I think much of the spring-related handling "improvement" that people discuss is from the lower center of gravity.

TXTiger

Are any of you C32 owners that have upgraded your sway bars interested in selling your stock bars to recoup some of your mod investment? Send me an email or PM me. Thanks.

Zeppelin

RRF - so on the stiffest setting on the rear we can't dial out all of the understeer?

rrf

The answer to your understeer question depends on the rest of your setup. Certainly the Evo sways will be a strong move in the right direction. Set stiff on the rear, they will probably be exactly what you want. Much depends on your springs, tires and wheels.

All production cars are intentionally designed to have some understeer, helps you keep your car on the road at the limit of traction. But IMO the C32 has more than necessary. To me the E36 M3 from the factory was about right. But that car has some advantages, it is lighter, lower and has a better weight distribution. The C32 is a bit nose heavy and so its suspension has to always fight a bit to compensate for that. Of course the best bet would be magically have 50/50 weight distribution and somehow put the car on a 300 lb diet Proof of this point is the typical outer front tire wear on the C32.

For the C32 swaybar adjustability is key, you can set it to balance what you have and what you want. Only the Evosport will offer that range of adjustment. With the Evosport you can dial-in the what you need for your setup and what you feel comfortable with.

Although I havent tried it, my guess is the Eibach rear sway spec is probably way too much. Numerically that is a huge bar almost 400% stiffer than AMG's. (Evo rear is about 100% stiffer, and maybe 110% on the stiffer setting). If you go too far (Eibach) you may create truck-like handling... very flat stiff handling but the rear end skips over everything as a unit, that is not good for handling. Or the inside rear wheel lifting. Swaybar is one example of bigger is not always better. Maybe the Eibach is OK on the coupe, but C32 I really doubt it.

TXtiger if you want them, the stock AMG sways are cheap, just buy new ones from your dealer or wherever. I think AMG owners shoud keep the originals to reinstall if they ever sell their C32, MBZ sells them so inexpensive for new that used can't be worth the hassle for resale and shipping.

So in short, if you are looking at seriously bringing the understeer down, get the Evosport bars.

antonio

i too am ready to buy a set of AMG sway bars. i'll be happy to buy anyone's stock bars asap. please email me at antonio_arci@hotmail.com. thanks.