Should I install a balance bar on my new car?
There are many reasons why car manufacturers do not equip their cars with stabilizer bars.
First is the cost. At around $100 per car it doesn’t seem like much, but if it’s 1,000 or 10,000 cars the cost will be very high.
The second thing is that the stabilizer bar, although providing a more solid feel when cornering, will reduce the smoothness and make the car vibrate more.
Therefore, popular models that are mainly oriented towards comfort and daily travel needs are usually not equipped with stabilizer bars. Only models that are oriented towards driving feeling like BMW, Porsche or supercars like Aston Martin DB11 will be equipped with stabilizer bars from the factory.
The stabilizer bar is a form of chassis reinforcement. When cornering, the car body tends to lean towards the outside of the corner due to centrifugal force. This creates a twist in the chassis, causing the 2 wheels (front/rear) inside the corner to lose traction because the weight of the car is transferred to the 2 wheels (front/rear) outside the corner.
At this time, the balance bar will connect the two wheels on the same axle (front/rear axle) to reduce the difference between the inside and outside wheels of the corner. From there, the grip of the inside and outside wheels of the corner will be balanced, because 4 wheels with grip are still better than only 2 wheels gripping the road.
The stabilizer bar increases the driving feel, specifically the stability of the car body when cornering, thereby creating a false sense of grip for the driver with his car.
Stabilizer bars do improve grip but very little and they cannot turn a regular car into a supercar with a chassis specifically designed for high-speed operation. That is the key to distinguishing between luxury cars that prioritize a smooth and comfortable feeling and sports cars that are very bumpy but provide excellent high-speed operation.
In addition, most popular car models use front-wheel drive, which often suffers from understeer, but some car owners only install stabilizer bars on the front axle (under the hood) without equipping them on the rear axle. This makes the front chassis stiffer, less flexible, and increases understeer. As a result, the car is difficult to control when cornering at high speed.
In addition to the performance and safety benefits, choosing to install additional front struts (usually painted or plated) also increases aesthetics, making the car look stronger and more powerful.
However, this is an accessory so installing the tie bar or not does not affect the vehicle's operation.
Therefore, experts advise that car owners should consider installing additional accessories on the car, because if they were good, the manufacturer would have installed them on the car.
On the other hand, in principle, if the manufacturer does not allow the installation of devices that affect the technical structure, the manufacturer may refuse the warranty, the vehicle inspection may refuse, and the insurance may also refuse if strange details are detected on the vehicle.
