The Importance of Stiffening Up the Rear of a Car: A Personal Experience with Sway Bars and Subframe Reinforcements

As an enthusiast of performance cars, I've always been fascinated by the way different components can affect the handling and behavior of a vehicle. In my own experience, stiffening up the rear of a car has made a significant difference in its overall performance. The main point I want to emphasize is that it's not necessarily about stiffening up the front end, but rather the rear where it really benefits from having a stiffer sway bar.

I recently had the opportunity to upgrade my Mustang with new sway bars and subframe reinforcements, which have made a huge difference in its handling. One of the key areas where this upgrade has been beneficial is in the rear suspension. The rear kind of feels like it's a little bit floppy, which is why we're doing a stabilization kit to see how it affects the car's behavior on the track. By stiffening up the rear end, I've found that the car slides much more predictably, which has made it easier to control and more fun to drive.

To achieve this level of stiffness, I opted for new subframe braces along with lockout collars. These upgrades have allowed me to create a more rigid and stable platform for the car, which in turn has improved its overall handling. The new sway bars also play a crucial role in stabilizing the rear end, and I've found that they make a significant difference in terms of predictability and control.

One of the key challenges I faced when installing these upgrades was finding the right combination of settings to achieve the optimal balance between stiffness and compliance. To address this issue, I opted for upgraded end links, which allow me to adjust one side to the same length as stock, while the other side can be adjusted to a different length when the car is on the ground. This allows me to fine-tune the suspension settings to achieve the perfect balance of stiffness and compliance.

The new upgrades have also given me the opportunity to explore the limits of the Mustang's handling capabilities. With the rear end stiffened up, I've found that the car has a tendency to oversteer more easily than before. While this may seem like a negative trait, it actually presents an opportunity for me to fine-tune the suspension settings and discover new ways of driving the car. By embracing the challenge of oversteering, I can push the limits of the car's handling capabilities and gain a deeper understanding of its behavior.

Despite the benefits of stiffening up the rear end, there are also some challenges to consider. One of the issues I faced was with the sway bar bushings, which started to creak and make noise after a short period of use. To address this issue, I opted for new bushings that can be filled with grease, which should help to reduce the noise and improve the overall performance of the car.

In terms of tire selection, I found that the new upgrades have allowed me to explore different options that were previously not available to me. With the improved handling and stability, I've been able to ride the tires harder and take advantage of their full potential. The new tires also seem to hook up more easily, which has made a significant difference in terms of acceleration and overall performance.

Overall, my experience with stiffening up the rear end of my Mustang has been incredibly rewarding. By embracing the challenge of oversteering and fine-tuning the suspension settings, I've gained a deeper understanding of the car's behavior and discovered new ways of driving it. With the new upgrades in place, I'm excited to take the car to the track and see how it performs.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso my morning commute when I go to the warehouse it's very much so a game of playing traffic lights in certain intersections trying to guess which ones will move the fastest and today I've unlocked an achievement and figured out a different way to leave a certain parking lot with a combination of right turns and u-turns versus this light that I used to always sit at forever taking a left and it's very tricky there's certain speed bumps I have to avoid and certain parking lots after dodge through but I feel like I've shaved probably an average of three minutes now for Mike a morning commute which you know adds up over time we're talking 365 days times three minutes it's 900 minutes how many hours is that 60 goes into that probably about 150 hours on 50 hours it's like we're talking days my math is probably really wrong and I'm probably much vide back back wow I'm just stupid but um yeah anyway guys we're driving a Mustang today by the way at this claim where that math was definitely wrong there's no way that makes any sense I'm gonna I'm gonna read you the math on camera right now I hope you don't even so we had said three minutes a day and I'm serious 55 days will say classmate that's about a thousand minutes saved oh oh I got minutes mixed up with an hour so a thousand minutes like 60 goes into that about and five 15 15 days no 15 hours somewhere around somewhere about a day of time saved we're