Hi All,

I have been lurking on this forum for quite a while now, mostly in an attempt to improve on my limited car knowledge. I own a 2001 TJ Magna Advance (completely standard) and have been disappointed by the steering feel/feedback, especially at high speeds on highways. It appears that this is a common complaint by Magna owners and that there is no simple fix to improve things. I get to drive a variety of company cars through work (commodore, astra, falcon) and have just realized how lifeless the magna steering feels in terms of feedback or accuracy.

In an attempt to improve the overall balance of the car, I’ve ordered a 22mm adjustable rear sway bar through Whiteline. As the bar is adjustable, I’m curious to find out what swaybar setting people have been most happy with. Has anyone had any problems with losing control of the back in the wet, especially on the middle setting?

I was also looking at getting a strutbrace to tighten up steering response if I’m still not satisfied. It seems most people are divided on whether or not they really make any difference.

I have searched the forum but haven’t really been unable to find any comments on how the car reacts to changing the swaybar settings.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!
Grant.

i dont have any strut braces or anything so i cant really comment but im going to anyway.

lowering your car say 30mm with a set of King Spring Lows or Lovell Lows should also help the lifelessness your feeling in your magna.

Depends on what you have on the front. The adjustability is so you can balance it to your taste. Its not too hard to adjust so I would start on soft and work up. I have mine on full but also have a thick front bar.

i have just done kings super lows/lows, front strut brace and the adj sway bar at back on hardest.

i put the strut brace on a few days be4 the rest and i have to say... it was life changing, but "I" could feel a difference. it seemed to be more predictable and not so 'jumpy' cornering.

now with the rest in... i'm quite happy so far. i can't give it a good go becuz my subbox moves. but it sits much flatter in corners, is very predicable. it does seem a little floaty and understeer early, but wind more steering angle in and she just grips and pulls thru the corner.

i used to be a bit scared of coming off the motorway doing more than 55km/h cuz it just moved all over the place and understeered... first day with the suspension done...75km/h. could have gone more but even now i'm still relearning it. i might dump the sub box and go for a spin at the sprints soon and see just what the limits are.

In conclusion... suspension upgrades are good. Get lowered springs and the swaybar at least...

Tim

do u want alot of response at highway speeds tho? kinda dangerous.....

i'd suggest lowering ur car and then strut brace and then sway

The rear sway bar basically acts to reduce understeer. Most magna drivers would probably encounter understeer under heavy braking or acceleration thru corners - not really what you've described.

I'd say if it's "steering feel" you think is lacking - you would notice more benefit from a front strut brace, but I'm basing that solely on what I've heard / read about them, as I have never had one fitted to my car.

In terms of the setting of the rear sway bar. My adjustable rear sway is on the hardest setting, but most people don't recommend this for a couple of reasons (personally I haven't had any problems with it). The thing to understand about the heavy duty sway bar is there are circumstances where it does it's job (of reducing understeer) so well, that the car will actually oversteer ("drift" style lol ), something which could prove dangerous if you weren't expecting it.

Other than that - as you've probably read already, most people recommend the rear sway bar as being a better handling mod than the front strut brace anyway. And as someone else said - simply lowering the car with stiffer springs will improve the 'road feel' of the car.

Other than that - as you've probably read already, most people recommend the rear sway bar as being a better handling mod than the front strut brace anyway.


i completely dissagree..... lowering first and then Strut brace before swaybar.

i still firmly believe that the strut brace is the best value for money that i have spent!! - aside from the coilovers, but that cost me an arm and a leg.

Put a 18mm adjustable whiteline sway bar in the rear of the Misses KJ AWD because she was complaining that it feels like it was tipping over too much around corners. Even the 18mm on middle setting is a huge improvment over the 16mm standard one. She is now happy which is what matters. I have to say, i would now like to reduce front roll as you can feel that more now but the misses doesnt notice it therefor it WONT be changed. (Dont want to lower it as tempting as it is because she will tear the front of it off at supermarkets.)

I also have a KH wagon and that felt the same before i lowered it. It felt so unsteady and so lacking in feel, as you said, you would actually obay those advisory yellow signs on country roads telling you to slow to 70k's round a sweeping corner because it felt so floaty.
All i have done to that was lower it with king lows,(not super low or whatever they are called) and put new shocks in(Sports wagon Shocks)(among trying many other types of shocks, they gave the best comfort/handeling feel), and now it feels so confident, you can put an extra 20/30km/h on top of those advisory speed signs EVEN with the misses in the car and there are no complaints about unsafe driving because it feels that sure footed now.

I have to say though, i lowered the old ladies KE sedan with Pedders(there's another problem) and that was all i did and yeah, it feels a little more confident but still rolls ariund heaps in the rear feeling very sloppy. It needs a sway bar because they dont have one at all but thew old lady doesnt mind.

I have to say, i would now like to reduce front roll as you can feel that more now but the misses doesnt notice it therefor it WONT be changed.

strut brace will help abit with that

Thanks all for the responses, very much appreciated. I think ill start of the middle setting and if I find it too dangerous in the wet (I drive like an old woman) ill move it down to the first hole. Hopefully this isn’t too difficult as most of this is new to me. Improving suspension is an option but I’m not too keen on sinking too much money into the car. I don’t have too much of an issue taking corners quickly with the car, its more to do with the vague feeling of the steering, even though I would expect all handling mods would probably improve this.

An example that has occurred was where I was doing 110+kms an hour on the Hume Hwy with a Truck next to me, steering accuracy is highly important to me. Trying to make small adjustments to the steering can be difficult as you move the wheel and the car just doesn’t respond quickly, I believe its what’s known as a steering dead spot. It doesn’t appear to be a fault with the car as my parents have a TJ and it feels exactly the same.

Thanks again for the feedback!

The upgraded REAR SWAYBAR is the first thing to do, it will improve steering response considerably as the slowness in response is caused mainly by the weight shift. Other things can also be done like bringing the car closer to the ground and fitting better shocks (again limiting roll), running more caster and negative camber on the front, running tyres with stiffer/lower profile sidewalls, upgrading the front swaybar, changing bushes to more compliant materials.

You will have to play around with the sittings until you find a balance as the rest of your setup and driving habits will determine what setting feels best.

The benefit from a front STRUT BRACE is that your front suspension settings are kept more consistent during cornering. This means that the car can be more predictable when driving the car on the limits. As it keeps the front more rigid it will improve steering response but the small movement that it stops is nothing compared to the movement from body roll and tyre and bush compliance.

The upgraded REAR SWAYBAR is the first thing to do, it will improve steering response considerably as the slowness in response is caused mainly by the weight shift.

Completely agree. Bunnysoy, I have already said the same thing as Cummins regarding the rear swaybar when you PM me. For what you are looking at improving, upgrade to a rear swaybar and (if you wish) fit lowered springs first. A strut brace will make a difference, but no where near the amount the springs and rear swaybar will (even allone).

ok ok no strut brace :)

ok ok no strut brace :)

Thats not what we said...Get a strut brace, but if you do, get it last.:D

Ello people,

Swaybar was installed today and set to the middle hole, steering feels considerably more responsive and even the suspension feels better (more of a flatter feeling when going over bumps). Small movements through the steering wheel seem to have the car shifting left or right quicker with a smaller dead spot. The car seems to hold the road better in sweeping turns and sits pretty flat after a small amount of initial roll from the standard suspension. Havent had a chance yet to see how it feels at higher speeds but so far im happy with my decision.

Thanks again for everyone's comments