[pkoko]

Let me first start off that I am used to the driving of an eurpean car. That means I don't want super stiff, high performance handling but I do want to improve the handling of the Zephyr. I have already put 20 inch rims on my car and they made handling better but made ride quality as stiff as I want it. I do think I have enough traction/ handling with current setup the only problem is the huge body roll. So is there anything that reduces body roll without sacrficing ride quality??? I think a sway bar on top the engine comparment will reduce the body roll. Does any make it??

Any other opinions??
Thanks

 

[Cross Bolt]

You are on the right track. May be you can have some custom (larger diameter) sway bars made for the front and the rear. It will affect the ride a little bit but not as bad as heaver springs.

 

[waldo]

Yes, larger sway bars (really anit-sway bars) are what you should look at. What you're thinking of on top of the engine is not a sway bar, just a chassis brace. With the Zephyrs body structure it won't do much, and it definitely won't reduce body roll.
No need for custom pieces though, there are already a couple sets in production for the Mazda 6. Racing Beat and Mazdaspeed both make larger bars that will bolt right on. The front one is not an easy change though, you must drop at least the back part of the subframe.
Also FYI, the reason the Zephyr doesn't have bigger bars from the factory is because of durability concerns, not necessarily ride quality concerns. So be warned, larger bars could reduce the life of the bar links, mounts and anything else attached to them.

 

[pkoko]

[quote author=Waldo link=topic=52463.msg846921#msg846921 date=1153918219]
No need for custom pieces though, there are already a couple sets in production for the Mazda 6.  Racing Beat and Mazdaspeed both make larger bars that will bolt right on.  The front one is not an easy change though, you must drop at least the back part of the subframe.
Also FYI, the reason the Zephyr doesn't have bigger bars from the factory is because of durability concerns, not necessarily ride quality concerns.  So be warned, larger bars could reduce the life of the bar links, mounts and anything else attached to them.
[/quote]

Are these suspension parts 100% bolt on?? how much work is to do the fronts?? and rears?? Is doing both sway bars and lowering kit at the same time less labour intensive?? Any kit that has both included?? How much worse will ride quality be??

point #2 where did you get your info that durability concerns with bigger bars??? according to
http://media.ford.com/products/presskit_display.cfm?vehicle_id=1242&press_section_id=398&make_id=93
&
http://media.ford.com/products/presskit_display.cfm?vehicle_id=1236&press_section_id=398&make_id=93
&
http://media.ford.com/products/presskit_display.cfm?vehicle_id=1231&press_section_id=398&make_id=92
both the fusion, milan and zephyr have the front same suspension (24mm) and just 1mm difference in the rear with zephyr & fusion(17mm) being larger than the milan(16mm). on the mazda 6 they are 23mm & 19 mm. So the fusion/zephyr are not any bigger. So why would there be reliabilty concerns..
Lastly how big of an improvement is going from 24mm to 28.5 mm in the front?? 17mm to 27mm on the rear??

can anyone explain this to me "Note: The 2006 Mazda 6 3.0 V6 model is supplied with a different sway bar than the earlier models. We are currently working with our supplier to develop a front sway bar for this 2006 application. "
http://www.racingbeat.com/FRmazda6.htm

thanks

 

[waldo]

Actually the 16mm/17mm rear difference is between I4s and V6s, not between Fusions and Milans (there is an error on the Milan page).

Stabar rate goes up exponentially with thickness. So the difference between a 23 and 24 is small, but the difference between a 26 and 27 is bigger. So jumping to a 28.5/27 is going to be huge. This also brings the front/rear balance more closer to neutral, which may or may not be what you want for handling.

The front can be done by a good mechanic with all the right tools in about 45 minutes if he's done it before. If you're doing it in your garage, plan for a whole day. The rear is pretty simple, I've done it myself with nothing more that a ratchet and adjustable wrench in about 30 minutes.

 

[cos]

pkoko,

Thanks for posting that link to the Ford spec page.