gonna call that day today so today we are going to bring the Mustangs where I was not because all the other cars are broken but because after I made a video talking about how stuff never came in miraculously it showed up so now we have upgraded sway bars the Mustang some other little chassis mods we're gonna go some fun and make the Mustang a great monster also very big news Aburto big boost is now alberto big Dorito he's got a new car congratulations I haven't been able to film it because it's been a secret but now the secret's out Tommy got a new truck Tommy tell me about your new truck as a Ford oh damn no you use the Yee mobile right there huh yeah all right enough of America enough with the Doritos I gotta go eat my lunch I'm so used to my little import cars I was blown away the end link size not 14 not 15 mil last 16 not even 17 millimeter I'd use an 18 millimeter socket through the end link mustang did not screw around this car is beefy these arms twice as thick as an F 13 this body twice as heavy as an S 13 this car twice it's lower than s 13 well we're gonna make it faster Murdoch you turn around film yourself real quick I don't know why is there anything doesn't literally so buddy it's eye protection you're seeing cases where our flights out my it won't hit my how it's spring-loaded did you better yeah you never know if I work with your supplier on the shop line him in the eye with this sunglass I'm protected the last thing you want when you're working with a sway bar is just sway so I don't I didn't I don't look anything up I'm hoping like out here I really don't want to pull this exhaust out the front I know is not going to be fun here I think we'll be okay got to be careful to AC lines back here I don't want to damage them AC line in this wrong supposed to be a joke alright so this is the stock sway bar that we have make it a little bit stiffer side to side so I don't know if ton about sway bars I don't want to say something that makes me sound stupid but I do know that like running stiffer sway bars can essentially enable you to run a softer spring and still have a stiffness side to side without obviously affecting your front to back suspension stiffness so this one is definitely bit beefier a bit thicker and it's got different holes so we can adjust the stiffness I assume we'll just put it in the middle for now but we do have adjustable end links to go with it as well this is the first time in my life I've ever actually used but trim tool instead of like a fly head messing stuff up all the basically little fasteners and stuff the whole bit that ran and you'll be able to access underneath the car a good time to change oil in there technically speaking we didn't really have to undo the under trailer we just thought if we lose any bolts or anything it'll be easier so I'll just come out and I did want to clean that too what I have right here is an IRS stabilization kit so these Mustangs have an independent rear suspension setup and by adding those it kind of braces the rear subframe to the chassis makes it a little more rigid and supposedly helps with like wheel hop and stuff but speaking of one of my buddies Nick who's like a Mustang trash dude who's like get these get the bigger sway bars and you add links in your car will feel brand new so hopefully it'll make it feel a little bit better on the track so interesting you know if you actually have to go from the engine bay to get to the sway bar brackets this side you have to pull the intake out in order to get to it but not from the bottom oh I wanted to take part for a ride but I haven't tried the like driving it with the loud ones so I'm gonna put the loud turned on kept on take the pretty time muffler off I love this engine that does look pretty good we're gonna get a better shot Tommy deleted his cap for this car not to and Tommy's car sounds to say like I think your car so I'm just gonna blend if not better that's a tough one put it put it down on the ground so I can see you're exhausted and sitting there for a while I think the reason why it sounds a little bit trucky is just because of the fact that it goes from three to three and a half and back so it kind of like resonates in the pipe where I bet if I just took the B band off and just left it just three inch it probably sounds sick it's got a little bit of weird resin like if I had a resonator I think it'd be okay sounds like a reaper yeah but it sounds like like you know when people put just like - way too big of an exhaust on a Daisy Carnival sometimes like all the farting noises like that non vvt-i Wednesday's typically sound yes yeah I heard Tommy here sounds good shego reason how we can have a catch-up - tell me my what do you think that thing is crazy very quick right this is pretty first time he's gone with that fast and I'm surprised too but did it get a shot of me get a shot of me with your phone I guess not do you just use the fast cars while your car looks sick 200 their mother blocked it it'd be a nice dang dude so here's a comparison on the front doesn't really look that much thicker but I'm sure it's different having the added adjustability of the