Do aftermarket anti-sway bars improve the cornering abilities of a vehicle? I assume this is why someone would choose to upgrade... Please elaborate on the difference and improvements noticed for those who have upgraded.

My friend has a Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo, and I started sliding big time on a curve that he took with ease at about 40 mph. I think the heavy wheels don't help my cornering but the tires are wider and the car is dropped 1". Any ideas on imrpoving my corerning abilities? Oh yeah, my "slip" light didn't come on an I didn't feel the vdc while I slide a good three feet in the direction of the curve.

 

they will definitely improve cornering. But in your situation it doesn't sound like the sway bars are the problem. because the vdc didn't turn on, means that the wheels are not slipping unproportionally faster than the wheel on the other side. It sounds more like youre sliding laterally, like you're drifting.
This could just be a chance happening due to the conditions of the road. I'm not really sure what else would cause you laterally slide like that.
And after just reading your post agan, I noticed it's a 300ZX not a 350. You might want to get some tower struts on the front and rear as i don't believe the old 300ZX's came with them. That'll probably be more cost effective than sways.
good luck

'04 G35 6MT Ivory Pearl
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So is that drifting? Kinda fun, but scary at the same time. My friends car is the 300ZX, not mine. I just used it to compare the handling characteristics because he didn't slide into the corner like I did.

 

what are your front and rear tire specs? ... sounds like they may not have the proper F/R ratio for VDC to work properly.

THX723

 

Well in a evidance tracing way, I'll point out that your running progressive springs, a compromise between comfort and performance. As you push your car to it's G limits you will enter a area where their progressive nature becomes a liability vs against their ride quality benefits. When pressed to the limits one side of your car is running on the softer intial spring rates while the other is running on the higher final rates. This can cause some miss steps or hiccups if you encounter any kind of bump or something that upsets things while cornering and it can make recovery a nastyier, more difficult operation as you undulate those differing rates trying to rain it all back in. Now, looking at the Eibach spring rates I don't see anything their that alters the front to rear balance in a meaningfull way, if you had a coupe with Eibachs, that would be a different story. Curious, is your sedan a non sport? If it is, that is further cause for concern based on strut valving.

Now on your question about adding sway bars. when I installed my Cusco sway bars, I did net increased cornering speeds . How much faster I didn't honestly check. Something that I think is a more glowing thing to say about the sway bars is how much more enjoyable the car is, how it improves the feel of the car as a intrument for sliceing and diceing, great grin factor enhancer.

"i, for one, am not a fan of glory hounds."

Dang straight, it's all about the glory of helping. Who have you helped today?

 

The tires are a little tall than stock (almost 1/2 inch). But they are the same all the way around. I don't think this has any effect on the vdc.

I do have the sport package. Should I get different lowering springs? Would that help? I think the eibach's could stand to be a little stiffer, and am not too concerned with a stiffer ride from another spring.

 

I agree with Gsedan35. Cusco sway bars definitely made my sedan turn in MUCH better. Very much worth it.

'04 G35S 6MT