Quote:
quote:Originally posted by dgc333
A couple of things I would like to point out.
If you take a look at the window sticker on your car you will see the following;
"We reserve the right to make changes without notice and are not responsible for typographical errors. Dealers are independent and free to set their own prices."
For as long as I have been purchasing new cars there has been a statement to this effect somewhere in the documentation for the cars I have bought.
Basically that gets them off the hook regarding whether there is or is not a rear sway bar. FWIW, there was no mention of a rear sway bar on my sticker, the brochuer I picked up or on the web.
What's the big deal anyway? I certainly did not buy the PT because I was looking for an ultimate handling machine but as it is it handles better than my Shelby Daytona and at least as well as my Dodge Avenger. Typically rear sway bars are not put on cars for the US market because the typical US driver is not equiped to deal with the handling characteristics they tend to impart. It's much safer for relatively unskilled driver to deal with understeer than with oversteer that a rear sway bar tends to impart. I would venture a guess that if the PT did come with one that they would have made other changes in the suspension tuning to keep the car safely into the understeer side of the handling characteristic and would be no different than what you have now.
Making a comparison to the Dakota R/T situation is a big stretch. People were lead to believe that they had a capability (towing capacity) that they did not find out that they didn't until after they recieved the truck. With the PT there is no claim to a capability that is not there because the sway bar is not there.
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I have firsthand knowlege of the differences with and without the sway bar. It is more than an issue of creating the ultimate handling machine. Remember: the folks who bought the Ford SUVs thought everything was just fine right up to the time that a flat tire cost the lives of their loved ones.
Fact 1: The sway bar does not cause oversteer, I had the bar installed and the handling remained neutral to slight understeer, you need a much stiffer bar to achieve an oversteer situation.
Fact 2: The main difference(other than cost) is that the rear is a little(and I mean only a little firmer). A sway bar effectively increases spring loading on each individual side.
Fact 3: The Watts linkage ONLY keeps the axle from shifting sideways under latteral loads.(No sway bar function here!
Fact 4: The tube inside the pressed steel twist axle is supposed to be dual function; keep the wheels straight, and work as a sway bar.
Fact 5: WHEN THE REAR "TWIST AXLE" DEFORMS IN TRYING TO ACT AS A SWAY BAR THE AXLE GEOMETRY IS THROWN OFF AND CONTROL IS DIMINISHED.
- MOST OF THE BAD STUFF OCCURRS WHEN THE CAR IS FULLY LOADED -
- WIND GUSTS CAUSE THE VEHICLE TO SWAY ABNORMALLY -
- CORNERING BECOMES MUCH TRICKIER, SWAY CONTROL LETS LOOSE, UNLIKE WHEN THE CAR IS UNLOADED (like the car has had too much to drink)-
I guess it's like your seatbelt or air bag...99% of the time they do nothing. If you are in one of those 1% times, I hope that you have the sway bar installed.