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Still another Eibach bars review

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CTB

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hello everyone. After a few brainstorms and one truly painful injury, I now have my Eibach bars on my car. Woo hoo!

My car is a bone stock 2000 ZX3 - the bars are the only mod I have on the car. Stock dampers, tires (15" Goodyear RSA), everything.

Yesterday I had the rear bar on in no time flat. I took a test drive, and as I've reported before when I drove an Eibach-rear-bar-only Focus, it wasn't really scary, but I could see it being trouble in a panic situation or perhaps rain. Also, the car developed a disconcerting hop while cornering, much like any Rabbit/Golf/Scirocco does while autocrossing - up on three wheels, and if you hit a mid-corner bump it would bounce a little more than I liked. I figured the front bar might help.

This morning I managed to get my front bar installed. For those interested, I measured my bar to be more like 23.1mm thick, not 22 as advertised. I forgot to measure my rear, but that's easy enough. I just got back from a test drive. It is EXCELLENT. All the scariness is gone, but any fears of too much understeer are unfounded. The car is beautifully adjustable mid-corner, and that scary bounce is gone. The car feels like I have fitted stiffer dampers since it doesn't wallow around, but my ride quality is nearly indistinguishable from stock. Remember, I live in Detroit, and ride quality is VERY important around here since our roads are more like moonscapes. This car is my daily driver, so I don't want to make it a buckboard.

If anyone is looking for fantastic function and isn't worried about looks (i.e. lowering the car 9 inches and fitting 20" rubber band tires), putting the Eibach bars (both) on a stock setup gives a great handling balance and the same nice ride quality as the stock car. I think I actually like my car now more than the Euro 2.0 Trend I spent so much time in. The Euro had about the same lean as mine does now, but the ride was definitely harsher. And I believe my car has more lift-off oversteer than the Euro car does (as does a stock US Focus compared to the Euro).

Those of you who know me know that I'm very much a Honda man as well as a Focus man. So when I say that my Focus now has handling that is nearly on par with my Integra Type R, you should know that is high praise from me. The Type R certainly has higher limits, but as far as balance and mid-corner adjustability, I honestly can say my Focus seems to be right there with it now. I'll take more test drives, obviously, and if my opinion changes at all, I'll post.

Again, BOTH Eibach bars on a stock car is a highly-recommended combo from me. For whatever that's worth.
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CTB
 
#2 ·
I'm thinking about all the fun I could have with them installed on my car...soon
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2001 Twilight Blue ZTS <UL TYPE=SQUARE> <LI> KW Sport Kit from Focus Tuning, ZX3tuning shorty antenna, Euro locking fuel door...much more to come!
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#3 ·
ummmmm,

ALL front wheel drive cars will pick up the inside rear wheel if they are equiped w/ a stiff rear sway bar.
Thats what they SHOULD do. They are taking the weight that is needed for traction off the inside rear wheel (which is otherwise wasted) and placing it on the front outside wheel (Creating much more traction through the corner)
This doesn't limit traction, it maximises it. Thats why rabbits and sciroccos are great auto-x and road race cars, they do this well.
On a rear wheel drive car, you run a stiffer front bar. If you observe a properly set up RWD car, you will notice the inside FRONT tire picking up off the ground.

it just the way things work. looks odd, but it makes sense.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
There's a difference between picking up the inside rear like my Type R or the ITC car I tune does, and the way a stock VW does. The R will pick it up about 2" or so; the ITC car will carry the rear about 3" in the air through a complete corner; however, I've seen some stock VW's nearly go over due to mid-corner bumps. They tend to lift them a much greater amount than non-twist-beam rear suspension cars. (Re-read my post - I'm not exactly a novice to vehicle dynamics, and the lifting of the rear wheel isn't what was bothering me. It's the uncontrolled bounce mid-corner that was bugging me.) Also, check out the top VW's in the Street Prepared and higher classes. They obviously still lift the inside rear, but they do it at a lower altitude and don't have any nasty bounces mid-corner. We had a Scirocco compete in our region that was extremely well-driven and well set up, and it carried its hind feet at much lower orbits than the stock cars.

I'm also quite familiar with RWD cars picking up the inside front, too - my MR2 used to do that a lot during autocrosses. Once I skimmed a curb with the inside front while corning quite aggressively on the street, and I never even felt the wheel hit it - I figure it must have had nearly zero load on it.

My point wasn't the lift, it was the sudden change in the rate of lift. Big difference. The addition of the front bar seems to have cured that nicely. It's still lifting the rear, but in a much more smooth manner. Perfect.
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CTB

[This message has been edited by CTB (edited 07-04-2001).]
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Well, it's official. My darn front bar moved over an inch to the right after about 100 miles of driving. I had the bar centered to within a millimeter when I installed it, so I can rest easy (?) knowing that I did the best job possible and it still moved.

Time to investigate that Eibach fix that I read about here on the list...bummer.
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I really love the balance of the car with these bars, so I really plan to make them work.

For the record, I visited Progress' website the other day, and they are now listing a front bar for Foci.

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CTB
 
#6 ·
For the record, I visited Progress' website the other day, and they are now listing a front bar for Foci.


The rear sway bar that Progress has out right now was built to work with the front stock sway bar unlike the Eibach in which you need both to work properly.



[This message has been edited by k0nafocus (edited 07-09-2001).]
 
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#7 ·
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by CTB:
And I believe my car has more lift-off oversteer than the Euro car does (as does a stock US Focus compared to the Euro).
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


The US car has *more* lift-off oversteer than the Euro Focus 2.0? Hmm, maybe Americans do get respect sometimes.

I find my S2's oversteer to be slow and predictable, thus utterly controllable. This could become a habit!

[This message has been edited by ottos (edited 07-10-2001).]
 
#9 ·
Chris, the fix for the shifting is as simple as putting some sort of clamp around the bar on either side of one of the bushings. Keep it from moving becasue the clamp hits bushing.
 
#13 ·
I have a 2001 Street Edition sedan and have changed to the Eibach sway bars front and rear. To test any suspension changes that I make on a vehicle I use the 2 off-ramps from the hiway that I travel every day to and from work. One is an increasing radius, no camber, 180 degree turn with rising elevation all the way; the other is a decreasing radius, off-camber,down hill(50 ft drop)160 degree turn.
I compared my corner speeds to my 97 F-150(highly modified suspension. A stock Focus rental that I had for a week in 2000 while the truck was in the shop was 5 mph slower than the truck. My Street Edition with stock suspension was 3mph faster. The Street Edition with the Eibach sway bars is 10 mph faster that the truck. I know that I was pushing the truck to the limits (the tires were talking to me), I am not sure how close to the limit I am pushing the Street Edition as I am not fully adjusted to the idea of FWD yet.


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2001 Street Edition Sedan
See it at Hal's Homepage

[This message has been edited by Hal (edited 07-15-2001).]
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
Hal,
I'd imagine that stock rental Focus was the SPI Focus. They don't have as much suspension as the ZX3/ZTS/SE Foci do. If that was true, then that would account for some of the speed you're seeing with your Street Edition (stock and Eibach). But I'd agree with you - I can definitely carry more speed in my car now with the E bars on than I could with stock, and I did pretty darn well with the stock car. Keep your eyes on your front bar - it'll probably move like most of the other people with E front bars.

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CTB

[This message has been edited by CTB (edited 07-15-2001).]
 
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