three points will be nice to find two in the front but the the main thing with this car is two is not necessarily to stiffen up the front the rear is where it really benefits from having that stiffer sway bar because the rear kind of is a little bit floppy it's why we're doing the stabilization kit to see look this guy slides on just like this using the good old jack that we got Finn Ben pack we're able to use it kind of to lift the subframe up kind of little get out but it works these are the new subframe braces along with the little lockout collars a lot gnarlier than stock I do think it'll make quite a big difference now a little sketchy now I'm just gonna loosen the rear so we can get those locking collars back there I got upgraded end links as well and the idea is basically adjust one the same a stock length and the other will do when the car is on the ground so we don't have any preload on the sway bar but it's a little bit beefier than these stock ones that are pretty soft and have a lot of flex in them so while he's doing that I'm going in the back and I'm relocating the brake line since I will do bracket on the sway bar my friend Nick the track is GD difficult I'm advised to basically go full stiff in the rear so we are on the inside here and then in the front go in the middle and what that allows us to do is give the car a little bit more of a tendency to oversteer since the rear is now a little bit stiffer whereas before this car is kind of understeery from the factory a lot of factory bars are set up to be a little more interesting because the average person can handle understeer a lot better than oversteer and they want people spending out in the guardrails so I'm excited I was actually able to fit underneath the car to reach up and get the other side of the sway bar adjusted some will raise it back up in the air tighten everything we're good to go unfortunately I don't have a climactic end for this video ripping around the Mustang on the track I can't tell you however though of footage that I well I didn't film it because I wouldn't want to put in this video there are a few corners that I do know of where I was able to play with the Mustang a bit and I will tell you kind of my initial impressions first off before we talk about our sway bars first the car feels much more planted it doesn't really sway at all it feels like it's much difference I decide which is nice I know that when we go to the track to really take advantage of that new stiffness side to side I'll probably want to add a little bit more Canberra on the wheels that way I'm not just heating up the sidewalls on them that's cool though the only bad thing is I don't think we used enough of the actually Greece for the sway bar bushings and after the car sat for a little while they started to kind of like creak and make noise the cool thing is they do have grease fittings so I'm gonna go pick up a grease gun so I can fill them up and that should help with the noise the nto ones though are wild they I don't know how to explain it but some tires you can really feel out so they grip but like you can really ride them on the edge of their grip and understand kind of what they're gonna do and they don't do any weird stuff I would say that's kind of how these feel like I have a really really nice bite and they they loose like loosen up a little bit but they still bite some tires I feel like they're just like really grippy and then ice where these it's easy to ride that limit I don't know if that makes sense but that's just how I'm able to convey how entire feels I will say it almost dead hooks every time in first depending on road condition like whether it's cold or if it's like a grippy road versus like a polished road and that's crazy and like a 500-horsepower of ah stay dead hooking and first feels nuts feels probably faster than the BMW but anyway I'm really excited to get to the track I'm hoping that I can maybe get over to the firm and use the actual data comparing what lap times it will do with the new tires the sway bars and the subframe reinforcements compared to the last time I was there and just see how much time I can actually shave off I think it'll be a lot of fun and it lets the Mustang get a little bit more abuse so hope you guys enjoy this video a little bit different just kind of chill lesson around with Spanish and stuff but uh I'll see you tomorrow we especially guys coming in it should be fun laters youso my morning commute when I go to the warehouse it's very much so a game of playing traffic lights in certain intersections trying to guess which ones will move the fastest and today I've unlocked an achievement and figured out a different way to leave a certain parking lot with a combination of right turns and u-turns versus this light that I used to always sit at forever taking a left and it's very tricky there's certain speed bumps I have to avoid and certain parking lots after dodge through but I feel like I've shaved probably an average of three minutes now for Mike a morning commute which you know adds up over time we're talking 365 days times three minutes it's 900 minutes how many hours is that 