Sway Bars - Mechanical (Physics) Question
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From: Texas
Sway Bars - Mechanical (Physics) Question
I have a mechanical question on sway bars....
When one has the original sway bars, the car will have the "highway float," where any side to side movement in the car is absorbed by the shocks, thus creating the "floating" effect.
But when sway bars are installed, the "floating" effect is negated as the sway bars prevent the side to side motion, which would mean that the shocks are not absorbing the side to side motion of the car.
Would this then create undue stress on the bolts to where the sway bars are attached and cause some type of damage to this area? Physics would indicate yes, but I could be wrong as I am no physicist. Any feedback is appreciated....
When one has the original sway bars, the car will have the "highway float," where any side to side movement in the car is absorbed by the shocks, thus creating the "floating" effect.
But when sway bars are installed, the "floating" effect is negated as the sway bars prevent the side to side motion, which would mean that the shocks are not absorbing the side to side motion of the car.
Would this then create undue stress on the bolts to where the sway bars are attached and cause some type of damage to this area? Physics would indicate yes, but I could be wrong as I am no physicist. Any feedback is appreciated....
theoretically, yes, but practically the "force" is so small it's not going to really do any damage in this particular scenario
but if you consider the extreme, say going very fast over a highly uneven road left and right where there is a lot of side to side movement, then yes you are putting tons of stress on that area (btw that's called the end links), and you can break those. i have seen them broken couple of times already. it can happen.
and if anything i think they do tend to happen more easily with stiffer sways as well, kinda proving your point too
but if you consider the extreme, say going very fast over a highly uneven road left and right where there is a lot of side to side movement, then yes you are putting tons of stress on that area (btw that's called the end links), and you can break those. i have seen them broken couple of times already. it can happen.
and if anything i think they do tend to happen more easily with stiffer sways as well, kinda proving your point too
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From: California
Originally Posted by HoracioGS4
Would this then create undue stress on the bolts to where the sway bars are attached and cause some type of damage to this area? Physics would indicate yes, but I could be wrong as I am no physicist. Any feedback is appreciated....
It's not necessarily undue stress. As long as the endlinks are tightened correctly (very important), stress on the endlink bolt itself is minimal, as the enlink (whatever design it may be, i.e. balljoint type, etc) helps to absorb the stress. That is the job of the endlink, and your "bolts" will be safe.
endlinks absorb the tortional stresss the sway bar bushings absorb most of the energy and deflect the forces away .. this is why daizens were so great , they engineered a great poly bushings to do most of the work without having to make the actual bars so rigid
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