Fighting Oversteer & Body Roll - Sway Bars?

[Ran]

First off I need new shocks and struts. That's a given, but as it sands, I do need to fight the body roll and oversteer tendencies of my Yaris. I know that sway bars will help reduce the body roll, but I don't want to stiffen the car so much that the understeer gets worse. As it stands, if I take a corner to fast, the car doesn't understeer at all. Instead, the rear end slips out and I have to slam the gas in a countersteer to regain control. Not fun when I'm trying to keep the car straight.

From what I gather online, people are recommending just putting on a thicker front sway bar but leaving the rear alone aside maybe a strut tower bar. Is this the right way to go?

With the amount of FWD drivers out here, I would hope that someone would be able to advise me on which route to go. All help is appreciated.

[§treet_§peed]

front and rear sway bars, front and rear strut tower bars, front and rear lower strut bars..and possible try lowering it

[Ran]

front and rear sway bars, front and rear strut tower bars, front and rear lower strut bars..and possible try lowering it

The car has TRD springs on it, just no shocks or struts. I'm worried about stiffening the entire car both front and rear. I'd hate to start blindly throwing parts on the car, only to have it get worse.

Just trying to calculate my steps before I take them.

[Hulud]

i thought you werent gonna mod this car

[§treet_§peed]

eh just a suggestion lol

[Ran]

i thought you werent gonna mod this car

You know just as well as I do that was a crock. Once you start, you never stop.

[KevinT707]

Hmm, run a higher tire pressure in the front & lower in the rear to help your oversteer a little.

Because for FWD Hondas & stuff, they understeer so I'd lower the front & higher PSI rear.

[Jecht]

Get a good front sway bar, that will completely get rid of that oversteer.
It goes like this:
Stiffer front end - more understeer
Stiffer rear end - more oversteer

I'm surprised your Yaris actually oversteers. I'm actually trying to setup my Jetta to where it oversteers more since I'm more familiar with oversteer.

[GTScoob]

Its probably oversteering because of such a short wheelbase.

What width tires are you running? I'd look towards some performance tires and a front sway bar for really increasing the handling.

[yudalicious]

get shocks first. I really find it to be a pet peeve of mine when people go crazy with sway bars and still have a relatively stock shocks/spring set up. There's alot of drawbacks of going with sway bars that are too stiff compared to your springs, sure it may feel nice in a big, nice sweeping curve, but overall the car might be losing grip in tighter situations. Sway bars are really one of the later mods, for when you have found a good shock/spring set up, and you want to further tweak the balance of the car. Ideally on a track car, if you want to reduce roll, adjust the roll center and/or spring stiffness, but of course for a street car that's not feasible and sways come into play for reducing roll, but it's imperative not to go overboard and use SOLELY sways to reduce roll.

[Ran]

I'm surprised your Yaris actually oversteers.

No Weight in the Back = Oversteer

What width tires are you running?

205/45/16

get shocks first. I really find it to be a pet peeve of mine when people go crazy with sway bars and still have a relatively stock shocks/spring set up. ... but it's imperative not to go overboard and use SOLELY sways to reduce roll.

I know. Shocks and Struts are first, I'm just trying to plan ahead is all.

Thanks guys!

[GTScoob]

Can you squeeze 225s on there?

[Hulud]

You know just as well as I do that was a crock. Once you start, you never stop.

true LOL