60 goes into that probably about 150 hours on 50 hours it's like we're talking days my math is probably really wrong and I'm probably much vide back back wow I'm just stupid but um yeah anyway guys we're driving a Mustang today by the way at this claim where that math was definitely wrong there's no way that makes any sense I'm gonna I'm gonna read you the math on camera right now I hope you don't even so we had said three minutes a day and I'm serious 55 days will say classmate that's about a thousand minutes saved oh oh I got minutes mixed up with an hour so a thousand minutes like 60 goes into that about and five 15 15 days no 15 hours somewhere around somewhere about a day of time saved we're gonna call that day today so today we are going to bring the Mustangs where I was not because all the other cars are broken but because after I made a video talking about how stuff never came in miraculously it showed up so now we have upgraded sway bars the Mustang some other little chassis mods we're gonna go some fun and make the Mustang a great monster also very big news Aburto big boost is now alberto big Dorito he's got a new car congratulations I haven't been able to film it because it's been a secret but now the secret's out Tommy got a new truck Tommy tell me about your new truck as a Ford oh damn no you use the Yee mobile right there huh yeah all right enough of America enough with the Doritos I gotta go eat my lunch I'm so used to my little import cars I was blown away the end link size not 14 not 15 mil last 16 not even 17 millimeter I'd use an 18 millimeter socket through the end link mustang did not screw around this car is beefy these arms twice as thick as an F 13 this body twice as heavy as an S 13 this car twice it's lower than s 13 well we're gonna make it faster Murdoch you turn around film yourself real quick I don't know why is there anything doesn't literally so buddy it's eye protection you're seeing cases where our flights out my it won't hit my how it's spring-loaded did you better yeah you never know if I work with your supplier on the shop line him in the eye with this sunglass I'm protected the last thing you want when you're working with a sway bar is just sway so I don't I didn't I don't look anything up I'm hoping like out here I really don't want to pull this exhaust out the front I know is not going to be fun here I think we'll be okay got to be careful to AC lines back here I don't want to damage them AC line in this wrong supposed to be a joke alright so this is the stock sway bar that we have make it a little bit stiffer side to side so I don't know if ton about sway bars I don't want to say something that makes me sound stupid but I do know that like running stiffer sway bars can essentially enable you to run a softer spring and still have a stiffness side to side without obviously affecting your front to back suspension stiffness so this one is definitely bit beefier a bit thicker and it's got different holes so we can adjust the stiffness I assume we'll just put it in the middle for now but we do have adjustable end links to go with it as well this is the first time in my life I've ever actually used but trim tool instead of like a fly head messing stuff up all the basically little fasteners and stuff the whole bit that ran and you'll be able to access underneath the car a good time to change oil in there technically speaking we didn't really have to undo the under trailer we just thought if we lose any bolts or anything it'll be easier so I'll just come out and I did want to clean that too what I have right here is an IRS stabilization kit so these Mustangs have an independent rear suspension setup and by adding those it kind of braces the rear subframe to the chassis makes it a little more rigid and supposedly helps with like wheel hop and stuff but speaking of one of my buddies Nick who's like a Mustang trash dude who's like get these get the bigger sway bars and you add links in your car will feel brand new so hopefully it'll make it feel a little bit better on the track so interesting you know if you actually have to go from the engine bay to get to the sway bar brackets this side you have to pull the intake out in order to get to it but not from the bottom oh I wanted to take part for a ride but I haven't tried the like driving it with the loud ones so I'm gonna put the loud turned on kept on take the pretty time muffler off I love this engine that does look pretty good we're gonna get a better shot Tommy deleted his cap for this car not to and Tommy's car sounds to say like I think your car so I'm just gonna blend if not better that's a tough one put it put it down on the ground so I can see you're exhausted and sitting there for a while I think the reason why it sounds a little bit trucky is just because of the fact that it goes from three to three and a half and back so it kind of like resonates in the pipe where I bet if I just took the B band off and just left it just three inch it probably sounds sick it's got a little bit of weird resin like if I had a resonator I think it'd be okay sounds like a reaper yeah but it sounds like like you