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Watson Racing ROAD RACE REAR SWAY BAR - Anyone tired it?

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Hello,

I'm curious if anyone has used or uses this RSB and can comment on its general "Feel" under various conditions as compared to something like a 18mm RSB. I'm currently running an 18mm RSB (take off bar from a convert v6...I think) and I have also used the factory 24mm, a factory 20mm take off bar and lastly I ran with NO RSB for a period of time on my 2013 GT.

I settled on the 18mm RSB after trying all the others options and thought at the time that it offered the best compromise. But with that said, there are still plenty of occasions were even the 18mm RSB feels as if its just a bit too much still in terms of its contributions to over steer, cause rear-end twitch and the occasional feeling of lightness in the back end under aggressive driving situations on less then ideal road surfaces.

I think my driving style much prefers a more "Dead/Limp" feeling in the rear end of the car. My best description of what I mean would be that I prefer the rear of the car to just feel like its along for the ride being drug around like a dog does with its hind quarters when its sitting on the ground with its rear legs extended out in front of its front legs and the front legs are pulling its body across the carpet trying to scratch that embarrassing itch :eek:

At the time I was running with NO RSB I liked it about 50% of the time and it provided that feel described above. It seemed ideal for driving situations when going slower speeds on very technical roads/courses but for the remaining 50% of the time when going faster speeds on smoother road surfaces with long sweeper type turns it seemed to cause the rear of car to take a sometimes unpredictable amount of time to "Take a Set/Settle" before throttle could be applied again to pull you thru the turn in question.

I've had my eye on the Watson RSB for a better part of a year now and have always wondered if it will provide that seemingly elusive combination of a less lively rear end while also providing a bit more stability at higher speeds then the NO RSB at all combo. I should also mention that the car in its current state is quite planted in the back end as is with the Full Cortex Kit I am running but never being happy I guess I still want MOAR!!

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this...Thanks
 
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I use the 1/2 inch rear sway bar from Watson sometimes. It's an odd little thing really, If I run with no sway bar it feels so much different in the rear. More roll and grip as you would expect. I install the Watson rear bar and I get the same roll and grip but now the rear feels tied together. It flexes so easily it adds almost no roll resistances. It's there to be there and that's about it. You can however tell if it's not there. Not sure why.
 
Hello and thanks for your informative reply.

I'll pick one of these guys up and give it a try. Worst case scenario will be that I'll have a larger collection of RSB's to choose from for all possible occasions if it doesn't work out . :)
 
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2013dibgt said:
Hello and thanks for your informative reply.

I'll pick one of these guys up and give it a try. Worst case scenario will be that I'll have a larger collection of RSB's to choose from for all possible occasions if it doesn't work out . :)

lol, Yeah I have them all from 13mm-26mm, half are loaned out right now. At home I have 13mm,18,mm(on the car eight now), 19mm. 20mm and the 24mm. and a Eibach 24mm 3 way adjustable that will never go back on. My 22m 25mm 26mm are out right now... they may never come back. So one more can never hurt.
 

Fabman

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smallblock said:
Sorry I'm not trying to derail this thread but does anyone have the ford part #s for the 18mm and 20mm rear sway bars? My rear is a bit livelier than I'd like.

Thanks!
http://www.newtakeoff.com/mustang_gt_convertible_rear_18mm_anti-sway_bar_2005-2009.aspx
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
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Tri-bar said:
lol, Yeah I have them all from 13mm-26mm, half are loaned out right now. At home I have 13mm,18,mm(on the car eight now), 19mm. 20mm and the 24mm. and a Eibach 24mm 3 way adjustable that will never go back on. My 22m 25mm 26mm are out right now... they may never come back. So one more can never hurt.
I'm curious to know where the 13mm bar comes from? Is that the Watson bar?
 

Fabman

Dances with Racecars
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8,154
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
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20+ Years
Pleasanton: 1/2 way between Sonoma and Laguna Seca
Tri-bar said:
One and the same. it's 1/2 inch or 13mm your choice.....I do like to confuse people.
Well, 1/2" is 12.7mm so I just wanted to be make sure we were talking about the same thing.
 
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I'm going out on a limb here and saying we've probably tried it, we've tried virtually everything there is to try. I suspect, and I don't have any reason to back this up, that they were probably seeing that guys were gravitating to the smaller bars and wanted to give them another choice. Like you stated, different tracks, different bars, and the little v6 bars are rapidly disappearing.
BTW is it a hollow bar? just curious.
 
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Dorman's makes the rear 18mm new. Dorman #927-203 - Cheapest new was
Dorman® 927-203 - Rear Sway Bar more details on - https://www.carid.com/dorman/rear-upsized-sway-bar-mpn-927-203.html
Summithttps://www.summitracing.com/parts/rnb-927-203/overview/

So for now you can still get them just not from Ford. Really don't know for how long.
 
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Well material is a huge difference, between say a mild steel bar and a chromoly bar, the chrome one a lot lighter but much stiffer and will rebound differently.
 

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