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240 Turbo Sway bars. 200

Keep in mind when we're talking about oversteer and understeer, we're talking about handling at the limits of adhesion. Of course, this is much more pronounced in the winter but on low friction surfaces the size of swaybar rarely comes into play because the tires will lose traction long before any weight transfer takes place. Larger swaybars, wherever they're placed, will improve how the car corners; no doubt about it.

Improving how a car handles for normal city/highway driving is far easier than trying to improve how a car handles on a race track. I had an '81 244DL...completely stock. It leaned like nobody's business on the corners. I pulled the stock front bar (17mm? maybe 19mm?) and put in a 23mm bar. The difference was drastic. It cornered with far less body roll. Was it set up for the slalom course at the track? Absolutely not. Did it feel much better just driving around town? You bet it did. Did I ever push it to the point where the over or understeer was induced? Never. I hate squealing tires...

I currently have an '85 245Ti that, last summer, I ran 28mm front and 25mm rear bars with rear adjustable Koni shocks (on their stiffest setting), stock springs and good front struts (don't know what they are as I've never had them out of the car). With full poly suspension and with 225/50/16 ruber on the front and 245/45/16 rubber on the rear, I could go around corners with the best of them. Absolutely neutral. Absolutely flat. Is this a street setup? Not really. Did it prove to a lot of people how quickly a Volvo wagon could go around corners? Yup...sure did but it was far more of a track setup than a street setup.

The bottom line is any swaybar upgrade will improve how a car feels. Horribly mismatched ones (19mm front and 25mm rear) may make the car do weird things but only when you're pushing it hard. Improving how a car actually handles involves more than just swaybar upgrades, as has already been pointed out in other posts with matching shocks and springs. Wheels and tires play a huge part too. You'll never get 185/75/14 rubber to stick to the pavement like you'll get 215/45/17 rubber nor will you get the sidewalls falling over on the 17" like the 14" will.






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