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Here are a few more impressions of the upgrade to the 22mm diameter Swedish Auto Specialties (SAS) rear sway bar from the stock 15mm diameter rear sway bar on my 1998 900SET. ( BTW, assuming the exact same geometry of torsion bar, a 22mm diameter bar is over 4 times stiffer than a 15mm diameter bar)
My wife says that I am wrong about the ride quality being unaffected on relatively smooth pavement with the new rear sway bar. She says she felt the difference right away. Her opinion is that it is not unpleasant or harsh, just a bit more firm and connected to the road. The rear tires don’t seem as ‘floaty’ as before, she says. She says it feel tighter, more like the 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider which is her daily driver.
I can say that the new rear sway bar is definitely felt on wash board roads or uneven pavement, like the semi-truck induced dips in the pavement on certain highway sections. The feeling is like the rear tires are over-inflated by a couple PSI, kind of a series of thumps felt in the bottom seat cushion.
I am now playing with the tire pressures a bit to compliment the new rear sway bar. Before the rear sway bar I was running 38 PSI in front tires and 36 PSI in the rear tires to reduce the understeer feel. As you may remember, the Saab tire pressure sticker on the driver’s door recommends for 205/50-16 tires:
32 PSI all around for 1-3 occupants and speeds up to 100MPH.
35 PSI all around for 4-5 occupants and speeds up to 100 MPH.
39 PSI all around for speeds over 100 MPH.
(Weirdly, the owners manual says 33 PSI, 36PSI, and 39 PSI respectively. Bars to PSI conversion rounding? Who knows.)
Anyway, I am now running 35 PSI all around. It seems pretty good so far. I will probably bump the pressure up a PSI or two next week and see how I like it there. With the front pressure down from 38 PSI, I don’t feel the bumps in the road through the steering wheel as much. But I now feel the bumps in the seat of my pants a bit more. As with any suspension change, it is all a matter of trade-offs.
Now to the big question of understeer, the feeling that the front tires are just going to keep plowing straight ahead when you throw the car hard into a corner. That feeling is definitely reduced. The rear-end used to feel like it was just trailering behind, only slightly connected to the rest of the vehicle. Now the rear-end feels very connected to the vehicle. The sense when driving fast through corners that the front tires are being pushed to the outside of the corner by the rear ‘trailer’ wheels, is greatly diminished. The rear sway bar is not magic. The vehicle is still a Saab, still front wheel drive, and still understeers. But the understeer is more predictable and controlled than before, allowing for more confident and spirited driving in the ‘twistys’. Also I am being to feel that the rear sway bar upgrade will really point out the softness of the stock rubber front tracking arm bushings and the front struts.
posted by 208.49.24...
, Mon, 13 Aug 2001 12:16:35
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