know when people put just like - way too big of an exhaust on a Daisy Carnival sometimes like all the farting noises like that non vvt-i Wednesday's typically sound yes yeah I heard Tommy here sounds good shego reason how we can have a catch-up - tell me my what do you think that thing is crazy very quick right this is pretty first time he's gone with that fast and I'm surprised too but did it get a shot of me get a shot of me with your phone I guess not do you just use the fast cars while your car looks sick 200 their mother blocked it it'd be a nice dang dude so here's a comparison on the front doesn't really look that much thicker but I'm sure it's different having the added adjustability of the three points will be nice to find two in the front but the the main thing with this car is two is not necessarily to stiffen up the front the rear is where it really benefits from having that stiffer sway bar because the rear kind of is a little bit floppy it's why we're doing the stabilization kit to see look this guy slides on just like this using the good old jack that we got Finn Ben pack we're able to use it kind of to lift the subframe up kind of little get out but it works these are the new subframe braces along with the little lockout collars a lot gnarlier than stock I do think it'll make quite a big difference now a little sketchy now I'm just gonna loosen the rear so we can get those locking collars back there I got upgraded end links as well and the idea is basically adjust one the same a stock length and the other will do when the car is on the ground so we don't have any preload on the sway bar but it's a little bit beefier than these stock ones that are pretty soft and have a lot of flex in them so while he's doing that I'm going in the back and I'm relocating the brake line since I will do bracket on the sway bar my friend Nick the track is GD difficult I'm advised to basically go full stiff in the rear so we are on the inside here and then in the front go in the middle and what that allows us to do is give the car a little bit more of a tendency to oversteer since the rear is now a little bit stiffer whereas before this car is kind of understeery from the factory a lot of factory bars are set up to be a little more interesting because the average person can handle understeer a lot better than oversteer and they want people spending out in the guardrails so I'm excited I was actually able to fit underneath the car to reach up and get the other side of the sway bar adjusted some will raise it back up in the air tighten everything we're good to go unfortunately I don't have a climactic end for this video ripping around the Mustang on the track I can't tell you however though of footage that I well I didn't film it because I wouldn't want to put in this video there are a few corners that I do know of where I was able to play with the Mustang a bit and I will tell you kind of my initial impressions first off before we talk about our sway bars first the car feels much more planted it doesn't really sway at all it feels like it's much difference I decide which is nice I know that when we go to the track to really take advantage of that new stiffness side to side I'll probably want to add a little bit more Canberra on the wheels that way I'm not just heating up the sidewalls on them that's cool though the only bad thing is I don't think we used enough of the actually Greece for the sway bar bushings and after the car sat for a little while they started to kind of like creak and make noise the cool thing is they do have grease fittings so I'm gonna go pick up a grease gun so I can fill them up and that should help with the noise the nto ones though are wild they I don't know how to explain it but some tires you can really feel out so they grip but like you can really ride them on the edge of their grip and understand kind of what they're gonna do and they don't do any weird stuff I would say that's kind of how these feel like I have a really really nice bite and they they loose like loosen up a little bit but they still bite some tires I feel like they're just like really grippy and then ice where these it's easy to ride that limit I don't know if that makes sense but that's just how I'm able to convey how entire feels I will say it almost dead hooks every time in first depending on road condition like whether it's cold or if it's like a grippy road versus like a polished road and that's crazy and like a 500-horsepower of ah stay dead hooking and first feels nuts feels probably faster than the BMW but anyway I'm really excited to get to the track I'm hoping that I can maybe get over to the firm and use the actual data comparing what lap times it will do with the new tires the sway bars and the subframe reinforcements compared to the last time I was there and just see how much time I can actually shave off I think it'll be a lot of fun and it lets the Mustang get a little bit more abuse so hope you guys enjoy this video a little bit different just kind of chill lesson around with Spanish and stuff but uh I'll see you tomorrow we especially guys coming in it should be fun laters you\n"