Sway Bar

[Carmen_SanDiego]

Hi, I own a 2014 FiST with the ST suspension coilovers and am not sure if I should get any sway bars. From what I know, the stock 2014 has a front sway bar and a torsion beam rear axle. Would it be worth buying a sway bar for front and back, just back, or leave it stock? Any brand recommendations would also me appreciated, thanks.

 

[arlisscm]

Hi, I own a 2014 FiST with the ST suspension coilovers and am not sure if I should get any sway bars. From what I know, the stock 2014 has a front sway bar and a torsion beam rear axle. Would it be worth buying a sway bar for front and back, just back, or leave it stock? Any brand recommendations would also me appreciated, thanks.

What is it you are trying to change about the cars handling? This will help people in making suggestions (if any).

For example, I wanted more/easier rotation on the track (I have BC coilovers with Swift springs, but should be fairly similar) so I have a Pierce Motorsports rear beam brace (mounts inside the rear axle beam) and a Whiteline 22mm rear sway bar, left the front stock but threw in some poly bushings.

 

[Carmen_SanDiego]

What is it you are trying to change about the cars handling? This will help people in making suggestions (if any).

For example, I wanted more/easier rotation on the track (I have BC coilovers with Swift springs, but should be fairly similar) so I have a Pierce Motorsports rear beam brace (mounts inside the rear axle beam) and a Whiteline 22mm rear sway bar, left the front stock but threw in some poly bushings.

Just the cornering ability

 

[arlisscm]

Just the cornering ability

Any brace or sway bar added to the rear will make it more "tail happy" (oversteer), I haven't changed the front bar, so I cannot speak to if that will increase understeer or not, but it stands to reason that it may. So, if you want the rear to be a little more loose add a rear bar and/or brace, but if it's predominantly for street driving, it's not likely needed.

Also note that to swap the front bar, you need to drop the subframe, so it's quite a bit more involved than the rear. Installing the Whiteline rear bar I have was super easy, the bar, some spacers, and 4 bolts and nuts.

 

[Carmen_SanDiego]

Any brace or sway bar added to the rear will make it more "tail happy" (oversteer), I haven't changed the front bar, so I cannot speak to if that will increase understeer or not, but it stands to reason that it may. So, if you want the rear to be a little more loose add a rear bar and/or brace, but if it's predominantly for street driving, it's not likely needed.

Also note that to swap the front bar, you need to drop the subframe, so it's quite a bit more involved than the rear. Installing the Whiteline rear bar I have was super easy, the bar, some spacers, and 4 bolts and nuts.

Thanks, I've been looking at the Whiteline rear bar as its used in the M2 Motoring's Fiesta SMEA build. I'll probably end up waiting to get a bar installed for a bit since as of now I mostly street drive.

 

[Downsy]

The stock suspension is really good for most driving. Unless you are trying to tune the suspension to do something different it may not be worth diving into that mess. The only real "mod" to my suspension is Bilstein B6 shocks/struts. I undid a lot of what the previous owner did as far as lowering and other mods. Going back closer to stock really made the car a much better daily driver.

 

[Speedboosted]

Improving "corning ability" as you stated is a tough one. At a high level...if you want it to rotate more, increase rear roll stiffness. If you want it to rotate less, increase front roll stiffness.

How do you like the ST coilovers so far? I was considering those since I don't really need damping adjustments. How is the ride compared to stock?

 

[LilPartyBox]

This is totally up to you. Do you like the way the car corners with your current setup? If not, what exactly about it would you like to improve? With that info we can make better recommendations

 

[Carmen_SanDiego]

Improving "corning ability" as you stated is a tough one. At a high level...if you want it to rotate more, increase rear roll stiffness. If you want it to rotate less, increase front roll stiffness.

How do you like the ST coilovers so far? I was considering those since I don't really need damping adjustments. How is the ride compared to stock?

Sorry for the late reply. I got the car with the coilovers already. I cant compare them to the stock version but they feel pretty comfortable, are firm, feel balanced, and have nice handling.

 

[Carmen_SanDiego]

This is totally up to you. Do you like the way the car corners with your current setup? If not, what exactly about it would you like to improve? With that info we can make better recommendations

Sorry for another late reply. The current cornering Isn't bad but I feel like I have quite a bit of body roll on turns. Overall I think I want to make the car more stiff but I am not sure if sway bars are the right move.

 

[isis]

Body roll is healthy for weight transfer so you don’t want to completely eliminate it. Tires are always the best place to start.

 

[SteveS]

Also bear in mind that if roll-stiffened too much, the Fiesta ST is liable to rollover in sharp turns on flat ground. It has happened in autocross.

 

[LilPartyBox]

In that case sways are the only move to minimize body roll without sacrificing day to day suspension compliance. I have the eibach front and rear set as sold by Cobb and I’ve been very happy with them since day one.

To speak on the weight transfer comment, I had an ND2 Miata for a few years and I couldn’t stand how much it rolled. And that was a GT with the oem bilsteins. I’m way in the other camp of maybe not totally eliminating roll, but definitely minimizing it.

 

[Fusion Works]

Also bear in mind that if roll-stiffened too much, the Fiesta ST is liable to rollover in sharp turns on flat ground. It has happened in autocross.

BS. That was a car with sloppy lowering spring and some big balloony 16in tires combined with a driver that didn't know how to drive and some poor course design. Not a flaw with the Fiesta. A stock Fiesta ST lives at the top of the moose test leader board.

As for the OP, what kind of tires do you have? How low is the car? Sunroof or non? What spring rates on the coil overs? What tire pressures are you running? Are you tracking the car or just street driving it? Do you have any kind of camber adjustment? The OEM setup on these cars is more "playful" and "tossable", not tied down like other cars. Its an entirely different setup.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-KempOrImw


You have to change a lot of things to make it radically different. That all said, I would stick a rear bar on ALL Fiestas and ALL FWDs in general. It will sharpen the steering. You also need an LSD.

 

[SteveS]

The stock Fiesta ST has been engineered not to roll over. Doing things to the suspension, which could include stickier tires, changes to roll stiffness, disabling the ESC, and so on can result in increasing the chance of rollover if you don't know what you are doing. And even if you think you do. But the OP appeared to me the former based on his question.

 

[Fusion Works]

The stock tires are a 140 tread wear. They are Sticky to begin with. I disable the ESC every time I go on track, I have RADICALLY changed the roll stiffness, the car is no more likely to roll over any more than it was stock. That picture in my username is a curb jumping incident at Nashville Superspeedway and the car just came back down as nicely as it went up. I constantly bomb curbs at tracks all over the southeast. There is nothing inherently wrong with the Fiesta ST and very little you can do that makes it any worse than stock. Those handful of incidents that happen in an autox situation are anomalies and not representative of the real world.

The Bspec Fiesta is probably the ultimate example of a lightly modified race car and they Hoosier DOT Race tires. 40-80 treadwear. They are base model Fiestas with no rear swaybar, and higher rate springs. These cars don't turn over. This rolling over business is an internet myth.

 

[SteveS]

Internet? They did it in real life. Again, not common to happen at all. But there is a rollover risk ratio the SCCA uses that disqualifies the stock Fiesta from competition. The ST gets out of that with its lowered and massaged suspension.

Can you improve it for track use? Yes. Can it still be safe? Yes. Does every modification lead to rollover risk? No.

But if you cannot elucidate what it is you want to "fix" about the car's handling beyond a generic "corner better", when you already have a car that corners very well, perhaps you just need to "drive better" rather than just bolt on any sway bar you find.